Michael Ledo In 1976 California the local college is studying pheromones and pack mentality. There is also a local linear accelerator project. The next thing you know dogs attack. It seems dobermans and German shepherds were very popular. The terror was greatly dramatized as no one knew how to shut a door. An armed party of men are no match for an angry poodle.The restoration was perfect as we can easily make out the yellow shirt with blue and white stripped suit and red stripped tie. The fashion police didn't hand out tickets back then leading to the rise of polyester leisure suits. The weird call to the governor was interesting, noting Jerry Brown was governor at that time. The film flopped at the box office, of course 1976 was a bumper crop year for films.Guide: No swearing, sex or nudity.

Steve Nyland (Squonkamatic) I don't know guys, didn't think this movie was all so silly. Yeah OK, most of the canine cast are pooches who sort of look like they want to play, go walkies and have a snack. Perspective might have something to do with my reaction: I got bit pretty bad as an 11 year old and by a beagle, of all things. Not Snoopy but a vicious snarling little ball of teeth who would not let go and scared the crap out of me enough to turn me into a cat person for most of my life. Only as an adult in what one might refer to as middle ages have I become more fond of dogs. Cats don't care. Dogs celebrate your very existence each time you walk into the room. Mmyesh you do, Pumpkin Butt. I also buy the premise of a swarm/pack/stampede of similar animals or insects having a collective response to stimuli which could provoke group reactions. Imagine if all the millions of mosquitoes in the Adirondacks collectively went after every living warm blooded creature en masse, all at once. Deep Woods Off and your windbreaker would not help for long. Thankfully it isn't going to happen, but if applied up the ladder of life forms one could see how it would be kind of scary to have every domesticated pet turn into my friend the beagle all at once and form up into packs of ravaging bloodthirsty killers.The film also goes out of its way to explain the science of its premise in terms that come across as being at least as plausible as "King Kong Vs. Godzilla" so I was willing to give the film a chance. And it does have one insanely creeped out sequence which I won't ruin. I will cite ALIEN (1979) as my favorite film ever and for about ten minutes "Dogs" had me wondering if I should maybe turn a couple lights on and fix a drink. Freaked the hell out of me, with a sober plausible cast of non-sensational types making it all feel pretty familiar up until that moment. The festival of carnage which then climaxes the film and its obligatory 70s paranoid ending sort of broke the spell, which is too bad as they were onto something there for a while. Yeeeesh. Do I recommend the movie? Sure, if you want to potentially be freaked out by something that really is as skin-crawlingly scary as a character describes it as. The snarling dogs may be unsettling to some viewers but my guess is that was sort of the point -- Horror movies used to be designed to actually scare audiences and they do a fairly good job of it. Though my sensibilities as a film consumer are also rooted in the 1970s & don't rely on mind- blowing special effects, can set aside the absurdity of seeing a poodle mutt depicted as vicious due to personal experience, and watched the movie all alone in the dark with the lights off. Which was the right decision.

