RAZORBACK

Russel Mulcahy, 1984

Starring: Gregory Harrison, Arkie Whiteley, Bill Kerr, Judy Morris

"There's something about blasting the shit out a razorback that brightens up my whole day."

Where the other famous homicidal pig film, Daddy’s Deadly Darling, disappointed all my expectations, Razorback more than lived up to them. An old man, Jake Cullen, is framed for the murder of his grandson by an enormous boar, also known as a razorback. Cullen is released because of lack of evidence, and becomes obsessed with killing boars of all shapes and sizes. 

Several years later, an American animal rights activist and reporter, Beth, travels to Australia to document brutal kangaroo hunting. The locals dislike her presence and two of the more unpredictable members of the town, Benny and Dicko, run her car off the road late at night and attempt to rape her, but are scared off by a giant boar, who kills her. Her husband, Carl, comes to Australia to learn more about her death, even though he is told it was an accident. He meets Benny and Dicko, who take him hunting during the night and leave him for dead. Cullen and another local, Sarah, a scientist, help him discover what happened to Beth. When he learns the truth, he is determined to get revenge. 

I could say that Razorback is the finest killer boar film ever made, but that’s not saying much. It is easily one of the best and most beautiful animal attack films and comes highly, highly recommended. Helmed by director Russell Mulcahy (Highlander and about a million music videos) and written by Australian screenwriter Everett De Roche (who, among many other things, wrote the equally serious, but slightly less effective Lost Weekend) and based on a novel by Peter Brennan, Razorback is essentially an outback riff on Jaws with a giant, terrifying boar instead of a shark. 

I can’t believe that a movie about a killer razorback could be so beautiful, but it is, particularly lighting and framing. Mulcahy and his cinematographer Dean Semler (Road Warrior) do a fantastic job. I’ve never been to Australia, but in parts of Razorback it looks like Mars. Some of the film could be likened to Mad Max, particularly the characters of Benny and Dicko, but Razorback stands on its own (four hoofed) legs. There is enough action, violence and just a scant amount of gore to keep the film moving at a brisk place. Cast members occasionally die unexpectedly, which is a nice touch. There are a lot of great performances, particularly from Bill Kerr as Cullen, and we don’t spend enough time with any one character to get tired of them. 

As with Lost Weekend, there is great tension and pacing, and some truly terrifying animal sound effects late at night. There are also some fun, nonsensical moments, like Carl’s delirious dream sequence, which is both effective and silly. And don’t forget the Australian cowboy in the beginning of the film who strolls past riding a camel, with a boombox strapped to its saddle, giving a new and wonderful meaning to the term ghettoblaster. 

Though I loved it, I will admit that there are some flaws. The visuals certainly overshadow other elements of the film. Though the boar is effective - and apparently cost a quarter of a million dollars to make - it isn’t used often enough. But those shots toward the end are worth every penny and were designed by Bob McCarron (Dead Alive, Beyond Thunderdome, etc). The plot is divided and feels contrived, particularly when it comes to the gargantuan boar, who appears when he is needed to move the script along. Really none of the characters are developed, but this is a movie about a killer boar, so I have to admit that I barely noticed any of that. 

Immediately track down Razorback if you want a thrilling, fact paced animals attack film. Warner released a basic version on DVD-R as part of their Warner Archive Collection, but you really want the Australian edition, full of special features. That is also included an a nice Ozploitation box set with Long Weekend, Stone and a few others. Maybe this will encourage you to get off your ass and buy a multi-region DVD player. 

DADDY'S DEADLY DARLING aka PIGS

Marc Lawrence, 1972

Starring: Toni Lawrence, Marc Lawrence, Jesse Vint, Paul Hickey

Lynn, a teenage girl, is raped by her father and then kills him. She is sent to a mental hospital, where she insists he is still alive. After a round of electroshock therapy, she escapes and takes refuge in a small town. Zambrini (formerly a circus performer, the Great Zambrini) gives her a job at his diner and puts her up. The two form a hesitant bond: like Lynn, Zambrini has a secret. His beloved hogs will only eat human flesh and he routinely digs up corpses for them. When a local tries to seduce Lynn, she snaps and kills him. Feeling sorry for her, Zambrini feeds the corpse to his pigs. Soon the body toll begins mounting and the sheriff starts to close in on Lynn. 

