DVD Review:: Animal Apocalypse (Featuring Nightwing!)

My dreaded birthday rolled around again a little while back and all I could think to want was some Amazon flavored credit to put to use filling the unsightly holes in my DVD collection. Imagine if you dare, an adult human in this day and age living without a physical copy of the 1992 LAMBERTA BAVA-directed JOANA PACULA thriller BODY PUZZLE; it's enough to make your heart sob. OK, maybe that one is more gravy than essential but really all I'm asking for is a functioning video store within arms reach at all times- is that so wrong? Regardless, I am happy to say I was able to spackle a crack that has been bugging me for years with the acquisition of a 4-movie set aptly titled ANIMAL APOCALPYSE! It's one of those modestly priced MILL CREEK numbers with zero frills, no bell in sight, an absence of whistles and an instantly dated cover but guess what? It's secretly hiding a snappy and highly coveted by me, widescreen version of ARTHUR (LOVE STORY) HILLER's 1979 killer bat opus NIGHTWING!!

Yay, I soooo need that! First of all, in my head, it's the unofficial companion piece to my beloved PROPHECY and secondly I cherish and value it as an important stepping stone in my love of the genre- no matter how hard folks try to convince me it stinks (see also THE HEARSE). I wrote a review for it way back HERE and by reading it, you can see that I'm totally aware that NIGHTWING can be truly long winded and boring at times but is beautifully photographed, has an awesome score, features the irresistible duo of KATHRYN (THE SENDER) HARROLD and NICK (DEATH SHIP) MANCUSO and boasts at least one super exciting scene in which a man cowardly drives over his wife's head in an effort to save himself. Plus it just takes me back; NIGHTWING will always be bigger in my head than it actually is in the real world and that's fine by me because I live in my head and not the real world anyway.

Truth told, NIGHTWING has been available on Amazon as one of those made on demand DVD-R doohickeys but I gotta say I'm intuitively suspicious of those things. To be recordable, aren't they missing some layer that makes them more permanent? I have no idea what I'm talking about and here I am spreading rumors. Oh well, suffice to say the DVD-R version is more expensive and has less content. ANIMAL APOCALPYSE comes with three other free movies and free is a good price for them because they're not so hot. There's BATS: HUMAN HARVEST the sequel nobody wanted to 1999's BATS, FATAL CONTACT: BIRD FLU IN AMERICA an ABC TV movie that's mostly just depressing and finally SyFy Channel's KAW (2007). Hey, I actually kinda liked KAW, it has a decent cast with SEAN PATRICK FLANERY, STEPHEN McHATTIE and recently deceased, legendary THE BIRDS star ROD TAYLOR and I thought the effects were pretty cool.

I admit I've got a soft spot for cheap-o compilation sets in general but really this bundle is all about NIGHTWING. If you're a fan too, this is an affordable and decent enough looking option. It's not anywhere near the HD realm but it's certainly way beyond crusty old VHS. Why, just check out these picture post card screen shots:

NOTE: And please remember that NIGHTWING, like all killer bat movies, is a goof. In real life bats are super nice and helpful and adorable. They do a zillion times infinity less damage to the world than humans do and are basically flying kittens. There's a big stupid speech in NIGHTWING that tries to persuade you to think that bats are evil or something so don't listen to it. Bats are the best and I'll have you know that in any scenario that concerns bats vs. humans, I'll be on team bat.