Day of the Animals by Donald Porter

(1977: movie tie-in)

From the back cover

“No one knew what would happen when man’s chemical blundering destroyed the ozone layer in our atmosphere. But in the hills and mountains of the world the effects were already clear. The animals had turned angry─and vicious.

“High in the thin air of the Sierras, a small group of men and women were caught in a struggle that at the same moment was being waged around the world─cut off without weapons─alone against the razoring claw, the piercing beak, the crushing fang of the bird and beast─they were fighting for their lives. . .and losing.”

Review

Day is a fun movie tie-in book, an example of a solid writer making the most of a paper-thin storyline and characters who are one-note caricatures. Porter writes his animals-attack-humans scenes with relish, easily the highlights of the novel, but the rest is merely okay, a minor and forgettable distraction for readers who do not need to care about the characters and do not mind a lot of skim-reading. Note that there are differences between this book and the film version─Porter wrote Day based on the film’s original screenplay, not the shooting script.

#

The film version was released stateside on May 13, 1977. William Girdler directed it.  William W. Norton and Eleanor E. Norton wrote the screenplay, based on Edward L. Montoro.

Christopher George played Steve Buckner. Leslie Nielsen played Roy Jensen. Lynda Day George played Terry Marsh. Richard Jaeckel played Professor MacGregor. Michael Ansara played Daniel Santee. Ruth Roman played Shirley Goodwyn.