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.

Dogs belongs in that much-maligned sub-genre of nature-strikes-back movies that underwent a boom in the mid-to-late 70s, in the wake of Jaws. Sure, all manner of animals had gone on the rampage at the movies prior to Jaws (does anyone remember, for instance, Night Of The Lepus – a notably awful 1972 movie about killer rabbits?) but thanks to the phenomenal worldwide success of Spielberg's shark opus, films of this ilk seemed to invade cinema screens on a monthly basis over the next few years, each presenting a new animal bent on munching its way through a cast of Hollywood has-beens and never-weres. Dogs is essentially a canine rip-off of Jaws, with plot developments and characters that virtually run parallel in the two films. It throws in a bit of Psycho too, in a scene where the titular creatures tear apart a pre-Dallas Linda Gray as she attempts to taker a shower! Moody, emotionally detached lecturer Harlan Thompson (David McCallum) works a university in a remote corner of the American Southwest. Adjacent to the university is a top secret government research centre, described by a piece of amusingly vague script laziness as an "accelerator plant where 'classified experimentation' is taking place". Whatever is going on at the plant seems to be affecting the local domestic dog population, with large numbers of once-friendly canines turning on their owners and fleeing into the wild to 'pack', after which they return to randomly attack and kill people in the area. University dean Martin Koppelman (Sterling Swanson) stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the danger, leaving Harlan and a rival lecturer, Michael Fitzgerald (George Wyner), to race around like lunatics in search of a way to save the community from the ever-growing pack of killer canines.Burt Brinckerhoff's film is competently shot and suitably bloody, wisely opting to keep the dog attacks off-screen in the early stages, and showing the death throes and gory injuries of the dogs' victims in more gruesome detail as the movie progresses. Plotwise it is extremely derivative, settling for all the standard clichés and characters whilst attempting absolutely nothing fresh or original. McCallum's bizarre beatnik haircut wins the award for most unintentionally scary aspect of the film - the ex-Man From U.N.C.L.E star gets little opportunity to escape the shackles of his Illya Kuryakin persona here, saddled as he is with a character whose gamut of emotions ranges from moodily unsympathetic to downright rude. There isn't really enough suspense in the build-up to the dog attacks either – far too many of the jolts are telegraphed way in advance and simply fail to generate the intended stomach-in-knots terror. At least the actual dog attacks are passably handled in their own snarling, gruesome way, but overall Dogs is something of a woofer.

My girlfriend told me she saw this movie in California in early 77. She was horrified beyond belief and cannot understand why it is literally no where, and virtually gone. Her friend Dianne and her were around 18-19 years old, after the movie, they ran in unbelievable fear to their apartment complex, struggling with the key. With all the horror movies to date, I am surprised I can't find it, nor was there ever a remake. I would love to find a copy for her, as she has told me many times she has tried to find it and cannot. Does anyone know where it is to be found? If so, please e-mail me @ [email protected]. Thanks, Rick

I was lucky enough to find a bootleg copy of this gem. To see some of Robert Schneiders legendary rare cinematography (uncredited) was truly an a life-changing experience. It's sad that he died from aids (he was one of the first Americans to contract this disease) shortly after the production wrapped. However, he obviously went out with a bang and he will be immortalized through this film. Dogs is so hard to find because it is such a rare film that if you find you just have to hold on to it. I hope this film eventually goes to DVD and it has the proper credit for Robert Schneider. On a scale from 1 to 10 I give this movie an 11. Go find Dogs. You won't regret it! For my name ain't Nathan Arizona!