Best (and Worst) Killer Animal Films: C.C.C Issue #86

 

Top 10 Best (and Worst) Killer Animal Films

Happy Halloween!

To close out this year’s Creepy Cinema marathon, I’m looking back on the entire sub-genre of killer animal films, because between October 2015 and October 2020 I’ve reviewed over sixty films to feature animals amok, so it’s about time to narrow it down to the best of the best and the worst of the worst. Obviously this list isn’t definitive, because there are just so many flicks that fall into the category, and though I’ve seen a lot of them, there are still many I’ve yet to see. Perhaps one day I could do a revision to these lists, but for now, this is what I’ve got as my favourites and my most-hated. 

Before we get started, here’s some criteria. A natural horror film is defined as follows: a subgenre of horror films that features natural forces, typically in the form of animals or plants, which pose a threat to human characters. I’ll go a step further and disqualify any films that don’t feature an animal as the primary antagonistic force from beginning to end. Unfortunately, that means The Edge doesn’t make the cut, because while a Kodiak bear is the primary threat to the main characters for a large portion of the film, it comes into the story too late and leaves the story too early to truly count as the overarching threat—not to mention The Edge is more of a survival thriller, anyway. This also disqualifies films like Frozen (2010), Ssssss and The Night of 1000 Cats.

I’m also not counting any giant monster movies or dinosaur movies, because those are distinct enough to be part of their own respective subgenres, therefore such classics as Jurassic Park, Godzilla, and King Kong will not be counted among the greatest killer animal films. The only exceptions I’ll make are if the giant monster in question is merely a giant version of a pre-existing creature, without any notable modifications. So, for instance, I wouldn’t count any versions of The Lost World, because those are dinosaur films, and that includes the 1960’s version which has lizards and alligators standing in for dinosaurs.

Mutated animals are not out of the question, so long as they don’t exceed too big of a size, intruding into giant monster territory. I’ll use Peter Jackson’s King Kong as a baseline: he was 25 feet tall, so anything that size or smaller counts, mutated or not, and anything bigger that isn’t a real animal does not.

I’ll start with the worst movies, and save the best for last. First, here are some dishonourable mentions. Don’t watch The Killer Shrews (1959), Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo (1977), or Prophecy (1979), because even though they’re slightly more entertaining than the following ten films, they are still very, very bad.

At number ten, we have Orca: The Killer Whale from 1977. This might not be one of the absolute worst, but it’s definitely one of the most disappointing, for me. There was potential to be more than just one of the many immediate Jaws rip-offs, but unconvincing effects, dismal pacing, and unmemorable characters make Orca a poor imitation. I’d hoped to get a lot more out of Orca than I did, and haven’t had any desire to watch it again beyond the so-bad-it’s-funny ending. 

                For number nine, it is 2004’s The Curse of the Komodo. I’d heard this one was bad, but I had no idea it would really be every bit as bad as I’d heard. If you’ve seen Komodo from 2000, which Curse is barely a sequel to, that will make watching it even worse, because the highlights of Komodo are lowlights here. Bad effects, bad script, despicable characters played by incapable actors, and pathetic excuses for action sequences. Some might find it so-bad-it’s-good, but I was just put off by its incompetence.

                At number eight, the cult classic The Giant Gila Monster from 1959. It is anything but a classic to me. I saw this one in my early days of monster movie fandom, and it’s the first time I remember being completely disappointed by a giant monster movie. It’s not offensively bad like some others, but I loathe how boring it is, with its forgettable monster scenes, uninteresting characters, and extremely cheap production values. Hollywood, if you’re listening, please remake this movie next, because it has modern day potential, and it wouldn’t take much to make something better than the original.

                The number seven spot belongs to Grizzly, one of the first Jaws rip-offs, coming out a year after in 1976. Seriously, a premise about a giant killer bear should have been easy to make at least moderately exciting, but Grizzly adheres too close to the Jaws formula and fails to deliver in the few scenes where the bear actually shows up. It also fails to offer any characters to root for, any memorable action scenes, or much of anything to remember at all. It might be worth a meager laugh or two, but not much else.

                For number six I’m going with Empire of the Ants from 1977. Honestly, I’m surprised it’s this low on the list, but there are just that many worse ones, and it’s far from the worst ant-centric movie I’ve ever seen. A decent premise is completely wasted, made all the more disappointing because it’s from director Bert I. Gordon, who made the fairly entertaining Earth vs. the Spider and the so-bad-it’s-good The Food of the Gods, but Empire of the Ants is neither. Piss poor effects, awkward “scares” and nothing worth seeing.

The number five slot belongs to Tentacles. Wow, 1977 was not a good year for killer animal films! It’s not that much of a surprise, given how the market became flooded with productions trying to cash in on the success of a particularly successful shark movie from 1975 (I may have mentioned it once or twice before), but Tentacles has to be the worst 70’s sea-faring eco-horror flick that I’ve seen. The story is scattered, the creature doesn’t deliver, and worst of all, it’s just dull—not so bad it’s good, not genuinely good, just…snooze-worthy. Even though it has a few moments of hilarity generated by the sheer atrocity of what’s on screen, it still doesn’t make the whole rest of the boring affair worth sitting through. Save yourself the 102 minutes and do something good with your life instead. 

