The Pack (1977)

Dir: Robert Clouse

Dad teaching junior how to deal with responsibility, tie it to a tree in the forest

Summer has ended and the tourists to Seal Island are boarding the ferry to return home. They take with them the memories of the holiday and the puppy they picked up a the start of the summer. Only memories of their beloved pet for a season for their New York apartment is much too small for a growing family and a growing dog, best to leave the animal behind in the forest of Seal Island.

There is one last tourist group visiting the island for a week of hiking and fishing. Good ole dad, Jim Dodge (Richard O'Brien) has hatched an ingenious plot for getting his overweight, face always in a book, mope of a son Tommy (Paul Wilson) laid by leaving him alone with Dad's 'secretary', a woman of the world. The regulars on the island include Jerry (Joe Don Baker), his son, his fiancee Millie and her son, crusty old fisherman Cobb (played by the great R.G. Armstrong), Hardiman (Richard B. Shull) and cantankerous blind man McMinnimee (Delos V. Smith jr.). Tourist and Islanders will soon be thrown together in a fight for their lives.

Does anyone have rabies vaccine handy?

The abandoned dog from the beginning of the film wanders the forest until it comes across a feral pack of dogs taking shelter from the rain in a disused barn; animals like itself who also were abandoned. Riddled with diseases, including rabies, the pack takes to killing horses to satiate its hunger. But that is not enough and the dogs soon turn their attention to the humans.

Energetically directed by Robert ENTER THE DRAGON Clouse (who even manages a few cool shots despite the low budget and location shoot),

Joe Don Baker demonstrates how to correct bad dogs

this animals on the rampage film delivers an abundance of thrills. Obviously inspired by the blockbuster JAWS and hoping to cash in on an audience seeking more of the same, THE PACK doesn't have the depth of its inspiration but it moves along at a quick pace and isn't afraid to splash around the blood and gore (surprising considering the PG rating). The climax of the film seemingly draws from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD with dogs in place of zombies as the remaining humans on the island hole up in a house and take to boarding up windows and pushing furniture in front of doors in a desperate attempt to keep the hounds at bay while they await the weekly scheduled ferry.

The Woof! The Woof! The woof is on fire!

The latest in anti-siege technology - an umbrella

*** out of ****