Brett Simmons directed and Drew Barrymore produced the horror movie “Animal” It was released in a limited release and as a video on demand on June 17, 2014. Elizabeth Gillies, Keke Palmer, Jeremy Sumpter, Eve, and Joey Lauren Adams are among the cast members. The animal is a creature film with an unusual premise: a group of friends go hiking and are attacked by a beast, before hooking up with another group inside an abandoned house and being picked off one by one.
Opening a film with plain white-on-black credits in that instantly recognizable John Carpenter font is a definite way to pique the interest of fans of 1980s-style horror flicks, and this film does just that. The cinematography in Animal is fantastic. The majority of the film takes place at night, and everything is brightly lit.
This picture has a lot of action and a fast pace, and it is all well-recorded and polished. The exceptional quality of this film is not surprising when you consider the superb cast, Drew Barrymore’s role as an executive producer, and Brett Simmons’ direction. The scenery in the forest is breathtaking, and the cabin where the survivors recover has some wonderful production design.
It’s feeding time – Animal (2014)
Animal tells the story of five buddies who embark on a wooded hiking adventure. When Jeff, played by Parker Young, and his stepsister Alissa played by Keke Palmer, were younger, they used to join their parents in these forests. They decide to return with Jeff’s girlfriend Mandy, played by Elizabeth Gillies, Alissa’s boyfriend Matt, played by Jeremy Sumpter, and their friend Sean played by Paul Iacono, after a long absence.
The film opens with a scene in which two married couples, Carl and Vicky and Douglas and Barbara, are being pursued by a mystery beast through the woods. Barbara, our barely introduced character, is killed. Alissa, Matt, Jeff, Mandy, and Sean arrive in the forest to trek a few days later.
Sean is our classic comic relief character, while Jeff plays the alpha male who clearly doesn’t believe in saving mother nature. The film plays highly on interpersonal relationships between the characters. Jeff convinces the others to search for a waterfall that he, Alissa, and their father used to visit as children. The entire shot is rather scenic, making it feel like a self-discovery moment rather than a horror film scene.
Alissa starts asking Jeff to go back to the car since it is getting dark, but Jeff stays true to our alpha male stereotype and keeps trying to reassure her that they are fine. Thankfully, Jeff gives in, and they start walking back to the car. However, Mandy is not happy about walking back to the car in the dark resulting in an argument between her and Jeff. On their way back, Mandy comes across the remains of Barbara’s body along the road. Just then, they hear the scream of the Animal.
Unfortunately for them, the beast that had killed Barbara sees them and starts to chase them. This is the first time we see the creature, even if it was just for a moment. Jeff tries to keep the group calm and collected when they find a cabin in the middle of nowhere. It seems to be the only place they can discover to get away from the creature. However, the beast catches up and attacks Jeff while all the others can do- is watch.
The other four decide to at least save themselves and run to the cabin. Mandy is attacked as she enters the cabin, but the group manages to pull her in and board up the door. Carl, Vicky, and Douglas are found in the cabin, having boarded up the windows and walls to shield themselves from the thing. In the cabin, they find out that three other people are already taking refuge there. They decide to stick together while attempting to eliminate the Animal that is stalking and preying on them.
Once inside, Sean calls 911 and Alissa’s parents to get any sort of help as soon as possible. We soon get acquainted with the three and their personalities. Carl and Vicky are optimistic that they will be rescued soon, while Douglas is pessimistic, which seems understandable considering he saw his wife getting eaten by the monster just a few days back. He isn’t pleased about the new arrivals either.
He thinks that now that they have opened the door to the house, the beast has gotten a scent of fresh meat and will be attacking again soon. The rest of the crew gets to work on strengthening their defenses and barricading the house better. The creature comes for them as Douglas had predicted. It comes close to breaking into the house as well, but they manage to hold it off.
The Animal somehow starts crawling on the roof, so Carl takes Sean and Matt with him to keep an eye out for the creature. The Animal tries to come in through a door, but thankfully the boys, with the help of Mandy and Alissa, are able to block it but not before Carl gets hurt. The scripting combination of Thommy Hutson and Catherine Trillo has created a plot that combines a creature feature, a coldblooded psychological thriller, as tensions between the characters in an abandoned house in the middle of the woods, drive at least one person to the edge of insanity.
Despite the film’s title, the relationships between the human characters when they are shut up in the cabin are the most essential component of the picture. The secrets they share and the concerns that surface, as a result of the experience are the traits that propel the film ahead and keep it from becoming monotonous. These added nuances to the characters make the non-action moments feel equally as vital as the action moments.
Douglas tries to convince everyone to make a run for it because he doesn’t believe staying at the cabin will help. Matt volunteers to take a walkie-talkie and make a dash for the car to get help despite Alissa’s protests. Carl offers to distract the monster with Sean while Matt makes a run for it. While it would be nice to hope things turn out for the better and he is able to make it safely to the car and find help- his screams, as heard over the walkie-talkie, tell a different story.
