WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
Obviously this wasn’t the reason for this article but there’s been a lot of talk on social media lately about a video where women are asked would they choose the man or the bear. It seems the majority of women chose the bear but here’s a few films that may make you regret this decision ladies….
Unnatural
Also known as Maneater, this film will be the only one that isn’t about a black bear or grizzly bear (now you know what you’re in for with the rest of this article). I did wonder if the myth about maneater came first or if they were aware of the lab’s work and it spawned the story. I’ll be honest, knowing this was a genetically engineered bear going into it, I expected it to be cheesy – almost The Mutation level cheesy – but it really wasn’t! I may sound like a bad person here but I spent the majority of this longing for Brooking’s death because the guy is an absolute a-hole and was gutted every time it wasn’t him! I did like the fact that we don’t fully see the bear until around 40 minutes into the film but the only flaw in this is that we don’t see it again for a long time and they go back to an almost Jurassic Park style of suspense with the trees shaking – so the question is, why show it so relatively early?
Grizzly
Like your typical 70s film, we’re introduced to all our main characters at the very beginning of the film – before all hell breaks loose. A little like Piranha, at certain points we see things from the bear’s view instead of seeing the bear in its entirety until near the end. I joked at the beginning about the viral video on social media but it seems that this bear is killing mainly women, it definitely gives food for thought. Having mentioned Piranha, just like that and Jaws, the owner of the park is insistent on not closing even though people keep dying. This is probably going to sound rather sick of me, but I actually like this film more because it was brave enough to have the bear dismember a child and actually show his little body with his missing limbs.
Cocaine Bear
Two things about this film that are unbelievable, one that this film is based on a true story and two that it’s directed by Elizabeth Banks – the same director as the recent Charlie’s Angels! Anyway, back in 1985 a plane crash, carrying cocaine, led to the death of a black bear who consumed said cocaine! Now, it’s not clear if the bear actually killed anyone in real life but, hey, you got to take some liberties right? I’ll be honest, some of the film is absolutely ludicrous but for some reason that’s what makes it so enjoyable! Unlike Grizzly, this bear isn’t real but my God! how technology has come along because you honestly wouldn’t be able to tell. Truthfully, even though the film is called Cocaine Bear – the bear is really an ancillary part of the story, the main plot actually being the attempt to retrieve the lost drugs.
Grizzly Rage
This may be quite an unpopular thing to say, but I actually think the lead characters in this film get what they deserve! Fair enough, they chose to go off the beaten track but why drive so recklessly when they don’t know what’s beyond the gates? I honestly don’t think it’s important to the story that the mama bear has ingested toxic waste because it would be a natural reaction for her to want revenge for the death of her children. Animals, especially bears, are extremely protective of their young. This is probably why none of the other films on this list felt the need to add something like this (no, cocaine does not count). This also doesn’t reference the fact that the bear has ingested any waste – they just show the barrel leaking into the water. To this film’s credit, it does have a small cast which my avid readers will be fully aware is one of my favourite things and I love the fact that, like Grizzly, they use a real bear. However, the acting isn’t perfect and there are what feels like long periods where not a lot actually happens.
Backcountry
I have been waiting to watch this film ever since I wrote my Canadian Horror article because unfortunately I was unable to get hold of it at the time. Like Cocaine Bear, this film is based around a black bear and is also “loosely” based on a true story. Alex and Jenn are the character counterparts for Mark Jordan and Jacqueline Perry who were attacked by a black bear in 2005. I love the fact that this film kept it strictly to the two main characters and didn’t try to add random friends on for their trip to increase the body count. Now, this film is what some would call a slow burn and very little happens for nearly an hour. However, I think they did pretty well in building the tension throughout the film, with the broken branch outside their tent and them getting lost. The only difference between this film and the outcome for our lead characters in real life is the fact that Alex (representing Mark Jordan) actually dies in Jenn’s place instead of just being injured. I’m not sure why they felt that needed changing.
Into the Grizzly Maze
Unless they had another brother, the opening to this film is pretty misleading! I had the feeling that the bear kills Rowan’s brother and because they are young he isn’t brave enough to shoot it but that seems to be proved wrong later in the film when we meet the aforementioned brother. Much like Grizzly Rage, I understand why the bear in this film goes “off the reservation”, what with the hunting and the cutting down of their territory. While we’re comparing this to other films on this list, the deaths are just as violent as Grizzly but the only frustration for me with this is that the majority of the film is based around the relationship between Rowan and Beckett and their unresolved issues meaning that the bear falls slightly into the background. I genuinely thought at the end they’d killed James Marsden’s character of Rowan, which I think would have been clever and more proof that just because you’re a big name it doesn’t mean you’ll survive, but it turns out they’d fooled me again.