With a great premise and a great title, I expected at least something appealing out of this film, but alas. The print (released by Troma, surprise) is incredibly dark, and obscures about 25% of the film. Not that I think I missed anything. Despite the intense subject matter, the film was boring, bloodless, and boob-less. There were also almost no shots of the flesh-eating pigs, though their incessant, loud squealing appeared at regular intervals. Those were my three real expectations for this film -- gore, nudity, and rampaging pigs -- and sadly all of them were disappointed. I could have ignored the silly plot, bad editing, and inexperienced actors, all of which this film has in spades, if the former three were present. 

The most singular thing about this film -- and the creepiest -- is that it was written, directed, and produced by Marc Lawrence, who also stars as Zambrini. His real-life daughter, Toni Lawrence, stars as Lynn. Who writes a film about a girl being driven to insanity and homicide because she was raped by her father and then casts their own daughter? He has clearly one upped Dario Argento. But this is about as disturbing as the film gets. Some moments are effectively sad, but otherwise I didn’t care about the characters, was bored by the action, and was enthusiastic for Lynn’s gentleman callers to get the axe. After about 15 minutes, everything that happens is disappointingly predictable. The acting isn’t so much bad as it is nonexistent, though that shouldn’t surprise fans of exploitation-horror. 

Daddy’s Deadly Darling isn’t terrible, but it isn't particularly appealing, either. The sort of niche audience that enjoyed Ulli Lommel’s The Boogeyman (1980) will probably find a few things of interest, though I mostly found it to be a time-waster. Troma put it out on DVD under the alternate title Pigs, though this seems to be out of print. The film is also known as Daddy’s Girl, The Strange Love Exorcist (best title), and Roadside Torture Chamber, among others. 

WILD BEASTS

Franco Prosperi, 1984

Starring: Lorraine De Selle, John Aldrich, Ugo Bologna, Louisa Lloyd

Franco Prosperi made a career for himself with mondo documentaries like the famous Mondo Cane (1962) and Africa Addio (1966). His early ‘80s animals attack film, Wild Beasts aka Belve feroci follows a similar pattern. It is less a narrative film and more a series of vignettes where enraged animals stalk, attack and kill hapless humans. And it is absolutely wonderful. 

In an undisclosed city (Frankfurt, I think), the water supply is contaminated with PCP. This affects the local zoo. All the animals freak out, demolish the zoo, and then proceed to tear their way through the city and the human population. Laura, a reporter, and her zoo keeper/scientist boyfriend Rupert try to get to the bottom of the mystery. They also have to rescue Laura’s daughter from her ballet school, which is under siege from an enormous, hungry polar bear. 

The lack of plot or characterization might bother some people, but most of the time it just slows animal disaster films down. In this case, Prosperi gives almost all the screen time to total animal massacre. Nearly everything you can think of is in this film. A young couple making out in the car is eaten by a horde of insane rats. A blind man is killed and eaten by his service dog (a German Shepherd a la The Beyond and Suspiria). Elephants break out of the zoo (literally, by tearing down brick walls) and rampage through traffic, smashing cars and killing people, occasionally with the cunning use of their trunks. A cheetah chases down cars on the highway and terrifies motorists. A tiger breaks into a subway car and eats a bunch of hapless passengers. A hyena finds a meat packaging plant and causes a herd of bulls and cows to stampede. And then there is the very real polar bear that terrorizes a dance class full of children. And so on. 

What is really insane about this film, aside from all the animal action, is just how many real animals are used and how close the actors get to a number of large mammalian predators. This film absolutely could not be made today. The male lead, John Aldrich, is even shown with one arm around the polar bear, who takes an irritated swat at him. Aldrich doesn’t seem to care or notice, but that is potentially very dangerous, as polar bears are not as easy to train as their cousins in the black or brown bear families. They are also my favorite. 

