The Pack (1977)

I'll tell you why so serious

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

***SPOILERS*** Very underrated and almost forgotten movie about a pack of feral and wild dogs taking over an island of the coast of California tearing apart and eating anyone, man or beast, that they come in contact with. It's up to marine biologist Jerry Parker, "Big Joe" Don Baker, to put an end to the carnage that the wild dogs are responsible for on Seal Island with time running out before he and what's left of the island's human as well as animal population are killed and devoured by them. This all happened so innocently with the people vacationing on Seal Island leaving their pet dogs there thinking that they'll find both food and a home there; Which for the most part turned out to be those people living there. Not once realizing that the dogs will resort to their primitive and wolf-like instincts and form packs in order to survive which in fact is what they did.Shocking scenes of man women as well as animals attacked and killed by this pack of some two dozen wild dogs with Jerry trying to get help from the coast with his radio transmitter knocked out by a winter storm. Lead by this top dog mongrel the pack soon overwhelms the few humans on the island leaving it all up to Jerry and Seal Island's hotel manager Hardiman, Richard B, Shull,to take them on with barley their bear hands after they run out of the little ammunition, shotgun shells, that they had with them.***SPOILERS*** Much like the 1959 movie "The Killer Shrews" the film "The Pack" had the mad and rabid dogs killed not by starving them to death but by roasting them alive in Hardiman's hotel that Jerry, using himself as bait, trapped them in. With all the blood violence and carnage in the movie the final scene will definitely tug on your heartstrings with Jerry who barley survived the dog attacks sticking his hand out in friendship to the last surviving member-scared shivering and cute little mutt-of the dog pack who only joined it when it was abandoned by its master in him feeling that it had a chance to survive in the wild.

A pack of vicious dogs who have been abandoned and left to fend for themselves by visiting vacationers terrorize the residents on a small island. Writer/director Robert Clouse relates the gripping story at a brisk pace, generates plenty of tension, stages the canine attack set pieces with skill and flair, and even makes a provocative central statement about mankind's callousness towards and negligence of other animals that we share this planet with. The capable acting by the sturdy cast keeps this picture humming, with especially praiseworthy contributions from Joe Don Baker as tough take-charge marine biologist Jerry, Hope Alexander-Willis as sweet school teacher Millie, Richard B. Schull as jolly lodge owner Hardiman, R.G. Armstrong as the crusty Cobb, Delores V. Smith Jr. as blind hermit McMinnimee, and Paul F. Wilson as pathetic wimp Tommy Dodge. Sherry E. DeBoer supplies some tasty eye candy as sexy secretary Lois. The remote island setting conveys a strong and unsettling sense of isolation and vulnerability while the dogs are quite ferocious and frightening. Ralph Woolsey's crisp cinematography provides an appropriately moody look. Lee Holdridge's robust score does the rousing trick. Well worth seeing.

Director Robert Clouse showed himself to be fairly versatile when it came to his projects. After having already made one bona fide classic with the martial arts actioner "Enter the Dragon" and the similarly fun "Black Belt Jones", he went on to do the futuristic sci-fi saga "The Ultimate Warrior". Here he tackles the "nature strikes back" sub genre with very enjoyable results. It takes place on a resort island where the year round residents, and some visitors, now have to deal with the problem of a ferocious dog pack that is the result of vacationers having adopted these dogs for the summer and then abandoned them. Yeah, there's a real message in here about mankind's callousness towards his fellow animals that gives this movie some appreciated (and not overdone) subtext in addition to its thrills. There's no filler here, just a good, straightforward story (based on a novel by David Fisher) that moves forward at a decent pace. The rural scenery is, not unexpectedly, very nicely photographed and the booming music by Lee Holdridge is perfect accompaniment. The animal action is first rate - the principal trainer is Karl Lewis Miller, an old hand at that kind of thing for many years, and he gets utterly convincing performances from the canine stars, especially the primary antagonist, a mangy mongrel, and the pathetic straggler of the group who we see abandoned near the beginning of the movie. The human cast does not fare badly, either, with the ever solid Joe Don Baker, playing a marine biologist, as the kind of hero you can root for. (Of course, there are also the standard characters in this thing who you pretty much *hope* are going to come to a bad end.) Hope Alexander-Willis is his appealing leading lady, and the supporting cast features such reliable performers as Richard B. Shull and R.G. Armstrong. It never gets too graphic, preferring to leave some things to the imagination, but doesn't skimp on the thrills, being genuinely exciting at times, especially in the last half hour. Overall it's more effective than the movie "Dogs" which was also released in that busy period, post-"Jaws", when a number of movies like this were coming out. It's entertaining all the way; that final sequence will just melt your heart. Clouse returned to animal horror five years later with "The Rats", a.k.a. "Deadly Eyes". Eight out of 10.

A group of psychotic dogs is running free on a tiny island inhabited by a handful of folk. The requisite number of people are killed to feed the plot before the finale where all the naughty canines are dispatched. For a low-budget 70's action film, this is very well technically made, as it looks like it could've come out a few years ago. Veteran actor Baker holds things together real well, and the dogs are freaky. With constant snarls and bloodied, torn fur, they put a chill into you. The attack scenes aren't too nasty, kept to just the dogs filmed at a distance pouncing on a victim. Sure, in a regular horror, its amusing for a quick flash of metal and bloodspatter then quickly cut to the next scene, but to continuously see someone's flesh torn from their body would be unpleasant, and director Clouse chose right in limiting that. The climax is pretty good, though the lead dog dies sort of mysteriously and too fast. And the one remaining pooch that didn't give into doggie peer pressure of sorts and stayed away from the pack, has a nice final shot with Baker. But mostly this is too slow to really make it worthwhile.