 

At number four is Snake Island from 2002. If you enjoy seeing snakes slithering around and bobbing their heads to music and watching people from their POV, then you might find something to enjoy in Snake Island. I, for one, detest this movie. I first saw it at way too young of an age and found it mostly boring, but when I recently revisited it, I found it unbelievably crappy, sleazy, and pathetic. The scares aren’t scary and the humour isn’t funny. There’s nothing but lame jump scares and teasing of deadly snakes that amounts to nothing. It feels like a bunch of people went on an African safari and decided to make a movie while they were at it. Not a single likable character, not a single scary moment, and so cheap-looking it makes Open Water look like Jaws. Snake Island just has so little to offer I don’t see how anyone could recommend it.   

 

Number three is the newest movie of the bunch: Tsunambee, from 2015. Giving it the designation of “movie” is about as generous as I can be. This biblically-fuelled fusion of an apocalypse and giant creature invasion doesn’t recognize its own concept as a joke in the way Sharknado does, and fails to even become so-bad-its-good. It is just plain bad. Everything that could be wrong with it is, and even in the realm of low-budget schlock, it scrapes the bottom of the barrel. The more I think about it the more detestable I find it. Utterly irredeemable, Tsunambee is just a train wreck, and quite possibly the worst movie to come out in 2015. 

 

Number two—and yes, what an appropriate number for it—is the sequel to the 2010 remake of Piranha: 2012’s Piranha 3DD. Not only the second-worst killer animal film I’ve ever seen, but one of the worst films I can recall from the entire decade. I’m slightly biased in my hatred toward this sequel because I love the 2010 Piranha so much, but my bias is very slight because it really is that bad, and it didn’t have to do that much to be an acceptable follow-up. When it failed to feature the giant adult piranhas promised in the cliff hanger ending of the first, it crashed right out of the gate and skidded through the mud all the way to the finish line. There are so many memorable parts for all the wrong reasons, from a pointless David Hasselhoff cameo to a piranha literally swimming into a girls nether regions, that it’s no wonder the studio dumped this piece of trash on VOD instead of giving it a proper release. The fact it makes the sequel to the original Piranha (Piranha II: The Spawning) look good in comparison sums up just how repulsive it really is.

And finally, in the number one spot, my most-hated killer animal film: the loathsome, embarrassing, coma-inducing TV movie from the worst year for killer animal films, 1977…It Happened at Lakewood Manor. This little turd also goes by the title Ants, and is about killer ants that turn a hotel upside down (not literally, that would’ve made for an infinitely more interesting movie), but it doesn’t manage to wring a single drop of excitement out of the simple premise. Maybe it’s not fair to be so harsh on a 70’s made-for-TV flick, but even with that stipulation, I can’t forgive the pitiful special effects, extreme censorship of anything worth seeing, and bizarre/dumb moments like characters breathing through rolled up magazines to avoid being suffocated by the ant swarms. Seriously, it’s just so bad I don’t even recommend checking it out for curiosity’s sake or for a laugh or two. Just stay away.

    Alright, with the worst out of the way, let’s move on to the best. A few honourable mentions: Cujo (1983), Black Sheep (2006), and The Grey (2011). All three films are very different from one another, and are all pretty good in their own ways, but they don’t quite achieve top ten status over these others.

    Just barely getting in at number ten is Roar from 1981. There’s a massive disconnect between what the filmmaker was trying to say with this movie and what the viewer will take away from it, plus it’s not well written or well edited, but I have to give it a spot because of the extreme visceral reaction I had while watching it. These are real animals that are really attacking people, and it’s a truly harrowing watch. Roar shouldn’t even exist, it couldn’t be made today, and it’s just so baffling that I can’t deny it’s one of the most gripping films to feature wild animals attacking humans.

    Number nine is Deep Blue Sea, the best shark movie of 1999—and, some would argue, one of the best shark movies in general. It’s a high-tech version of the classic science experiment gone wrong trope we’ve seen a million times over, this time with vicious mako sharks that are significantly smarter, hungrier, and more vicious than usual. The cast is pretty good, which makes the average characters more fun to root for, and even though the cgi is dated, the rest of the special effects are pretty good. This came out amidst a resurgence of killer animal flicks in the late 90’s/early 2000’s, and I don’t think many will argue that it’s one of the most entertaining.

                For number eight I’m going with 2007’s Rogue. The first time I saw Rogue I was pretty underwhelmed because all I wanted to see was a giant killer crocodile eat a bunch of people, but when I gave it another watch, I found it to be a more grounded, suspenseful story than I first realized, and now after having watched so many killer animal movies, I find it’s among the better ones out there. Though still flawed in a few ways, Rogue delivers high-quality special effects in the moments when the croc makes its impactful appearances, believable characters that carry the rest of the film, and an interesting setting for a familiar premise. Though probably too slow for many viewers, I appreciate the craft at work here, and it builds up to a tense conclusion—probably one of the best killer animal movie endings ever. 