Animal lovers (of which I am one), may be uncomfortable with this film. At the beginning, there is a disclaimer that says no animals were harmed, which I seriously doubt. There are obviously some rats set on fire, pigs are attacked by big cats, and a poor cow is molested by a hyena. Sadly, this isn’t out of place in ‘70s or ‘80s Italian horror. If you can get past all that and hope that it’s fake, this is an incredibly fun film. Wild Beasts doesn’t try to be much more than a film about zoo animals ramping, but there are some nods to Italian horror. Star Lorraine De Selle was in Cannibal Ferox and the police inspector was played by Ugo Bologna (best name ever), who appeared in Zombie, Nightmare City and some Italian crime films. And the surprise ending of the film is pretty horrific. It turns out that the children have also been affected by PCP... 

Wild Beasts will probably only appeal to a certain kind of audience, but I enthusiastically recommend it anyway. It suffers from some clunky, dark cinematography, but that’s probably the only bad thing about it. It’s worlds above other berserk zoo trash like The Beasts Are on the Streets and must be seen to be believed. Unfortunately it’s a little hard to get ahold of, but there’s a region 2 PAL DVD from Camera Obscura that my friends over at Diabolik DVD have in stock. 

BLACK ZOO

Robert Gordon, 1963

Starring: Michael Gough, Jeanne Cooper, Rod Lauren, Virginia Grey

Producer Herman Cohen churned out a number of semi-successful horror films from the late ‘50s to the early ‘70s, including I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), Blood of Dracula (1957), How to Make a Monster (1958), The Headless Ghost (1959), the Sherlock Holmes meets Jack the Ripper film, A Study in Terror (1965), a horror-influenced western, Django the Bastard (1969), Joan Crawford’s last film, Trog (1970), and even a late period giallo, Watch Me When I Kill (1974). He also made a trilogy of horror films with prolific British actor Michael Gough (Americans of my generation will know him as Alfred in Tim Burton’s Batman films): Horrors of the Black Museum (1959), Konga (1961), and Black Zoo. While it is the most inferior of the trilogy, Black Zoo is still an interesting entry in early ‘60s horror and will delight fans of moody, atmospheric Roger Corman films and/or Hammer movies from the period. 

The owner of a private zoo, Michael Conrad, has a dark secret. A local investor is trying to buy out his property for a vast sum of money, but Conrad is more interested in the welfare of his animal children, which include a gorilla, a bear, and chimpanzees, but are mostly comprised of a variety of big cats, such as leopards, cheetahs, mountain lions, tigers, and lions. His “children” are loyal and have been trained to defend Conrad to the death, resulting in several murders of people who get in his way.  He is also part of an animal worshipping cult. When one of his beloved tigers is killed, Conrad starts mentally deteriorating and becomes increasingly abusive to his wife and Carl, a mute boy who works at the zoo, with tragic (though totally predictable) consequences. 

Director Robert Gordon (It Came from Beneath the Sea, 1955) does a dependable job recycling some of Cohen’s favorite themes -- Cohen wrote the script with Aben Kandel, one of his regular collaborators. This is an oddly paced cross between a horror film and a thriller, but doesn't quite live up to the superior Horrors of the Black Museum. Despite a number of murders -- almost all of which are perpetrated by animals and make for some of the best scenes of the film -- this is a relatively bloodless affair. The utterly unsurprising twist ending is perhaps supposed to make up for this, but falls short. 

The acting is average with the scenery-chewing Michael Gough carrying the film. It’s a shame his character is such a bastard. Jeanne Cooper (The Boston Strangler, 1968) gives a solid performance as his long suffering wife, though she has little to do other than argue with him or lead a chimpanzee performance. Rod Lauren is decent as the downtrodden Carl, though I wish more had been done with his character and his budding romance with an art student. There’s also a brief performance from Elisha Cook Jr. (The Maltese Falcon, House on Haunted Hill). All of the animal actors are also great, are photographed beautifully, and have a surprising level of interaction with the actors. 

