Day Of The Animals – Severin Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1977
Director: William Girdler
Writers: William W. Norton, Eleanor E. Norton, Edward L. Montoro
Cast: Christopher George, Leslie Nielsen, Lynda Day George, Richard Jaeckel, Michael Ansara, Ruth Roman, Jon Cedar, Paul Mantee, Walter Barnes, Andrew Stevens, Susan Backlinie

Release Date: May 18th, 2021
Approximate Running Time: 97 Minutes 43 seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC
Rating: R
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $34.95

"When a hole in the Earth's ozone layer triggers bloodthirsty madness throughout the animal kingdom, all mankind - particularly a group of tourists on an overnight hike - will become their prey." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "a 2K scan from the internegative".

Day Of The Animals comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 38.8 GB

Feature: 28.1 GB

The source used for this transfer is in good shape and any print related debris is minimal. That said, when compared to Scorpion Releasing's 2013 Blu-ray release and like Severin Films Grizzly release, this new transfer is a noticeable improvement in every way.

Audio: 4/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English and included with this release are removable English SDH subtitles. This audio track is in good shape, dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced and ambient sounds are well-represented.

Extras:

Extras for this release include reversible cover art, a radio spot for Day Of The Animals (28 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), two TV spots for Day Of The Animals (32 seconds & 55 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a trailer for Day Of The Animals (1 minute 12 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), alternate opening title sequence Something is Out There (38 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival making of featurette titled Something Was Out There: Day Of The Animals 30 Years Later (21 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Animal Wrangler Monty Cox titled Monty Cox Unleashed (18 minutes 10 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Actor Andrew Stevens titled Against Nature (12 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Actor Bobby Porter titled Nature Boy (17 minutes 49 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actress Lynda Day George titled Lynda and The Animals (5 minutes 14 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Stephen Thrower author of 'Nightmare USA' who discusses the Career of Distributor Edward L. Montoro (20 minutes 38 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles) and two audio commentaries: the first audio commentary is with Lee Gambin author of 'Massacred by Mother Nature: Exploring the Natural Horror Film' and the second audio commentary is with Lynda Day George, actor Jon Cedar and moderated by filmmaker Scott Spiegel.

Summary:

Though Days of the Animals was clearly made because of the box office success William Girdler’s previous film Grizzly. To write it off as a Grizzly clone would be doing Day of the Animals a great disservice, since it actually fits better into the nature versus man films that dominated late 1970’s cinema.

From its opening moments Day of the Animals sets a forbidding tone that builds to a fever pitch by the time its moment of truth arrives. The premise is superbly realized and the narrative does a good job balancing moments of terror, and moments where it lets the viewer catch their breath. Another strength of Day of the Animals is how effective the animal attacks are.

Severin Films gives Day of the Animals its best release to date, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer