Maneater

I knew about this movie existing, because I had stumbled upon movies in the 'Maneater Series' before, I just never had the opportunity to sit down and watch this 2007 movie titled "Maneater" before now in 2024.

The storyline was pretty straightforward, and something that would would expect from a TV movie. So writer Philip Morton didn't exactly fail to deliver here. However, nor did he deliver anything outstanding or spectacular for director Gary Yates to bring to life on the screen. There are two storylines running in the movie, the one with the sheriff trying to protect the town against a wild tiger near the town, and the story of a strange wonder kid who turned into a 'Tiger Whisperer'. The latter felt so out of place with the tone of the movie.

"Maneater" wasn't exactly a movie that was crammed with big names and familiar faces. Of the entire cast ensemble, I was actually only familiar with Gary Busey. And you know what you get with that guy, so enough said. Actually, I do enjoy watching new faces and unfamiliar talents on the screen when I watch movies, so "Maneater" was not losing any points on that account.

There is a fair amount of people being mauled and killed by the tiger, except we don't get to see it. We always get to see what is left behind after the attack. It worked okay, but I mean it would have been nice to have had some exciting and thrilling scenes where we see a tiger attacking people. But with "Maneater" being a TV movie, then of course that was just two things that didn't go hand-in-hand.

It should be noted, however, that the prosthetics and props of the mauled body parts were actually fairly good and came off as being somewhat passable for realistic. And that, at least, counted for something when we were deprived of the scenes where the tiger was mauling its prey.

My rating of "Maneater" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

Maneater (2007)

** (out of 4)

Sci-Fi Channel movie is yet another Jaws rip, although this one has a few things going for it. A giant tiger is eating people in an Appalachian Mountains town so the sheriff (Gary Busey) and a bounty hunter (Ian D. Clark) try to track it down and kill it. Both of these characters are directly out of the Jaws handbook but thankfully both actors give very good performances so this weakness is the script can be overlooked. The story itself is another story as it's very weak and doesn't really offer anything new that we haven't seen countless times before. The one added storyline is a young boy who seems to have a connection with this tiger but this here comes off very forced and silly. The tiger used was real except for a few scenes where a CGI one was used.

Gary Busey leads in this, no don't go!

Anyway if you're still there Gary Busey leads in this Scyfy channel-esque movie about a small town that falls under siege from an escaped Bengal tiger.

You know drill, a panicked Sherriff, an authority figure who wants it all kept quiet because they're up for re-election and over confident rednecks looking to make a name for themselves.

Every cliche in the book can be found right here in Maneater, but despite this it's not actually the worst.

Don't get me wrong this is hardly enjoyable viewing but I've seen considerably worse. Busey is a lot less manic than usual and is more bearable, the sfx for the tiger are better than you'd assume and though the plot has facets that make little to no sense it has its redeeming features if you look carefully enough.

Dumb fun? Meh, honestly it's just dumb but it's essentially what you should expect going in. Want a decent tiger movie? Watch Burning Bright (2010) instead.

The Good:

Visually better than you'd expect

The Bad:

Cliched to hell and back

Certain elements don't make a vast amount of sense

With all the beatings I've dished out to the Sci Fi Channel for its horrible movies, I felt the need to finally post something a little upbeat.

Granted, MANEATER is no classic. But it's not a stinker in the typical Sci Fi Channel sense, either. There's a reasonable script. A few eccentric performances. And a director, Gary Yates, who realizes that CGI is not the best way to convey tension. In fact, he uses a real tiger to play...are you ready for it?...a real tiger. Sheer genius, especially when he has the good sense to hide it for the majority of the picture.

Of course, there's also Gary Busey, looking like he wandered off an accident scene, his hair askew, his suite ill-fitting (the same suit he wears for the entire film). He is truly a wonder to behold. It seems like he's The film, however, belongs to Ian D. Clark, who plays a big game hunter on the trail of the titular beast. He creeps through the underbrush spouting gibberish that wouldn't sound out of place in a martial arts movie, a Buddhist monk with a shotgun bloodlust.

Goofy fun.

Maneater is the kind of movie that seems to start with the right idea but soon slinks away in reverse, as if apologizing for existing. There's a loose tiger, yes, but it acts with the timidity of an insecure extra. Instead of spectacle, what unfolds is a long and fruitless wait-like a circus tent set up, but the lion never shows. The plot even rehearses a greatest hits of disaster cinema: a small town, a local festival, sensationalist journalists, a mysterious hunter, a rigid sheriff, and a weird kid with a spiritual connection to the beast. But it all feels like window dressing-a suspense of "almost," an action of "maybe," a tension of "later." And when that "later" finally arrives, we're already emotionally checked out.

The tiger, which should be the star, is filmed like a state secret. The camera hides in leaves, branches, cowardly POV shots-the predator is more heard than seen, more rumor than presence. And while this spares the film from disastrous CGI, it only reinforces its narrative cowardice. The creature attacks as if following a serial killer's manual-ripping limbs, scattering body parts-but without the heat of savagery. Everything feels procedural, almost administrative. There are pathetic attempts to instill fear, like the scene where a journalist tries to lure the beast with bait-an unlicensed Jaws-cage-sequence knockoff. But all we get is a hard cut to an already bloodied scene. No attack, no climax, just silence and shocked extras.

Sheriff Grady Barnes, played by Gary Busey (still nursing a hangover from his more notable roles), carries the plot with the fixed gaze of someone clearly cast in a different movie. The town he tries to protect has no charm, identity, or emotional geography-it's just backdrop, generic forest with slapped-on signs. As for the hunter, James Graham, he sports a Poirot-worthy mustache but can't even solve a crossword, let alone the mystery of the beast. And the boy, Roy-who seems to be rehearsing some Carrie-esque suburban mystique-never evolves beyond a sketch. In theory, he embodies the sheriff's dead son; in practice, he's just another weak link between two characters who never share real emotional weight.

In the end, the beast does attack-but only on the clock. The final minutes unfold in a roadside convenience store, with explosions, gasoline, and a whole lot of noise for very little impact. Maneater tries to be the kind of movie that survives on concept alone: "What if Jaws, but with a tiger?" But it forgets that a good concept is nothing without execution that bites. There are no scares, no bold choices, not even glorious mistakes. The film is afraid of its own roar. If there's any consolation, it might be in the cinematography-which, surprise, has color. The forest is green, the lighting decent, the festival poor but quaint. But that's not enough. I'd take a festival of cheesy CGI and digital blood with some ambition over this domesticated danger. It's a movie that behaves like a pedigree-less beast, caged in the ditch of near-cinema.