Honestly, not a lot happens in Black Zoo and I can only recommend it to fans of understated ‘60s horror. Sadly, a lot of the film is taken up with lengthy conversations -- between Conrad and his wife, between several police detectives and so on -- that cause the film to drag for the second half. I blame this all on the script, which is a slow, clunky endeavor. With that said, there are a few great set pieces, my favorite of which is a foggy, nighttime funeral procession for a tiger that would fit right in with some of the best atmospheric '60s horror films. The wonderful opening hints at a level of promise the film is never able to deliver on: a man’s dead body on the ground, in the rain, among animal cages. There is also a random scene with an animal cult and I wish more had been done with this. There is some lovely cinematography, excellent use of color, and director Gordon makes the absolute most of a series of indoor sets for the zoo.

Even though it can't be called a classic, or even really a good film, I enjoyed Black Zoo. Fortunately, Warner rescued it from their archives and it is now out on a basic DVD, should it spark your interest. 

LONG WEEKEND

Colin Eggleston, 1978

Starring: John Hargreaves, Briony Behets

In order to try to repair their failing marriage, Peter and Marcia take a long weekend to go camping on an isolated Australian beach. Their personal tension leads to some rash behavior that nearly ruins their trip, which also gets worse when nature begins to take revenge on them for their cruel and carless actions. Billed as a nature horror or animals attack film, Long Weekend may have some angry animals and emphasize the alien nature of a wild landscape, but it is really more of a psychological thriller. 

My misgivings about Lost Weekend are almost solely based on the fact that it is simply not the film I was expecting. Unlike the majority of other animals attack films, it is not a fun, low budget exercise in animal terror complete with bad effects and worse acting. Lost Weekend is a deadly serious slow burn, more concerned with building atmosphere and the main characters’ descent into hysteria. Peter and Marcia are also utterly unlikable, which makes the film difficult to laugh at. They are nasty to one another and the undercurrent of their marital problems (infidelity, abortion) only allows them brief moments of happiness early in the film. 

The real antagonist of the film is not homicidal or malicious animals, but Peter and Marcia’s internal struggles, which result in mounting anger, guilt, grief and paranoia. I didn’t read much about this film before watching it and up to about half an hour in thought this was going to be a film about a man luring his cheating wife into the middle of nowhere to psychologically torment and then kill her. It is not that literal, but it can definitely be read that they are responsible for their own undoings, not the animals. There are similar themes to Lars von Trier’s Antichrist, though Long Weekend shows a lot more restraint. The couples’ stress is brought on by the death of a child and sexual problems. Though Long Weekend will likely appeal to anyone who thought Antichrist went too far over the top, I thought it didn’t go as far as it could have, particularly with the female hysteria angle. There are some effectively eerie moments where they find an abandoned camp site with children’s toys and clothing, but again, this could have been explored further. 

As far as the animals attack themes, they are present, but subtle. The couple disrespects nature and the local animals, but not to extremes. They leave their trash on the camp site, spray bug repellent everywhere, throw cigarette butts in the bush, smash an eagle’s egg for no reason, and the husband runs over a kangaroo early in the film. They find a beached dugong, a sea cow, which they bury after believing it to be dead. It somehow creeps closer and closer to their camping site, another effective element that is used too little, too late. The animals also strike back far too late in the film and too subtly for this to be a real animals attack film. The husband is bit by a possum (he started it) and attacked by an eagle. The wife gets the car stuck in thick spider webs in the woods, but the only true violence in the film is done by humans, mostly on accident. The couple is so unlikable I found myself wishing they would die sooner and more brutally. Alas. 

Though it was a commercial failure in Australia, Long Weekend won some awards in other countries and has since gone on to be a cult classic. If you’re in the mood for a slow, atmospheric thriller, this comes highly recommended. There is some lovely cinematography from Vincent Monton and this is a good example of ‘70s Australian outback horror, though it takes place in the woods and on the beach. It is also worth watching for the excellent use of sound effects, particularly when the woods come alive at night and a haunting cry drives the couple mad. The deliberate, though effective script was written by Everett De Roche, who went on to pen another animals attack film, Razorback, a riff on Jaws with a murderous pig, Road Games, and the wonderfully demented Patrick. 