Douglas gives into his panic and barricades the door, leaving Sean and Carl to perish outside. The girls, thankfully, have enough sense to assist them in getting in through the rear of the house. Due to his stupid decision, Douglas is tied to the stairwell by the group, who have lost faith in him now.
Alissa, suffering from the loss of two people who were closest to her, tries to focus her energies on defeating the Animal and killing it. Overwhelmed by emotion, Mandy tells Alissa that she is pregnant. Meanwhile, Sean panics in the other room and starts reminiscing about all their time together. Not so surprisingly, our comic relief is also gay. He admits to having an affair with Jeff in front of Mandy and Alissa. Just then, the group gets a signal from Matt via his walkie-talkie. He is discovered barely alive in the cellar along with the Animal by the others. They manage to get Matt back upstairs because of Carl, who sacrifices himself in the process.
Douglas suggests that the group use Matt as bait and let the Animal eat him since he is already dying. The group refuses and instead chooses to listen to Alissa, who suggests capturing the Animal inside the home and setting it on fire. Alissa tells Sean to assist her to untie Douglas, but he decides to be the most hated character and beats Matt to death, and accuses the others of being weak.
He claims to be a survivor, which in hindsight, is ironic considering the beast breaks in just at that moment and kills Douglas. While the Animal is busy devouring him, the others sprinkle kerosene throughout the house. Alissa is successful in luring the Animal into the trap. She starts a fire and burns the monster to death.
However, Vicky gets distracted by Carl’s body in the cellar while a second animal enters the scene and attacks Sean. While Mandy does her best to get Vicky out of there in time, the Animal gets to her first. Mandy and Alissa take to the woods to hide, but the Animal seems to be on a killing spree and kills Alissa as well. Mandy does her best to throw the Animal off her scent and reach the car. Just as she gets inside, the second Animal attacks her. She rams into the creature with her car, killing it effectively. Sobbing, our only survivor drives away.
The film’s closing scene shows a third animal sniffing at the carcass of the second Animal, where it grunts angrily, implying a call to the pack.
Blood Thirsty Predator
As with any excellent animal attack video, more of the beast is revealed as the story progresses. This one’s creature design is quite interesting. It features a muscular humanoid torso and a bird-like head. It has hooves for feet and a weird patch of hair on its back. Instead of a bird’s beak, it has a massive set of teeth with which to consume its prey. The creature has a terrible appearance and adds a sense of dread to the proceedings. It’s a compelling creature villain for a horror film in which the Animal is responsible for the majority of the scares.
Throughout the movie, we hope to see where the creature came from or its story, but the film doesn’t reveal the answers to those mysteries. For a significant chunk of the movie, we assume there is only one creature, but towards the last 20 minutes, things start getting intense, and we see two more animals. The movie does great injustice to the exploration of the creature, considering it is a creature feature film.
The audience doesn’t know the creature’s strength during the entirety of the film. All we can figure out is that it has a great sense of smell because of which it can find people to prey upon easily. One can also assume that the Animal is fast and quiet-footed, or maybe I should say quiet-hooved, as it seems to reach its target without anyone realizing.
Why should you watch Animal?
The film has done a great job with the creation of the characters. Douglas, who, together with Vicky and Carl, were already in the cabin when the five friends arrived, creation of panic and tension. He’s a paranoid survivalist who will go to any length to keep his skin safe. He is pessimistic about their current condition and doesn’t understand how aiding others will keep them alive.
His inability to cooperate with the others while they try to carry out their plans provides an interesting twist to their struggle for survival and adds more depth to the plot than a conventional predator-prey encounter. Nolasco brings out the fearful aspect of his character to such a convincing degree that it successfully leads to the film’s dramatic climax.
Animal’s cinematography perfectly complements the creature’s appearance. Shot compositions and camera movements serve to bring a film set mainly in the woods and in a cabin to life. Director Brett Simmons and cinematographer Scott Winig worked together to create a beautiful marriage that helped the film appear more expensive than it was.
It had the vibe of a low-budget horror film with the appearance and polish of major studio production. An animal is more visually appealing due to the high quality of the cinematography and is consequently a better watch than many of the films that fall short in this area.
It is a cottage in the woods film that everyone interested in the horror subgenre should see. It doesn’t add anything to the idea of people being confined in a cabin. Despite this, it does an excellent job of portraying the characters’ fears and the dangerous situation. There’s something to be said for a film that gets the job done while not being completely unique. Animal was precisely that.
It was a film that was well-informed about what it was doing. Through the performances, the appearance, and the directing, it was in capable hands. Even though it didn’t add anything fresh to the table, it was a fun watch. Simply evil, fear lurks in the woods. Absolute chilling creature!!