Wild Beasts (1984)

WILD BEASTS (1984)

Dir: Franco Prosperi

15/31 #31daysofhorror

The animals at the zoo are beginning to go crazy. What could it be that’s driving them insane? That is supposed to be the mystery surrounding Wild Beasts. Then you head over to IMDB and the first synopsis says: The water supply for a large city zoo becomes contaminated with PCP, and the animals go crazy and get loose. So much for following the storyline to figure out why this is happening. But that one sentence containing 20 words tells you everything you need to know about this film. Even in the discovery of the PCP in the water isn’t explained until the final act, no one cares. We do get an over-the-top drawn-out scene of exposition. It sure is Phencyclidine. You mean PCP. Yeah. You can shoot it, snort it, smoke it, and eat it. But what's it doing in the water supply? Who cares? We are here to see elephants bust through walls and watch as nature devours man.

We begin in, "Some city in Northern Europe," the title card reads. We cut between water, aqueducts, a city, and a sign for the zoo. Back and forth and back again. It would have been less redundant with credits, but they chose to insert them after their long montage of water, city, and zoo imagery. I'd like to share my notes. They are filled with spoilers, but it doesn't matter. Trust me. They may entice you to witness this beauty for yourself. The following notes are unedited and directly from my first viewing of this film:

The first victims are eaten by rats while having sex in a car. Elephants break through a brick wall which causes an electrical pole to fall and thus cuts the power and allows all the animals their freedom. Men are mauled by cheetahs. The police attempt hosing the rat infestation but when it doesn't work they bring in a flamethrower. We get to see them burning live rats - little running rodents with flames dancing from their backs. Holy sh*t, that was disturbing. A blind man is killed by his seeing-eye dog. I wonder where they got the idea for that kill. An elephant strangles a man with its trunk, steps on its victim, and causes multiple vehicular accidents. Cheetah vs. beetle. A woman trying to flee from a cheetah in a Volkswagen beetle. Our leading man shouts, "She's not crazy, she's being chased by a cheetah!” The elephants are back, and they're on the runway at an airport. Elephants vs. airplanes. While all the kids at school drink the fountain water, one child says, "No thanks I'll have a Coke." This will come into play later. A tiger breaks into a subway car, kills two people, and we see our leading actress running around the tunnel in high heels. There's a polar bear in the dance school. A couple of hyenas and lions enter a slaughterhouse buffet. There's a running of the bulls that leads to cows crashing into every business and storefront in their path. Our leading actress has a moment of hubris that I'm sure will bite back, "It's like the end of a nightmare." I assure you it is not the end, you haven't had to deal with PCP kids yet. Yeah, I was right about those kids.