Long Weekend is available on DVD from Synapse. Special features include a trailer, commentary from producer Richard Brennan and Vincent Monton, as well as a still gallery with an interview from lead John Hargreaves. 

DAY OF THE ANIMALS

William Girdler, 1977

Starring: Christopher George, Leslie Nielsen, Lynda Day George, Richard Jaeckel

It seems unfair that Day of the Animals should be my first review for animals attack month, as it is one of the best examples of the sub-genre. This probably has to do with the fact that it was made by one of the best directors of American trash films, William Girdler, whom I’ve already written a lot about. I adore him. He’ll come up again in a few days with his earlier film, the fantastic Grizzly (1976). Day of the Animals builds on themes introduced in Grizzly, and though I can’t say it does it better, it is technically speaking a superior film. 

A group of vacationing hikers are led through the mountains of Northern California by a ranger, Steve. With him are Paul, a businessman, Terry, a beautiful reporter, a scientist, an Indian, a nagging, middle aged mother and her young son, a married couple, and a few others. Their trip is quickly disrupted by a number of violent animals, who are being affected by a disruption in the ozone layer. This begins in the higher mountain altitudes, but soon spreads to the town below. It also affects some of the campers, who part ways after arguing. Each group attempts to survive vicious animal attacks and find their way down the mountain, back to town. But, as the title indicates, it is just not their day. 

Girdler liked to use the same actors throughout his films and here reunites with charismatic leading man Christopher George (City of the Living Dead and Pieces) and Richard Jaeckel (The Dirty Dozen, 3:10 to Yuma), both also in Grizzly. George’s wife, Lynda Day George, co-stars as the ranger’s journalist love interest (she also appeared with her husband in Pieces and Mortuary). While most of the actors, especially the Georges, give solid performance, the film is absolutely stolen by Leslie Nielsen, in one of his only serious roles. His mean-spirited businessman has racism in his heart and rape on his mind, which develops throughout the film towards an unexpected conclusion. He also abandons shirt-wearing at the height of his insanity, kills someone with a spear for no reason, and then gets into a fight with a grizzly bear. Nielsen also appeared in another serious role in Girdler’s earlier espionage/action film Project: Kill. 90 minutes I would be delighted to get back. 

As a bit of interesting trivia, a little girl girl lost in the woods in Day of the Animals, Michelle Stacy, is the same girl from Airplane! who likes her coffee black. Another actor of note is Michael Ansara, who plays the wise Indian. He went on to appear in Girdler’s final film, The Manitou (1978), again as a Native American, though he graduated to medicine man. 

The bear that Nielsen unwisely wrestles was actually the star of Grizzly and is the mother of the greatest bear in cinema, Bart (The Great Outdoors and many more). RIP Bart (that's him below with his trainer). But the beauty of Day of the Animals is that it’s not simply another killer bear film -- though Bart’s mom was justified in this case, as Nielsen’s character started the fight and screamed in her fact that she was a bastard -- many animals are represented. In one of the greatest death scenes, a character is killed by rattlesnakes and dogs, while others are killed or attacked by mountains lions, vultures, falcons, owls, rats, wolves, and dogs. 

Some people might be frustrated by the anticlimactic, ambiguous ending, but I think it’s perfect. Girdler doesn’t try to find a logical explanation for the film, which would just be insulting and the ozone explanation is thin at best (yes, I went there). The film's real strength is that it never gets boring. There are many characters to move between, some of whom are well-developed, a rarity for this sub-genre. Though almost none of the story lines have a conclusion, do we really care if the annoying mom and her son ever stop fighting?

