PLAY DEAD (aka SATAN'S DOG) (1983) / DEVIL DOG: HOUND OF HELL (1978) MOVIE REVIEWS

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Following the worldwide success of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, theaters were flooded with “animals attack” films, featuring everything from terror bears (Grizzly) to killer whales (Orca) to giant rats (Food of the Gods) and even voracious worms (Squirm). Unsurprisingly, there was also a wave of titles featuring crazed carnivorous canines, everything from Dogs (1976), The Pack, Zoltan: Hound of Dracula, and Day of the Animals (all 1977).

Eventually, the genre made its way to US television screens in the form of Devil Dog: Hound of Hell, directed by Curtis Harrington (Queen of Blood, Night Tide) and starring familiar faces Richard Crenna (First Blood), Yvette Mimieux (The Time Machine), and Kim Richards and Ike Eisenman, who had become famous as the extraterrestrial siblings Tony and Tina in Disney’s Escape to Witch Mountain and its sequel, Return to Witch Mountain.

Five years later, the success of Stephen King’s Cujo (both in novel and screen form) launched another spate of predatory pooches, with Dogs of Hell (1983), Monster Dog (1984), and tonight’s second feature, Play Dead aka Satan’s Dog, starring Yvonne De Carlo, and a host of local Texas talent wrestling with a plot that involves a murderous relative trying to lop off the rest of the family tree via mystical powers and her trusty “Rote-weiler,” Greta.

Vanessa Morgan (When Animals Attack, Strange Blood, Evil Seeds) joins filmmaker Gert Verbeeck (ATP: Halcyon) and AC for a rousing chat about all things scary and hairy, including a “Who Would Win” bracket game, dramatic interpretations of video box text, and much more!

Let us know YOUR favorite “Animals Attack” movie in the comments below, and we’ll do our best to feature it in a future episode. We love hearing from you!

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