I Saw A Film!

Your basic killer monster film based on a bear and set in the woods. Our beast has an appetite for lovely young women (appropriately enough as classic monsters go), and the kills are sequences of flashes of violence with cheap aftermath effects. Body parts fly, faces are scratched, and we’re told the victims are devoured. Most of the exposition comes from old TV stalwarts like Christopher George and Richard Jaeckel. We get the usual “Jaws” push-back from the politicians trying to keep the park open, and lots of skepticism about it being a Grizzly from the educated naturalists.

Of course, we know it’s a Grizzly, we’re here for it. Much of the fun of the film is in the fact that it’s 45 years old and loaded to the hilt with the era’s look and fashions. The ladies are fluffy-haired and super slender. Side filler information is hilarious and all the old faces from soap operas to Baywatch are great nostalgia.

We get lots of helicopters, and armed, boorish rednecks, a few dumb jump scares and plenty of clips of a bear likely nowhere near any of the stars being edited into the narrative. These sorts of films, Orca, Tentacle, usually have a rushed and drive-in quality to them. But Grizzly actually feels a bit more complicated for a trashy summer monster flick directed at teenagers. And it actually pays off a bit, even if the skinny dipping lady who gets eaten, is only shown being pulled off screen by a very laughable furry arm. Somehow, it all still holds together.

I watched this with the always amusing Rifftrax fellows, and picked up some extra laughs. Running free on Prime with some commercials!