The title tells it all, it's about a bear. Released in 2010, this movie is not really a horror flick although it falls under the genre on most websites. Okay, what can I say about this movie? Everything was completely implausible and goes against what anyone in that situation would do. But hold on! Overall, it was entertaining enough to make it all the way through.
We begin our journey in a minivan with four people who are on their way to a birthday party. Two brothers and their respective girlfriends. With the younger brother at the helm, he of course takes a reckless shortcut he found on MapQuest of all places. Last time I checked, you can't find unmarked roads on there but who knows, maybe you can in California. The van blows a tire and they are stranded without cell phone service on the side of a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Changing a flat is about as simple as car service comes but the younger brother completes the task in true rookie fashion. Just as we are about to pack up and hit the ol' dusty trail, they hear something BIG out in the woods. Now, most people in this situation would just let it be and get on their way. This quartet can't do that here and next thing you know, they are staring down the open mouth of a Grizzly (Grizzly bears are in fact extinct in California and have been since 1922...). Big brother gets the bright idea to pull his heater and unload an entire 9mm magazine into the bear. The bear dies.
Uh oh! Turns out they killed a female bear and boyfriend bear wants revenge. The younger brother says according to Native Americans, grizzly bears have intelligent thoughts and emotions (I have no idea if it is true that Native Americans thought this) and this is the reason the bear keeps coming back to terrorize the group. Boyfriend bear is relentless in his pursuit of revenge for the loss of his dearly beloved. At one point, the big brother escapes and runs miles down the road to the party they were trying to reach but the bear catches him before entering the restaurant and drags him back to the clearing on the side of the road where the entire movie takes place. Let me say this one more time in case you didn't catch that, the bear follows, catches and finally drags the man back miles...the whole point is for the group to choose between sin and redemption (you have to watch it on your own to find out what they've done wrong in their lives). That's right, the bear is trying to teach them a lesson not just looking for some tasty human meat sweetened with revenge.
This movie makes no sense. No one would ever find themselves in a situation like this if they had any sort of intelligence left. This is exactly why we watch B movies though! However, the dialogue is pretty funny throughout. I give credit for the concept it just could have been executed better. The actors weren't half bad and the way it was shot was pretty good. The cameras seemed to know what they were doing. There was a decent budget for special effects and what not. The best part about this film, it used REAL bears. Hilariously, you can see the trainer in the middle of the shot in one scene. Oops. But for real, the bears made this movie and I found myself on their side throughout the entire thing.
I can't give this a horror rating as I normally would because it's technically a thriller. I would recommend this movie to everyone. You'll get a few laughs out of it and see some very well trained bears.
Check it out! You can find it on netflix.com and comment back with your thoughts!
0
0 comments: