William Girdler (1947–1978)

Steve Buckner (Christopher George) leads a group of ill-prepared hikers onto a remote mountain for a few days walking in the great outdoors. Unfortunately the trip coincides with ozone depletion causing animals to get organised and subsequently go berserk on any humans in the vicinity. Director William Girdler intersperses some nice cinematography with group melodramatics and animal attacks with human insanity. The best animal attack sequence is probably the leaping rats, while Leslie Nielsen as a bonkers marketing executive probably provides the best overall moment by going completely insane stripping to the waist and going mano mano with a rampaging grizzly. There's an environmental messages of a sort in the mix somewhere, but it's slightly lost in all the slavering lunacy.… (more)