 

Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds from 1963 takes the number seven spot. It’s achieved the status of classic—something few killer animal films manage to do—and it’s even considered one of the best directing efforts from the master of suspense. It may be slow in the first act, but the time and care is put in to make the cast of characters interesting and sympathetic so that by the time the birds actually descend on humanity it feels truly scary and believable. It’s amazing how scary Hitchcock was able to make the avian creatures, especially the crows in particular, and while it’s had a lasting impact on the sub-genre and the entire genre of horror, I still don’t find it as consistently entertaining or as interesting as some other killer animal movies. Not to take away from the high quality filmmaking, but it lacks in some areas that make me love the killer animal sub-genre, which is why it ranks a little lower than might be expected. 

 

Number six is the classic giant ant invasion Them! that came out the same year as the original Godzilla in 1954. Sure, it might be dated by today’s standards and seem overly familiar because it’s been copied and emulated and riffed on so many times since its release, but Them! holds up as one of the best of the 50’s atomic horror films, and has so many shots and moments that have become iconic that it can’t be ignored. It’s up there with Creature from the Black Lagoon and Godzilla as one of my favourite horror movies from that decade, and remains the best big bug movie ever made. 

 

Even though it’s not nearly as classic or as well-scripted as some of the films in the previous slots, Anaconda scores the number five spot on this list largely due to my undeniable nostalgia for the giant snake film. 1997’s Anaconda was one of the earliest killer animal movies I saw, and it left an impression on me. I love snakes, I love the Amazon rainforest, and I love a good adventure film, so it checks all those boxes, but it also delivers some cool practical effects for the snakes, a generous helping of action, and above-average production values (for a snake movie, anyway). Not every character is that great, but enough of them are, and it just has a sense of fun about it while also managing to be thrilling and harrowing and freaky. I can definitely give Anaconda plenty of credit for the origins of my obsession with natural horror films. 

 

 At number four is Eight Legged Freaks from 2002. Sometimes (but definitely not every time) a B-movie premise like this (giant spiders attacking a small town) gets a big studio’s attention and is produced on a higher level than usual, and it turns out way better than it would have on a lower budget. Eight Legged Freaks is definitely an example of that, because had it not been for the good cast, big action scenes, and (at-the-time) high-quality visual effects, it probably would have been just another disposable piece of creature feature exploitation. Instead, it’s a funny, quirky, satisfactory giant spider thrill ride, and while it might not achieve any kind of memorably suspenseful scenes like some other killer animal films lower on this list, it manages to be consistently entertaining from start to finish, and is highly re-watchable for that reason. 

 

Number three goes to Lake Placid (1999): the best killer crocodile film ever made, despite what many critics and other horror fans might say. It didn’t get the love it deserved when it came out; I guess people just expected a standard horror flick, but it’s basically a horror-comedy, with many purposeful, well-timed jokes and gags, but also a decent amount of jumps and thrills. Not everything about it has aged well, such as the first big reveal of the crocodile when the group is awkwardly attacked by a brown bear and the croc inadvertently saves them by eating it. For the most part, though, the scenes with the croc work, and more importantly, the scenes without it work too, thanks to great casting and witty dialogue. Lake Placid is one of the few killer animal films I can watch again and again, and even though it was just trying to copy what Anaconda did a couple years earlier only with a big croc instead of a big snake, I think it did an even better job.

We’re getting close to the end of the list, and the top two spots feature two very different films. Runner-up for best killer animal film goes to the remake of the 1978 film of the same name, 2010’s Piranha 3D. I made my unabashed love for this gleefully over-the-top-tits-and-gore-filled creature feature as clear as I could in my review, and I don’t know if I have much else new to say about it that I haven’t already said before. It’s not high art, it’s not destined to be a classic, and it’s exploitative, but in these regards, it’s amazing, and very true to the original Piranha, which itself was a rip-off of my favourite killer animal film. Can you guess which one? Let’s get to it. 

 

Here we are, my number one favourite killer animal film of all time! You already knew what it would be before you got to it, didn’t you? Of course it had to be what’s considered the first blockbuster, the biggest movie of 1975, the one that made a whole generation afraid to go in the water. Was there ever any doubt that it would be Jaws? It’s not really fair, is it, to place Jaws in competition with every other killer animal movie ever made? Because there’s no contest. Jaws was the best film of its kind when it came out, and it remains so to this day. The premise certainly wasn’t the first of its kind, but Steven Spielberg elevated the material to unimaginable heights. It’s the only killer animal film I can think of to win an Academy Award, and it’s certainly the most successful in terms of box office and lasting impact. It’s the best there ever was, and perhaps the best there ever will be. Jaws is the ultimate killer animal film, because in addition, it is one of the greatest films in the entire history of cinema. 

This concludes the seventh year of Clayton’s Creepy Cinema! I can’t believe I’ve been able to keep up with this tradition for so many years in a row, but I plan on bringing it back again next year, perhaps with more random selections. Thanks for reading, have a safe and happy Halloween, and hopefully you have some new horror movies to add to your watch list!