Grizzly (1976)
Genre: Horror / Thriller
Duration: 97 minuten
Alternative titles: Claws / Killer Grizzly
Country:
United States
Directed by: William Girdler
Stars: Christopher George, Andrew Prine and Richard Jaeckel
IMDb score:
5,2 (6.865)
Releasedate: 21 May 1976
Grizzly plot
"18 feet of gut-crunching, man eating terror!"
A ten-foot grizzly bear terrorizes campers and hikers in a large nature reserve. A ranger tries with all his might to capture the bear, but is constantly disturbed and hindered by a group of drunken hunters lurking nearby. Unfortunately, the bear also turns out to be much stronger than he thought.
Actors and actresses
Michael Kelly
Don Stober
Arthur Scott
Allison Corwin
Charley Kittridge
Dr. Samuel Hallitt
Walter Corwin
Ranger Tom
Ranger Gail
June Hamilton
Reviews & comments
Noodless
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- 10087 messages
- 6205 votes
This film about a very aggressive killer bear features a lot of bloodshed and a surprisingly large number of victims. The camerawork is good: think of the POV shots from the bear's point of view, but also from the victims'. It's great when that big bear stands on its hind legs. The scene that sticks with you is, of course, the boy with the bunny. Nice and brutal. The characters are somewhat flatly developed. Solid, nothing more. 6/10
Translated from Dutch · View original
Collins
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- 7506 messages
- 4471 votes
Grizzly is yet another mediocre film that appeared in the 70s in the wake of Jaws and tries to cash in on that successful and rock-solid film. What speaks in the film's favor is that it stays far away from the beach and sea and seeks refuge in a National Park on the mainland. That is, immediately, the only original thing about the film. Otherwise, the script follows the Jaws script very slavishly and does so rather clumsily, moreover.
When the camera stumbles through the dark forest from the perspective of the grizzly bear lured by the cheerful chatter of the forest tourists, it looks clumsy. Instead of being pinned to your seat by the action full of tension, you feel more like a cheap voyeur on his way to an exciting little scene to satisfy his craving. The camera generates a different kind of tension, you could say. And yes, I am exaggerating, but (apart from a single nice shot) it is simply not good.
The budget didn't allow for an electronic grizzly. So, a real bear it is. Downside: you obviously can't unleash a real bear on the actors. Although… I wouldn't have minded. There isn't much acting talent in this film. The characters are portrayed by TV actors lacking charisma. Fortunately, the characters are portrayed very superficially. The combination of TV actor and superficiality comes across as very believable. Excellent casting, then.
Anyway. The real grizzly solos through the woods and never appears in a frame with the actors. Not exciting. A violently shaky camera, a man in a bear suit, and a plush bear claw don't exactly encourage you to sit on the edge of your seat either. The background music is annoying and seems copied from a TV series from the 70s. The threat doesn't exactly leap off the screen.
And if it were at least funny, but that is not the point. The film is serious. Seriously bad, I mean.
Translated from Dutch · View original
blurp194
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- 5808 messages
- 4382 votes
Jaws with a bear!
The live streams from Brooks Falls started again yesterday – the beginning of the annual event that culminates in Fat Bear Week. But there is no salmon to be seen yet, so a bear only wanders by very occasionally.
So that's why I looked up an old bear movie. What exactly do we call this, bear cult? Bear horror? Bearsploitation? Neo-unrealism?
What we see has even less to do with how a real bear behaves than Jaws has with that shark. Where the film wants you to believe the bear is extremely aggressive, to me it looks like he is in a cheerful mood and wants to play – which is actually quite confirmed by the explanation on the English Wikipedia; the 'roaring' scenes were staged by holding a marshmallow just out of reach above his snout, and the sound is all fake. The bear was named 'Teddy', to make it even more fitting.
What the film does well in itself is that much of the violence is suggested—though somewhat absurd in the process, because that scene with the horse, I don't think even an angry grizzly could pull that off. And the fact that the paw occasionally changes color halfway through the scene, what does that matter? Or that you occasionally get the impression it's someone wearing a bear costume. Or that the 'cub' is a black bear, not a grizzly.
As a parody of Jaws, it actually succeeds perfectly, but as comedic entertainment for a bear connoisseur, it scores a bit lower. You’d be better off watching something just as nonsensical as Cocaine Bear (2023), or Ted (2012), or even Brave (2012). But none of those have nearly as nice a poster as this one...
Translated from Dutch · View original
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