This comes highly recommended. It is wildly entertaining and manages to be more than the sum of its parts. Girdler is a solid director and side steps the cheap production values with a beautiful natural set, carefully-paced action and a well-chosen cast. A couple scenes even verge on being creepy and though Nielsen is clearly fighting a man in a bear suit, some of the effects are well done. For example, Susan Backlinie is the first to die in a great scene where she is attacked by vultures and falls off a cliff. The luckless Backlinie was also the first girl to die in Jaws (1975) and acts as an animal trainer for Day of the Animals. 

Day of the Animals is on DVD from Shriek Show/Media Blasters, but I unfortunately don’t have many good things to say about their release and I’m disappointed they didn’t show the film more respect. There are two version -- Day of the Animals and the cut theatrical print known as Something is Out There -- but both are flawed transfers. There are some nice extras, including a commentary track with Lynda Day George and a few other interviews. Maybe 2013 with bring a nice, restored Blu-ray with some Girdler related extras. 

Animals Attack Films

To honor the beginning of a new year, I’ve decided to give myself a little present: the most fun month of horror movie reviews I could possibly think of, which is to say that the next 31 days of Satanic Pandemonium will be devoted to animals attack films. Also know as eco-horror, creature features and natural horror, these movies are devoted to animals running amuck and killing humans. Usually they have low production values, bad acting, silly dialogue and nonsensical plots. And they are utterly delightful. 

There are dozens and dozens of animals attack films, so many that I could never possibly review them all in one month. To make things a little easier, I have set aside some rules about the kind of movies you will not see in the next month, but that I hope to cover at some point:

No movies before 1960. There are a lot of amazing ‘50s monster/killer animal movies - Mesa of Lost Women (1953), Them! (1954), Tarantula (1955), Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), and Earth vs the Spider (1958), to name a few - but I think they deserve their own nuclear paranoia sub-genre. 

No movies after 1990, with two surprise exceptions, because it would cause me physical pain not to write about them. There are an absolute shitload of new, mostly terrible animals attack films, in part thanks to the abysmal SyFy network. I am not subjecting myself to SyFy channel movies. In general, newer films tend to focus on sharks, snakes, crocodiles or alligators, though there have mystifyingly been remakes of Willard (1971) and Piranha (1978). There are also a lot of giant-scary-animals-face-off movies, like Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (2009). 

No monster movies, which means nothing like the Godzilla series, King Kong (1933) or even things like Prophecy (1979) or The Boogens (1981). Only animals actually found in nature. 

I’m also avoiding movies that may have a loose animal theme, but are clearly other sub-genres, like dinosaur or prehistoric monster movies and animal-human hybrid films. This means no werewolves, nothing like Cat People (1942) or any of The Fly (1958) movies, and sadly no Sssssss (1973) or Hell Comes to Frogtown (1987).

Two final rules that might seem strange: No dog attack films and no horror movies with primates. I think the many available canine-themed horror films, like Cujo (1983) or Man’s Best Friend (1993), are about a different sort of fear, more domestic than the rest of the films on my list. No simian-themed films for the main reason that they are really their own sub-genre. And I also hate all apes and monkeys, with the exception of gorillas. Hate them.

There are quite a lot of animals attack movies, so for the sake of my sanity, I’m going to organize my reviews by species and stick to chronological order when possible.

Mammals Run Amok:
There aren’t a whole lot of mammals humans are naturally afraid of, other than predators, but there are still somehow a lot of mammal-centric horror movies.
Day of the Animals (1977) tries to cover all the animals in the mountains going berserk.
Long Weekend (1978), an Australian film, concerns a couple vacationing on a beach full of murderous creatures.
Black Zoo (1963) follows a animal-worshipping cult and a deadly zoo of trained killers.
Wild Beasts (1984) is perhaps the greatest and most bizarre of the animal mash-up films and concerns zoo animals running amuck after the local water supply is poisoned with PCP.
Grizzly (1976) is William Girdler's masterpiece (and Jaws' rip-off) about a giant, lethal, and enraged bear.

