Your Complete Guide to Animal Planet’s Monster Week 2015

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Killer Hornets from Hell, Monster Island, Monster Croc Invastion, The Cannibal in the Woods: Are these the titles of Animal Planet’s “Monster Week” programming or the newest slate of films Roger Corman’s selling at Cannes?

Discovery Channel gets huge ratings with its annual “Shark Week” so Animal Planet has for the past couple years been trying to get “Monster Week” off the ground as its own special time of the year. “Monster Week” kicks off on Animal Planet yet again this Sunday night, May 17th.

Last year’s “Monster Week” saw the premieres of special episodes of “River Monsters,” sensationalistic programs with titles like “Man-Eating Zombie Cats,” and even an Asylum-produced nature gone amok movie.

This year’s line-up boasts a slew of original “reality” and allegedly fact-based programming with titles and subject matters that sound like they’re straight out of a b-moviemaker’s wet dream.

Here’s a complete list of the debuting specials that comprise 2015’s “Monster Week” on Animal Planet.

SUNDAY, MAY 17, AT 9 PM ET/PT
River Monsters – In this episode of the highly rated series, Jeremy Wade travels to Botswana in pursuit of a pack-hunting carnivore blamed for mauling the victims of a capsized boat. Jeremy’s search for these piranha-like predators leads him 40 feet beneath the surface, where he offers himself up as bait in the crocodile-infested waters of the Okavango Delta.

MONDAY, MAY 18, AT 8 PM ET/PT
Serial Killer Tiger at Large – Follows the attempts to track down a man-eating tiger with an insatiable hunger for human flesh that has claimed 10 victims to date in India.

TUESDAY, MAY 19, AT 8 PM ET/PT
Deadly After Dark – Spotlights the brave residents of Churchill, Canada, as they try to endure the town’s annual migration of polar bears. It’s survival of the fittest as more than one thousand bears invade this sub-Arctic outpost as they trek north for winter and look for food wherever they can.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, AT 8 PM ET/PT
Killer Hornets from Hell – Real-life exploits of a relentless group hunters on a seemingly impossible mission to fight off the swarm of giant hornets quickly migrating across the globe. With flesh-melting venom and a piercing stinger, just one of these death machines can kill a full-grown man.

THURSDAY, MAY 21, FROM 8-10 PM ET/PT
Mauled – Terrifying special telling the incredible stories of people who have survived unthinkable animal attacks.

Monster Island – A team of expert hunters cull the invasive colony of boars infected by the highly contagious and deadly Brucellosis microbe on Mona Island. The island is a true monster and one of the most forbidding and hostile environments known to man. The hunters face scorching temperatures; venomous snakes and spiders; poisonous plants that can kill you just by brushing up against them; deadly sink holes; and razor sharp coral rocks. Most terrifying is the legend of a beast far more deadly than the killer wild boar.

FRIDAY, MAY 22, FROM 7-10 PM ET/PT
I was Bitten: The Walker County Incident (working title) – The townsfolk of Jasper, Alabama, try to uncover unexplained daily phenomena plaguing their small southern community. Daniel, a man who has been diagnosed as “Patient Zero,” claims to have been attacked in the woods by something unspeakable. When other victims come forward with their own troubling encounters and explanations, he leads an investigation dead set on getting to the bottom of it all.

Monster Croc Invasion – Renowned reptilian expert and “Gator Boy” Paul Bedard investigates the sharply increasing numbers of human attacks and deaths by crocodiles in Costa Rica.

SUNDAY, MAY 24, FROM 9-11 PM ET/PT
The Cannibal in the Jungle – Two-hour scripted feature follows the story of an American scientist who was convicted of killing and cannibalizing two colleagues in the jungles of Flores, Indonesia, in 1977. Branded “The American Cannibal” by the press during his trial, Dr. Timothy Darrow defended himself by claiming a mythic human-ape creature was responsible for the murders. Animal Planet’s dramatic story is an imaginative leap inspired by real science. In 2004 a study in the journal Nature announced the discovery of bones of an entirely new, remarkable species of humans. Fully grown adults stood only three feet tall; yet, they were able to thrive in the chaotic and dangerous world that surrounded them. The new species was nicknamed “Hobbits,” after J.R.R. Tolkien’s diminutive heroes. These real hobbits are purported to have lived less than 20,000 years ago, which would make them the last other species of human to live alongside ourselves. But did these hobbits fully go extinct? Later, “60 Minutes” sent a film crew to investigate the Nature article. While onsite in Flores, the crew unearthed the local legend that the creatures may have never died out at all. The show follows an expedition team deep into the heart of Flores Island to investigate Darrow’s claims and find out once and for all if these legendary creatures still exist.

MONDAY, MAY 25, FROM 8-10 PM ET/PT
River Monsters: Jurassic-Sized Prehistoric Terror – Epic, two-hour extended Director’s Cut of this episode featuring Jeremy Wade on a mission to uncover horrifying killers from the depths of time. Featuring never-before-seen footage, monster-sized catches, and one of the most horrifying creatures Jeremy ever has laid hands on, this special episode of Animal Planet’s most-watched series explores fearsome, prehistoric beasts that are brought back to life by combining Jeremy’s unique understanding of modern-day monsters with state-of-the-art CGI. Super-sized piranhas, fanged swamp sharks, and the nightmarish ‘buzz-saw killer’ are but a few of the real-life predators from long-lost worlds that Jeremy encounters on his quest to unveil the most terrifying river monsters that ever have lived.

For a sneak peak of 2015’s new and repeating “Monster Week” line-up, head on over the Animal Planet’s website.

Monster Week

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