Night of the Wild (2015) Review

Who Let the Dogs Out

Night of the Wild: (2015): 8 out of 10: Asylum films get a bad rap. Quite correctly, in many cases. But what is up with the hate for this film? I mean really what more could you want from a nature goes wild movie? It has decent practical effects, I’ve seen worse CGI effects, none of the acting is visibly risible, and the action doesn’t let up. 

Giant green meteors land in a rural California village, or perhaps the Hamptons with mountains. It wasn’t all that clear. This somehow causes all the dogs to go crazy, apparently through meteor sound if the one deaf dog is to be believed. This, of course, makes zero sense. Also making zero sense is the characters not noticing the giant green glowing things throughout the landscape. In fairness to the characters, I am pretty sure the meteors were not actually there when filming but were added in post-production with The Asylum’s magical Commodore 64.

I recently viewed the similarly themed The Pack. The Pack is on the surface a much better film. It has better cinematography, scarier looking dogs, an actual plot and most importantly it stars ridiculously attractive Anna Lise Phillips. Night of the Wild has Housewives star, Jill Zarin. (Who in all fairness isn’t all that bad in a limited role as a chew toy). But The Pack has fewer cast members than Night of the Wild has kills in the first ten minutes. Night of the Wild knows why we watch a nature gone wild movie. It isn’t for story, pacing, and a rumination on the struggles of rural America (or Australia in The Pack’s instance).

Night of the Wild is a fun movie that knows it is fun and simply goes about its business. It isn’t obnoxiously self-referential, and it is completely lensed and has a surprisingly good pace. Well worth the watch.