Film

The newly released The Grey features a pack of wolves who are stupid enough to take on Liam Neeson, so to honour it, we decided to look at five other films in which man comes under attack from nature's creatures.

By Dermot Keys

Jaws

Steven Spielberg’s seminal film is the mother of all creature features and the original summer blockbuster. Focusing on a great white shark that treats a seaside community as an all-you-can-eat buffet, Jaws has instilled a fear of open water into generations of film fans.

One of the things that defines the film is the fact that the shark itself is rarely seen, largely because the props team’s mechanical shark had an annoying tendency to sink. Spielberg compensated for this with clever camera tricks, buttock-tightening tension, and that menacing John Williams score. Duh-da. Duh-da. Du-da du-da du-da....

The Swarm

Michael Caine has made his fair share of duff films over the years but this 1970s disaster flick really is a bee movie in every sense. Caine plays an entomologist who somehow gets lumbered with the task of saving Texas from a swarm of super-venomous African killer bees.

It's hard to define what the worst thing is about The Swarm – the woeful acting, plot holes big enough to consume a small planet, or production values that make Prisoner Cell Block H look lavish. Best line? “Argh! There’s a big bee!”

Anaconda

Before Jennifer Lopez changed her name to something that sounds like a toilet-cleaning product, she starred in 1997's Anaconda. This cartoonish film follows a National Geographic team who find themselves on a collision course with the eponymous Amazonian reptile.

Freud would have a field day with this flick, which sees Lopez spend an inordinate amount of time running away from a giant snake. Jon Voight also pops up as a crazy poacher and his chronic overacting leaves you rooting for the computer-generated anaconda.

Grizzly Man

You may not instantly recall the story, but Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend were tragically killed and eaten by a grizzly bear in Alaska in 2003. This documentary examines how failed actor and self-declared “bear expert” Treadwell became obsessed with these grizzly bears, camping in their territory for long periods over 13 years.

His video diaries reveal him to be a bit of a wingnut who could best be described as erratic. It's compelling viewing but you don't have to be Mystic Meg to get a sense of foreboding when you watch him interact with these 1000lb killing machines.

Piranha 3D

This pointless remake of a dodgy 1970s film proved that a 3D turd is still a turd. Most notable for an unashamedly gratuitous scene in which Kelly Brook takes a skinny dip, the film turned out to be every bit as underwhelming as the original.

Misfiring jokes, brutal acting and a plot devoid of imagination make watching this film an endurance event. A conveyor belt of pretty-but-lobotomised types are devoured by shoals of murderous fish in the course of Piranha 3D but that seems almost preferable to the harrowing ordeal of sitting through the bloody film.