The Pack

source: The Long Dark Night

Trailer—The Pack

The Pack

Not bad nature-attacks flick. This one is well made & suspenseful, with great production values and a decent pace. And what a classic final shot! Much better than CUJO or DAY OF THE ANIMALS. 7/10.

A group of vacationers arrive on Seal Island. The island has a mix of vacationers, new residents, and old timers. Then there is the pack of stray dogs. The problem with this movie is that I couldn't care less about the human characters. I don't know their names. I only know Joe Don Baker as an actor. They are mostly nameless, faceless, storyless people. The dogs are slightly more interesting but it's all the same pack action. The attacks aren't scary or thrilling. It's a lot of blah. This ain't Cujo but there is a very nice attack on a VW bug. This needs more attacks and longer attacks. The tension needs to build during the attacks. This is a minor B-horror.

I remember reading the novel of "The Pack" when I was in sixth or seventh grade but I wasn't able to see the movie in the theater when it came out. I was bummed. But thanks to home video, I finally caught up to the movie. I've seen "The Pack" several times now and it's a solid thriller. The cast is good and the dogs are better. The premise is kind of silly but it makes perfect sense in the movie. Watching this movie today I kept staring at my 13 pound dog and wondered if "The Pack" was putting any ideas into her head.

THE PACK (1977) **1/2 Joe Don Baker, Hope Alexander-Willis, Richard B. Shull, RG Armstrong, Ned Wertimer, Bibi Besch, Delos V. Smith, Jr., Richard O' Brien, Sherry Miles, Paul Willson. Affective old school horror film with a simple premise - isolated island community faces a new danger when a pack of ravenous dogs begins attacking the populace, including a vacationing bunch of bankers (read into that as you will metaphor of dog-eat-dog world) leads to a countdown to a face-off in man vs. nature. Told with efficient economy and low-grade chills the veteran character actor cast led with the dependable lout with gravitas Baker, director Robert Clouse makes the most of his seemingly made-for-TV production values and a serviceable screenplay by Robert Clouse based on a novel by David Fisher.

Horror movie about a pack of neglected dogs who go wild and start attacking people on an island. It starts out well enough but kind of drags on and, as a result, loses most of its impact. The movie stars Joe Don Baker and a cast of somewhat familiar faces like R.G. Armstrong and the guy who played Paul on Cheers. What works best is the location filming and the use of real dogs. I know that might sound weird but today everything is CGI fakery so I always find the use of "real" refreshing when watching older movies like this. Anyway, there are no standout scenes and you'll probably forget this a week after you watched it. Worth a look once though.

On a small tourist island, a handful of people is besieged by a pack of wild dogs. What may at first appear to be a TV movie is actually an R-rated bloodfest, as the hungry canines tear into the folks and rack up an impressive body count. The movie has its share of scary moments, and is surprisingly exciting with carefully choreographed sequences of man versus beast. There is no hesitation on veteran action director Robert Clouse's part to show the dogs being killed in equal measure. One great scene has the hero mowing down several of the pack with his truck. Great musical score to boot. Joe Don Baker stars, and several familiar faces, among them Richard Schull, Bibe Besch and R.G. Armstrong, provide strong support. A must-see for action horror fans. Considering the film was made in the 1970s, it feels like it was shot yesterday.