GRIZZLY (1976) d. William Girdler (USA) SQUIRM (1976) d. Jeff Lieberman (USA) THE FOOD OF THE GODS (1976) d. Bert I. Gordon (USA) In the wake of Steven Spielberg's Jaws from 1975, drive-ins and hardtop theaters alike were suddenly overrun by creatures with a taste for human flesh. Intrepid and imaginative independent filmmakers proved that almost any member of the animal kingdom could be transformed into a successful box-office menace. Three standout entries from 1976—Grizzly, Squirm, and The Food of the Gods—perfectly capture the exuberant creativity and unapologetic pulp appeal of the Nature Strikes Back Eco-horror boom. William Girdler's Grizzly distilled the Jaws formula into a lean, backwoods thriller, replacing the great white with an enormous, man-eating bear stalking campers in a national park. Made on a modest budget but packed with confidence, suspense, and fantastic production value, Girdler demonstrated that resourcefulness and sharp pacing could outweigh huge Hollywood razzle dazzle, and his able cast of Christopher George, Andrew Prine, and Richard Jaeckel helped cement Grizzly as one of the most successful independent horror films of the decade and a benchmark for the animals-attack cycle. If Grizzly was all Ursa Major muscle, Jeff Lieberman's Squirm was all wriggling annelid Ick Factor. After a freak storm sends electrically charged earthworms to the surface, an ordinary Georgia town finds itself under siege by thousands of ravenous invertebrates. Lieberman and his players approach the outrageous premise with a straight face and an inventive visual style, creating a film that is simultaneously unsettling, funny, and delightfully bizarre. Mr. BIG himself, Bert I. Gordon was already celebrated as the master of gigantism when he returned to familiar territory with The Food of the Gods, very loosely adapting H. G. Wells into a gleefully chaotic tale of mysterious goop bubbling up from the earth, creating giant rats, wasps, chickens, and other oversized terrors. Tom Burman's ambitious creature effects combined with cringe-worthy footage of real-life animals in jeopardy embody the anything-goes energy that made '70s genre cinema so fascinating. Join AC and his beastly panel of guests (Joyce Boss, Damien Glonek, Tracy Mercer, Vanessa Morgan, Steven Peros) as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the YEAR OF THE ANIMALS! ----------------------------------------------------------- JOYCE MIHARA BOSS teaches world literature and cinema, myth, and Japanese popular culture at Wartburg College. Her academic publications and presentations have focused on various topics related to Godzilla, yōkai, global fandom, and Japanese religion and folklore. DAMIEN GLONEK is best known as the co-creator of Living Dead Dolls, which holds the record for the longest continuously running horror themed dolls. He is also co-host of the horror podcast, Discover the Horror. In Damien's spare time, he collects horror movie posters, watches horror movies, reads about watching horror movies and talks about reading and watching horror movies to anyone that will listen. TRACY MERCER is an Emmy-nominated TV/Film executive-turned-producer who worked on Ang Lee's Hulk, Aeon Flux, Punisher, and Invictus, before transitioning to producing CBS' hit series Madam Secretary, Five Flights Up, Worldbreaker, and the upcoming horror film, The Autopsy of Albert Kemper. Mercer was a contributor to #1 Amazon best-sellers, Giant Beast Cinema and Cinema Bizarro, and co-hosted the long running comedy podcast, My Favorite Shtty Movie. VANESSA MORGAN is the author of several movie reference guides (When Animals Attack, Strange blood, Evil Seeds & Meow!), all available from Amazon https://amzn.to/3Hzm0wN. She's also the creator of the websites https://cat-movies.com and https://traveling-cats.com. STEVEN PEROS is the editor and contributor to Giant Beast Cinema and Cinema Bizarro (both reaching #1 on Amazon). Steven is best known for writing Peter Bogdanovich's The Cat's Meow, starring Kirsten Dunst. He is VP of Creative Affairs for Cineverse, home of the Terrifier series. ---------------------------------------------------------- Keep Searching, Keep Exploring, and, most of all, Keep Sharing the Scare!
