Grizzly: 6 out of 10: Famous B-movie that came on the heels of Jaws was made for 750k and it grossed over 30 million. Giant 18 foot Grizzly bear terrorizes National Park. Many a picnic basket was stolen.
The Good: Watching this again make me think that I was way to hard on the sister film to this “Day of the Animals”. When I had seen Day of the Animals so many years ago it was on a poor VHS copy streamed. Now I see the wonderful job that they did remastering both that movie and Grizzly and I think I should give it another chance.
The movie Grizzly features an actual bear named Teddy (who for the record was a Kodiak Bear) and it was nice to see he had his teeth and claws and seemed to be enjoying himself. Nothing worse than a movie with a bear that is overweight, defanged and miserable.
Also, for a PG movie, they don't skimp on the gore as much as one would think. There are some surprising scenes in this film. Not all that effective mind you in the big picture, but a decent jump scare or shock.
The Bad: Day of the Animals had a shirtless Leslie Nielsen wrestling a bear rug, a shirtless Leslie Nielsen raping men’s wives and the best unintentional cover of Mandy ever. Grizzly, on the other hand, is much more by the book. And that book’s name is Jaws. There is not one scene or camera trick from Jaws that is missing from this film. Shameless doesn’t even begin to cover it. They seem to copy Jaws even when it makes little sense. (Being a bear you see rather than a shark).
The Ugly: You kinda have to work hard to get eaten (or for that matter surprised) by an 18 foot Grizzly bear and the characters in this film are nothing if not hard working. First when hunting a grizzly apparently you should skinny dip (if female) or fall asleep (if male). Keep in mind these are not tourists hiking into unknown danger. These are people actively hunting the bear.
Once you are woken up (or naked) and the bear attacks you should immediately drop your rifle. You don’t have a sidearm cause well that would be cheating I guess. If you are a major character you are allowed to keep your rifle but you can only have two bullets. Most importantly at no time are you and the bear to be on the same frame. First forced perspective shot our star Kodiak Teddy on his hind legs. Then a shot of you dropping your rifle, fumbling with your bullets and tripping over a log. Then a close-up shot of Teddy roaring. Then you on the ground with blood on your clothes and maybe a missing limb. Rinse repeat.
In Conclusion: It’s a fun time waster and with the recent remaster it doesn’t hurt the eyes to watch. If you go in thinking Jaws with a bear you won’t be too disappointed.
Jaws with a bear
Grizzly: 6 out of 10: Famous B-movie that came on the heels of Jaws was made for 750k and it grossed over 30 million. Giant 18 foot Grizzly bear terrorizes National Park. Many a picnic basket was stolen.
The Good: Watching this again make me think that I was way to hard on the sister film to this “Day of the Animals”. When I had seen Day of the Animals so many years ago it was on a poor VHS copy streamed. Now I see the wonderful job that they did remastering both that movie and Grizzly and I think I should give it another chance.
The movie Grizzly features an actual bear named Teddy (who for the record was a Kodiak Bear) and it was nice to see he had his teeth and claws and seemed to be enjoying himself. Nothing worse than a movie with a bear that is overweight, defanged and miserable.
Also, for a PG movie, they don't skimp on the gore as much as one would think. There are some surprising scenes in this film. Not all that effective mind you in the big picture, but a decent jump scare or shock.
The Bad: Day of the Animals had a shirtless Leslie Nielsen wrestling a bear rug, a shirtless Leslie Nielsen raping men’s wives and the best unintentional cover of Mandy ever. Grizzly, on the other hand, is much more by the book. And that book’s name is Jaws. There is not one scene or camera trick from Jaws that is missing from this film. Shameless doesn’t even begin to cover it. They seem to copy Jaws even when it makes little sense. (Being a bear you see rather than a shark).
The Ugly: You kinda have to work hard to get eaten (or for that matter surprised) by an 18 foot Grizzly bear and the characters in this film are nothing if not hard working. First when hunting a grizzly apparently you should skinny dip (if female) or fall asleep (if male). Keep in mind these are not tourists hiking into unknown danger. These are people actively hunting the bear.
Once you are woken up (or naked) and the bear attacks you should immediately drop your rifle. You don’t have a sidearm cause well that would be cheating I guess. If you are a major character you are allowed to keep your rifle but you can only have two bullets. Most importantly at no time are you and the bear to be on the same frame. First forced perspective shot our star Kodiak Teddy on his hind legs. Then a shot of you dropping your rifle, fumbling with your bullets and tripping over a log. Then a close-up shot of Teddy roaring. Then you on the ground with blood on your clothes and maybe a missing limb. Rinse repeat.
In Conclusion: It’s a fun time waster and with the recent remaster it doesn’t hurt the eyes to watch. If you go in thinking Jaws with a bear you won’t be too disappointed.