“Hawks, buzzards, kestrels, falcons — he had forgotten the birds of prey. He had forgotten the gripping power of the birds of prey.” While Nat considers the crowds of finches and sparrows assaulting the building, throwing their appallingly tiny bodies against brick, he ruminates upon the murderous horror of the muscular and exotic members of the species: true predators, bloodthirsty in their normal aspect alone, now wickedly united against man to unleash nothing but death. It’s a line from The Birds which has always stuck with me.
This time it’s dogs. Rendered mad by the influence of a mysterious meteor, the once treasured pets suddenly become man’s worst friend as they turn upon their unsuspecting owners and unleash a terrible path of destruction upon a slice of smalltown americana. Even the most docile of companions become beserk with rage, with a new taste for human blood, and the survivors are left bewildered and overwhelmed as the canines overrun the population, leaving the streets littered with carnage, bodies and gore.
With the careful editing and co-ordination, the presentation of the dogs is definitely a win. There’s a good few moments where they really get to show their teeth, stalking, hunting and finally chewing apart the stupid men and women getting in their way, with their performance as animal actors arguably surpassing that of their own humans. The unnatural alliance of canines is a little creepy in itself and fun to watch, and at one point it’s suggest that felines are also possibly affected.
The predominant characters, conjured as a typical working-class crowd of townspeople, are designed as such presumably with the idea to be genuine and authentic. Instead they’re predictable, simple and plain, with the end result of being merely uninteresting and unsatisfying, showing little emotion as their loved ones perish. Unlike many sci fi B-movies, there’s no soldiers or scientists driving around to find a cure; so to enhance the horror, Night of the Wild uses defenseless civilians who don’t have much of a prayer. It just doesn’t really work.
Even though there’s a fair amount of panic and fear as nerve-wrecked humans stampede to safety, the shallow plot and lack of tension undo most of its work. The overexcited camera work is particularly disorientating and interfering; although admittedly this is a good strategy for the dog attacks, which are confidently the best parts of the flick, it wears out any scene where people are trying to talk or think about something. More use of a tripod would have been such a better option.
And for such brainless slapstick violence, there is a disappointing lack of comedy where the makers could have done more to not take themselves so seriously. This is where the film really misses the target; there’s so many opportunities that are missed, and even a few jokes could have gone a long way. Sadly there is no respite from the endless tedious pattern of chase scenes. At least the dogs are cool.
2/10
Possession Media 