jonbecker03-397-369503 I can't QUITE say it's one of my favorite films. Maybe it's one of my favorite independent films. Or one of my favorite HORROR films. Or to be more specific, one of my favorite animal fear films. It certainly is my favorite film in which dogs are the monsters.I was a teenager at the time, so I guess that is why the film made such an impression on me. The film is an example of that ineffable quality called "film craftsmanship." I can't define it, but I know it when I see it. (Or at least I think I do.)The director, Burt Brinkerhoff, spent almost his entire career in television. "Acapulco Gold," Brinerkoff's other feature, also delivers the goods.A film that really entertains is a "very good" film to me. And an "excellent" film is one that really entertains in an IMPRESSIVE manner. In other words, a film that packs a punch. And "Dogs," despite its flaws, is such a film, one fully deserving its ten star rating. It's the kind of film that's so good that you want it to be even better. You want it to be an all time classic.I know Burt Brinkerhoff knows how a thriller should be directed. I guess that in America, Hitchcock is thought of as the king of the thrillers and most thriller-directors imitate him or are at least inspired by him. In which case Brinkerhoff learned well from the Master.The writing is surprisingly literate. The situations are suspenseful. And as for that ending....well, I won't give it away. Let's just say that, like the movie as a whole, it really packs a punch. Tomalin is such a good writer that I was inspired to do some research on him. The man also wrote Brinkerhoff's other feature, "Acapulco Gold." The screenplay for that film isn't quite as literate, yet it contains some of the same kind of "nastiness" that is present in "Dogs." Tomalin just wrote those two screenplays, while also working as a driver on "Bull Durham" and an assistant on "The Hudsucker Proxy." He ended up running a restaurant in Northampton, Massachusetts. (If I have the right O'Brian Tomalin.) It's a shame he wasn't more prolific. The man really can write.David McCallum plays the lead with style and authority. His character is that of the stereotyped maverick scientist who is aware of the "danger," despite the fact that no one believes him (at first, that is). If you watch disaster pictures or horror flicks, you've seen this character dozens of times. In this case, McCallum plays the "renegade intellectual" part as a fun loving drunk. It's a shame he didn't have more chances to do leads in films.Sandra McCabe is good as the leading lady, McCallum's girlfriend. She had an active twelve-year career in films and television. Then (like many other actresses), she appears to have left the industry in order to concentrate on her marriage and family life.George Wyner plays a scientist who is more "careerist oriented" than McCallum. The Wyner character, called Michael Fitzgerald, at first doesn't believe in McCallum's theory with respect to the dogs. Yet in time he "sees the light" and ends up collaborating with McCallum. Thus, Wyner also plays a stereotyped role, the doubter who eventually becomes convinced and ends up "doing the right thing." It's a "stock" character, sure, yet Wyner plays it well.Linda Gray, who plays George Wyner's girlfriend....well, Linda Gray is HOT. She later found fame in "Dallas" and became one of the entertainment industry's conspicuously "successful" Beautiful People. Of course she was always one of the Beautiful People. It's a shame she didn't stick with making b films. (Though she did provide a voice for the independently produced and released animation feature, "Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night.") The world of b films and independent productions really needed her and could have put her to good use....Bob Steadman's photography is good. I mean "good" in a funky/slightly trashy low budget kind of way. I know next to nothing about cinematography. I don't know how THIS kind of cinematography differs from the slick major studio/big budget approach to the craft. Yet I know that I really LIKE this approach to photographing films. Steadman specialized in shooting low budget films at the time. He did "Hammer," a Fred Williamson action film which I haven't seen, in the seventies, and brought his own kind of funky glory to "Executive Action," "Good Guys Wear Black," and Brinckerhoff's "Acapulco Gold" (all of which I have seen).John Wright's editing is choppy, yet it has a certain kind of rough-cut power. (This was his first feature film. He went on to do "Acapulco Gold," then went on to television and eventually ended up dong Major Motion Pictures.) I LIKE Wright's editing. However, the print of "Dogs" that I happened to see appeared to have about one reel worth of footage missing toward the end........Alan Oldfield's musical score? Well, I didn't notice it. Which means that apparently it was effective. I read somewhere that you're not supposed to notice a film's musical school. It's supposed to "just be there," doing it's job, functioning as part of the picture. Oldfield also did the score for "The Astral Factor," which I saw. His music for that film didn't make much of an impression on me, so i guess he knows how to do his job.So just about everybody associated with "Dogs" should stand up and take a bow (wow). This film is definitely worth seeing for anybody who likes horror, thrillers, disaster pictures, or just plain movies in general. It's a shame that there is such little interest in low budget horror films among the general population....

Brian T. Whitlock (GOWBTW) When they say, gone to the dogs, they really mean it. In "Dogs",man's best friend maybe man's worst enemy. In a California valley, there are some sightings of attack. The cattle and livestock are being killed off. By what? Wolf? Coyote? Mountain lion? Well, the mountain lion was not it, so it has to be canine. Well it was neither wolf, nor coyote but the the domestic cousin, the dog. In the daytime, they are docile. But when the nighttime comes, they become instant killing machines. Each night, when the moon is full, the dogs gather in packs. And breed of it is no big deal. These canine menaces kill without mercy. They slaughter the livestock, but one time in the day, they barked and attacked the people at the dog show they set up. What is going on? Well, two college professors have studied the pheromones earlier, and they are suggesting that it's a factor. But one night, they get the shock of their lives for the first time. Whatever it is, the answer is inconclusive. Why would man's best friend would ever turn on you? I would not advise finding a new pet, or banning dogs out of your life because of this movie? Instead of popcorn, I advise dog biscuits, bones, and plenty of dog food. You'll need it! 2 out of 5 stars.