The Pack (1977)

For the first official review here, we're gonna start off with 1977's The Pack, directed by Robert Clouse and starring Joe Don Baker, along with familiar character actors, R. G. Armstrong and Richard B. Shull.

In the 1970s, there was a wealth of Nature/Animals Vs. Man pictures coming out; Frogs, Grizzly, Day of the Animals, and of course, The Pack. All of these titles tended to have some sort of "message" within them, which usually amounted to "don't mess with nature."

Immediately following the opening credits, we know we're in for a good time as a horse peacefully grazes in an open field. Suddenly, the creature is spooked by....something....and tears off across the countryside, with its predator on its heels.

With The Pack, the story center on a remote slice of Heaven named Seal Island. Only a handful of people actually live there year round, but during the summer months, it's populated by vacationers from big cities. Unlike most vacationers who usually leave their garbage behind, these vacationers habitually leave behind dogs which they buy at the start of the summer. As it turns out, this is a pretty common practice on Seal Island, being that there’s a whole pack of scared, likely rabid, wandering pooches running free.

From there on, the titular Pack terrorizes the remaining islanders, as well as a small group of fish-out-of-water vacationers.

Joe Don Baker (fresh from the original Walking Tall and the MST3K classic, Mitchell) stars as Jerry, the local know it all when it comes to technology, animals, and being an all around cool guy. Jerry is the sort of the guy who would probably tell anecdotes (not “stories”, mind you...his would have some deep meaning behind them) to a bar room full of listeners. You’d probably want to buy him a beer, too, just so you could say you hung out with a cool S.O.B. like Jerry. Everyone on the island likes him and he's greeted at the local watering hole with all the gusto of a "Cheers" episode. Essentially, Jerry is a man for all seasons when it comes to living on Seal Island -- he's even been building his new bride (and her son) a brand new house with an ocean view!

Aside from Joe Don Baker, Armstrong, and Shull, the rest of the cast is pretty standard 70’s stock acting. Among them, is Paul Wilson (who would easily win in a Phillip Seymour Hoffman look-alike contest) in the role of Tommy.

Alright, let’s face it, the real reason you’d want to see a movie about a bunch of dogs terrorizing some people is for the cool scenes of dog attacks. And there are plenty! One of the cooler things about older movies like this one is how many of the stunts and effects gags were done usually in-camera. Today, all that crap would be fixed in post-production with some CGI, but not here...oh no. Predating Cujo by a few years, there are some seriously intense dog attacks on display! One thing I’m still trying to get my head around is how some of the sequences were completed without any harm coming to the dogs themselves -- as there definitely don’t appear to be any puppets or actors in dog suits (like Cujo).

In the end, the remaining people hole themselves up in Jerry’s house and prepare for a life or death battle with The Pack. If you’re into 70’s drive-in movies, then I strongly recommend checking this one out if you can find it (as of this writing, it’s OOP on VHS and there don’t appear to be any DVD release plans any time soon). See it!