Grizzly Park

2008's "Grizzly Park" piqued my interest because I liked the trailer (see it on IMDb) and it was shot near the Mt. Rogers region in SW Virginia & NE Tennessee (Marion, VA, and Backbone Rock Recreation Area, TN), which is one of the places I vacationed last summer.

THE PLOT: Eight delinquent youths from the city are assigned community service at Grizzly Park, CA, chaperoned by no-nonsense Ranger Bob. What they don't know is that there's an escaped killer on the loose, as well as a killer grizzly!

The movie starts out great with a quote of 2 Kings 2:23-25, which refers to the occasion where a bunch of youths jeered the prophet Elisha and his baldness. When he couldn't take it any more, Elisha cursed them and two bears came out of the forest, mauling 42 kids. The following opening credits sequence is creative and well done, the music too. At this point I was wondering if I may have stumbled upon a hidden gem, like "Sasquatch Mountain" and (much less so) "Flu Birds," entertaining Grade-B creature-features that shoot for more depth than the norm (see my review of each). From there, however, the film derails into serious C-Grade territory with bad dialogue, a mildly campy approach, lousy pacing and no suspense. Fortunately the film makes up for it in the last act, the final 30 minutes or so, which is a killer grizzly gorefest, but you have to slog through a semi-uneventful first hour to get there.

Despite the negative comments there are a handful of positive points:

• Gorgeous late Summer/early Fall locations in SW Virginia & NE Tennessee; although the story takes place in California. - A good cast of women: a brunette, a blond, a Hispanic and an Asian. The brunette, Bebe (Emily Foxler), struck me as a likable character who unlocked my compassion and favor despite being a seemingly total airhead (until the end, that is, which ruined it; you'll know what I mean when you see it). The Hispanic girl, Lola (Zulay Henao), is the real beauty here and the viewer is treated to some quality eyecandy. - One white dude, Scab (Randy Wayne), turns out to be slightly likable, even though he's supposedly a hardcore "white power" racist. His indoctrination is shattered, however, when he discovers himself falling for the Hispanic Lola, which gives indication that he's actually a very smart young man. This leads to a beautiful and touching scene between the two. I wasn't expecting this in a Grade-C campy gorefest. - There's no CGI. The bear is real, except for a couple parts where there's a human stand-in. - Like I said, the last act features some hardcore gore, like one of the girls being bit in half with her entrails laying loose, heads getting bit in half, etc. I don't watch these types of movies for the gore, but some like it. The only thing is, although the gore is very extreme in the last 25 minutes I didn't find it shocking or scary at all; in fact, sometimes I just busted out laughing, but that's mainly because of the campy tone more than anything. In other words, since the filmmakers deliver the goods in a semi-serious this-is-all-a-joke manner I couldn't very well take the shocks & gore serious. Yet this doesn't mean it's not entertaining. - The old campfire classic "I Met a Bear" is utilized a couple times during the movie and fully during the end credits, performed here by Twin Sisters .

For those who argue that the murderer subplot seemed totally pointless: It's more than just a red herring and ties into the media's theory for the so-called murders revealed at the end, a doofy bear costume being a chief piece of evidence.

The DVD features a handful of "making of" extras with cast and crew, including the 1300 lb. bear, Brody; each one is only a few minutes in length. You'll marvel at how close the trainer and other crewmembers get to the bear. I'm glad each segment is short because I only prefer the gist of it; I don't care to see a friggin' movie on the making of the movie, if you know what I mean; unless of course it's something like "Apocalypse Now."

BOTTOM LINE: Despite being a semi-campy Grade-C film with a fairly uneventful first hour and some bad writing, pacing, etc., "Grizzly Park" possesses a curious 'cult' ambiance highlighted by a great opening credits sequence (big deal, huh?) and a violently gory climax. I like the women (Lola!), the real bear, no CGI, the campfire classic "I Met a Bear" and the gorgeous Eastern locations, plus there's at least one touching, nigh reverent romantic scene, no kidding.

Part of me wants to rate this 6/10 Stars since, in many ways, "Grizzly Park" delivers the goods, but I'd feel too guilty because this isn't really a good movie. It's equal parts boring, dumb, eccentric, fun, inept, impressive and fascinating. A guilty pleasure that will likely develop a small cult following who'll openly admit it's not good, but like it anyway (sort of).

GRADE: C

Hi. The best part of the entire movie was not the movie itself, but the behind the scenes material. The way the writer/director and some cast members describe the making of this film, was worth the $1.07 I spent to rent it. To them, it was if they were creating a masterpiece, a Citizen Kane or a great Hitchcockian gem. Talk about being in denial!! Rent, then watch this poorly acted, directed, written, produced, edited, scored little pile of bile and then brace yourself for the behind the scenes material. I slid off my couch laughing hysterically watching this stuff. If you're looking for a good scare, this film won't do it for you. My 4 year old thought is was goofy and unrealistic. The bear claws used in close ups looked like it was Black tooth from the Soupy Sales show--a guy with his arm in a moth riddled bear suit. Loads of laughs!!!

Don't you just love watching a bunch of stupid kids, getting knocked off one by one by a slasher,, well this movie does you one better,, a big huge grizzly bear,, now i will tell you the one thing i absolutely hated int his movie was only one thing, and that was that ridiculous bear song at the beginning of the movie,, but hey i am very forgiving, the bear was not no CGI bear either,, real bear here folks. i loved the ranger,, pretty neat character if you ask me,, now the ending is really great i thought, but i can't give that away,, you'll just have to watch it for yourself.. there is also a killer on the loose in the park also,, which is something else to look out for too. all in all the movie had it funny moments, and some gore too,, not the greatest movie,, but a lot better than some of the garbage i've seen.

This flick revolves around eight brainless, disregarding, and non-caring young adults that were originally to amend their criminal misdemeanors through a week of community service. I could just sum it up exactly as that and you could get the depiction of this "headless zombie" of a movie.

Man this one lied in wait before it kicked off and the feeling with this film wasn't much horror-like at all. It was quite like watching teenage soap or Dawson's Creek for about an hour with Ranger Bob in there directing traffic and taking some disrespectful behaviour by the youngsters before things got to the gory action.

Glenn Morshower (Ranger Bob) is quite a decent actor and perhaps the only interesting and likable guy in the casting. The rest were just behaving very poorly stupid. Even a few lines in there that were indeed incoherent like "how do you tell the time, do you use the sun or something". How does a sun tell time? Unless she had a sundial, then I'd understand. To other incoherence, what happened to the imposter ranger who made impact at the beginning of the film? His scenes were pointless since they placed him as a force to reckon with, then just wrote him off before he could do serious damage.

The acting performances of the casting besides Ranger Bob, were just horrid at best. I'm sorry, they conducted a really terrible job trying to make believe. At the end, I must say I liked that what they did there. Cool little ending. All in all, this movie ain't nothing special, it ain't nothing much, it's just there to catch a glimpse off of. It's got some entertainment. But fast forward at your own will, I know I did some parts.

I voted 1 and I am not too critical about horror. You know that the acting probably isn't Oscar material, but in this movie it is really bad.

The acting and the story are so awful that you can compare it with a pornmovie,without the porn.

The storyline (if there is any) is thin and the characters are so shallow, you just want them to die as soon as possible and get it over with.

The effects are OK, but considering the poor acting it just isn't scary anymore.

Don't waste money and time on this movie. It just isn't worthwhile.