Daddy’s Deadly Darling (1972) concerns pigs as a means to dispose of corpses (pre-Hannibal)
Razorback (1984) is a surprisingly great Australian film about a wild boar causing mass-destruction

Bats and Rats, Oh My:
Nightwing (1979) depicts the bat rap given to vampire bats in the American Southwest
Willard (1971) and its sequel Ben (1972) concern a boy and his pet rats
The Food of the Gods (1976) is one of my favorite animals attack films and features a number of critters, including giant mutant rats
Deadly Eyes (1982) - Toronto is massacred by mutant rats
Of Unknown Origin (1983) - A man loses his marbles when he has to face off against rats invading his apartment
Rats: Night of Terror (1984) - This Italian mash-up of post-apocalyptic terror aka Mad Max meets a rats attack film with absolutely ridiculous results

Bunnies, Buffalo, and Cats:
Night of the Lepus (1972) - Bafflingly, a horror movie about evil bunnies was made, and it is glorious
The White Buffalo (1977) pits a cowboy Charles Bronson against a demented white buffalo
The Uncanny (1977) is an anthology film about how cats are inherently evil
Night of a Thousand Cats (1972) is not technically a cat-horror film, but I’m including it here because a couple hundred cats get furry revenge against their serial killer owner

Sharks Attack!:

Obviously the most popular sub-genre of animals attack films are shark movies. There are so many shark attack movies I probably could have done a month (or two) about them.
Jaws (1975) and the rest of the series - Jaws 2 (1978), Jaws 3-D (1983) and Jaws: The Revenge (1987) - are obviously the most important here. The Italians, so quick to create entire sub-genres inspired by a single, successful film, have made many Jaws rip-offs. Tintorera (1977) - Jaws rip-off
Great White (1980) - another Jaws rip-off 
Monster Shark (1984) - another Jaws rip-off 
Deep Blood (1989) - is, surprise, another Jaws rip-off
Deep Blue Sea (1999) is a later effort that is enjoyable against all odds and includes a mind-blowing scene with Samuel L. Jackson

Blood-Thirsty Fish:
Piranha (1978) is a delightful entry about killer fish invading a summer camp
Orca (1977) - Because someone made a killer-killer whale movie
Tentacles (1977) is one of the lone early entries to cover the giant octopi/squid subgenre
The Beast (1996) is really another Jaws rip-off, this time with William Peterson against a giant squid

Killer Crocodilians, Snakes, and Frogs:

Sergio Martino’s The Great Alligator (1979) is enjoyable entry that sort of combines jungle horror with the animals attack genre
Alligator (1980) is the best of the lot and features a mutated beast named Ramon who rampages through New York City
Killer Crocodile (1989) is a lot more lackluster, but I had to watch it anyway 
Venom (1981) is only loosely an animals attack film, but concerns Oliver Reed and Klaus Kinski invading the home of a wealthy family; little do they know that a poisonous snake is loose in the house
The Bite (1989) must be seen to be believed
Frogs (1972) also exists, though frogs are admittedly high on my list of "least terrifying animals ever"

Arachnids and Insects:
As much as I love them, people are terrified by spiders, which means there are a lot of spider-themed horror movies: Horrors of Spider Island (1960), The Giant Spider Invasion (1975), Kiss of the Tarantula (1976), Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo (1977), and Arachnophobia (1990). I want to cover spiders/arachnids another time, but I had to include the best spider film ever made, Kingdom of the Spiders (1977). 
Insects are equally popular, particularly bees. For some reason there were a number of killer bees films in the ‘60s and ‘70s: The Deadly Bees (1966), Killer Bees (1974), The Bees (1978), but again, I'd also like to do insect films another time, so I focused on the best bee-horror film of all time, The Swarm (1978). I also included a little bee-related surprise. Other insects have also received attention, like hybrid beetles in
Bug (1975), one of the worst examples of the genre, concerns hybrid beetles
Phase IV (1974) is probably the finest (and most bizarre) killer ants movie, another subgenre with a baffling number of entries

It’s going to be a long and busy, though hopefully very fun month. If you think I forgot anything, please let me know. Otherwise, keep a look out for 31 days of gut-munching, man eating terror!