Bear

It should be titled, "CuJaws: Just when you thought it was safe to get back in a minivan." This movie rips off "Jaws" (actually "Jaws II") and "Cujo" in one fell swoop, capturing exactly none of the fun or terror of either. Not one original idea. But, since original ideas seem to be in short supply these days, this movie is just on par with the rest. Summary: A van load of truly annoying characters mess with two bears, and pay the price for being stupid. An alternate title could be, "Natural Consequences." Had a character recorded this misadventure on his/her phone, it could have ripped off yet another movie, the imitation "Godzilla" one set in New York 3-4 years ago. So many missed opportunities...

In California, Nick (Brendan Michael Coughlin) decides to take a shortcut while driving his van to a steakhouse to celebrate his parents' anniversary with his girlfriend Christine (Katie Lowes), his estranged brother Sam (Patrick Scott Lewis) and his wife Liz (Mary Alexandra Stiefvater). Nick has a flat tire and a grizzly bear threatens the group but Sam discharges his pistol against it. When they are ready to go, the bear's mate attacks them capsizing their van. Along the night, they are trapped in the van and secrets are disclosed while they are attacked by the vengeful animal.

"Bear" is an awful movie with unpleasant characters and a stupid story. My first intention was to use the adjective unbearable, but then I noted that many reviews have already used it so I changed to awful. The most impressive is how a producer invests his money in such laughable story. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Perseguidos" ("Pursued")

Firstly, I'm not giving this a rating on account of my early attempts to watch it, I don't remember what happened exactly; for some reason or another I couldn't concentrate much, eventually finding out what happens before giving it a "normal" viewing, therefore I knew what happened already and can't say whether the suspense aspects worked or not.

Anyway, four people who really aren't terribly charismatic cruise down a road until the driver takes whats apparently a shortcut, but isn't, because their car breaks down.

The driver's brother proves himself an obnoxious type when a bear attacks, and he fires every bullet he has into the critter, killing it but leaving himself out of ammunition. Maybe he thought the others carried guns, perhaps he thought more bears couldn't possibly be where he already encountered one.

Before long the others display annoying traits. However, there are some minor occurrences, for example one girl opening a present intended as an anniversary gift the boys intended for their parents, when she gets cold (it contained a blanket) which surprises the other girl.

More occurrences where characters apparently notice stuff about each other happen. This subtlety is appreciated, although the characters themselves aren't too likable. It certainly tries for suspense and character focus. The result might depend on how much the viewer can invest emotionally in the characters.

I would rate this film a 1, except for the beautiful job that the director did in filming this piece of crap. Just another film where an indie director came up with an idea for a horror flick and then padded it with enough 'couples talking' (and usually not about the threat they are facing) to make up 90 percent of the film.

I miss when indie film makers under-wrote the dialog and did a horrible job at making gore, while making a complete horror flick.

PS.

Whoever (and I'm not looking this up) did the score for this flick did a very good job.

PSS.

It is entirely Dread Central's fault that I saw this film because they included it in last month's Box of Dread. (I forgive them. :D)

This is my first review on here. I felt obligated to get an account to warn everyone I could about this. This ranks in the top three worst movies of all time that I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot of bad movies. I seriously want my dollar back from Redbox. Go outside, lay down on the ground and play dead for 90 minutes, because it will be a lot more enjoyable than this was. A passing beetle will display better acting skills. I knew it was going to be low budget going in, but they could have at least made the fake bear stand in actually look like a bear. There didn't seem to be any attempt to make the bear's actions throughout the movie to be even halfway realistic. I don't know how I made it to the end, but if by some miracle you do ... be prepared for one of the most idiotic endings either.