Dangerous zoo animals escape from their cages and run amok in the city after drinking water contaminated by PCP (a hallucinogenic drug also known as angel dust, busy bee, peace powder, zombie dust and jet fuel).
Technically speaking, Franco Propseri's Wild Beasts is far from a good film, with clumsy direction, terrible performances and diabolical dialogue throughout; that said, it sure is entertaining, a cheesy trash-fest full of unintentional laughs and OTT death scenes, and what has got to be the greatest 'cheetah chasing a car' scene in movie history (on account of there being no other contenders for the title).
The bloody death and destruction on offer includes stampeding cattle running down pedestrians, rats devouring a couple having sex in a car, a woman's head stomped by an elephant, a seeing-eye dog savaging his master (he didn't see that coming!), and a savage polar bear attack on a bunch of kids (who, having drunk some PCP themselves, also become killers!).
This being an early-80s Euro-horror, there is also some incredibly un-PC content which only adds to the bonkers exploitation vibe: not only does Prosperi deliver a gratuitous topless shot of obnoxious pubescent schoolgirl Suzy (Louisa Lloyd ) within the first few seconds, but there is enough real animal violence on display to give PETA supporters an instant coronary—animals were most definitely harmed during the making of this motion picture (sucks to be a rat in the European horror movie business).
6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.
