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

Grizzly Park fails to fulfill its original purpose as horror film, so if you're looking for a scare, don't waste your time. That is not to say that it's not worth seeing. The only major redeeming quality this film has is it's variety of stereotype characters (and I'm not using stereotypical as a bad thing here) and their interactions, which was interesting to watch. These interactions are still undeveloped and had the movie not been distracted with trying to be horrific, it would have been a great drama about eight unflinchingly rotten youths with different backgrounds who get what's coming to them.

There is no character development; everyone stays the same until the end, but the versatility of the characters makes up for that. I liked that there were no sudden bouts of "courage" which is a generic element found in a lot of other horror movies. The characters die unrepentant, which I think is a noble trait for a villain to have.

Other than that, the props look fake, the directing is mediocre, the acting is decent, and the dialog is OK with some good witticism here and there. A major problem with the writing is as all the other reviews point out, the undeveloped subplot of the escaped murderer/rapist which makes you wonder why it was included in the writing in the first place.

Bottom line, on a scale of one to ten for a horror movie I'd give this film a one, and for a morbid drama I'd give it a seven.

Eight juvenile delinquents are sentenced to community service at Grizzly Park supervised by Ranger Bob, not knowing that a serial killer is on the lose but they all have to deal with a bear as well.

This film goes nowhere for most of its running time and takes its leisurely time getting there. The acting is pretty bad, as was expected. And for the amount of good looking female cast members in the cast, I was surprised at the sheer lack of nudity, not to say that that would save this dud of a film, but it would have made it somewhat, pardon the pun, bearable. The film does pick up LATE in the movie but by that time I doubt you'll care. On a side-note, before this movie I had just watched "Bear" so this one seemed better if only by comparison to that putrid offering.

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.

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.