Steven Buckner (George) leads a group of hikers into the mountains, but unfortunately for the group, the ozone layer has had a huge hole punched in it, allowing the sun's radiation toxins to infect the animals of the wilderness, making them overly aggressive. The hikers don't notice anything unusual, until they get a bit farther from the town at the base of the mountain. once they are very much into the wild, things suddenly become very apparent that the beasties of the wild have their eyes and appetites on the hikers. Buckner doesn't feel overly safe in handing out firearms to his hikers, which makes things just a bit more tense and uncomfortable for the group. One of the hikers, Paul (Nielsen), is also affected by the radiation toxins and becomes a man possessed and his aggressiveness soon leads to a murder and then a rape and finally Paul takes on a grizzly! Thinking they may be able to make it to the safety of the town at the base of the mountain, they head in that direction, but little do they know....the town has also come under attack!

The Day of the Animals DVD actually offers two versions of the film. The original theatrical release entitled; Something Is Out There is offered in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1), but sadly, the print used is in pretty bad shape. The print has plenty of damage throughout and the colors are very faded for this print. The Day of the Animals is offered in anamorphic (1.78:1), but the end result looked kind of different to me, so in researching the DVD release, I found that the TV version was matted from 2.35:1 to 4x3 pan and scan and in an effort to offer this version in anamorphic widescreen, it was further matted to 1.78:1 by placing black bars at the top and bottom of the film, thus the viewer is losing about half the picture. Now, I'll admit, I've never completely understood all there is to know of aspect ratios, but even my untrained eyes could see the difference! Audio options include English Dolby Digital (2.0) and a Spanish dub, but no subtitles are offered. Bonus feature for this disc include:

-Day of the Animals Commentary Track With Stars Lynda Day George, Jon Ceder and Scott Spiegel (Evil Dead, but had nothing to do with this film!)

-Something Was Out There: Day of the Animals Thirty Years Later-Interviews with Susan Backlinie (Actress/Animal Trainer), Paul Mantee and John Ceder

-Original Theatrical Trailer

-Photo Gallery 

Often mistaken as a sequel to the 1976 film, Grizzly, Day of the Animals is not a sequel, but does tread the same waters as Grizzly and does include some of the same actors. Day of the Animals isn't a particularly good film, but it is one of those films that seems to be a lot of fun to watch. The 70s were full of those 'Nature Attacks' films and they often tend to be a guilty pleasure for me, I simply get a kick out of them and some of them do offer some unsettling moments. Day of the Animals offers some over-the-top moments and none more weird than the complete breakdown of the Leslie Nielsen character, Paul. I would assume that this breakdown was meant to be much more serious, but actually comes across a bit too comical, minus the murder and rape aspect of his breakdown. I've always enjoyed the efforts of Christopher George and it's nice to see him joined in this film with wife, Lynda Day George. All of the cast does a fairly respectable job with their roles and if you simply enjoy these nature attacks films, then this is probably one you might enjoy, but be warned, the video quality of this DVD does leave a lot to be desired.

Buy Day of the Animals on DVD at Amazon.com