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Rating:  - A Great Adventure Film
I saw this movie when I was 15 years old in the only theater Bedford County ever had. Christopher George plays the role of Ranger Michael Kelly and Richard Jaeckel plays the role of Naturalist Arthur Scott. Kelly is ready for another big season at the local Natural Park. As the camp fills up all of a sudden people start showing up dead. First Kelly thinks that the people are dieing of natural causes. However, when Kelly and his fellow Rangers start investigating more they find out that the people are dieing because of a ****** ****. Enters Naturalist Arthur Scott who makes a living studying *****. What Scott fines is that this isn't just any ordinary ****, it's a ******* ****. What makes matters worst is that the Park Supervisor has open hunting season and that fills the park with regular hunters and hunters that are drunk. I would give this movie 8 Weasel Stars but when you throw in the beauty of the state park that makes gives this movie 10 stars. I also bought this movie from Amazon and I had no trouble with the video or the audio.
Rating: - Grizzly
This movie scared me to death when it first came out but since I love horror movies I had to have this one for my own.
Rating:  - The best part of the film is that Neal Adams did the cover.
You know how there are movies you remember from your youth as being absolutely awesome, but upon revisiting them as an adult, you wonder what sort of mind-altering, sugar-bomb, breakfast cereal you must have been on at the time?
I don't think I've had such a disparity in my opinions as I had with "Grizzly". "Grizzly" at one time was my second favorite film, after "Jaws" (which still remains right up there).
I haven't seen this film since I was a kid...and honestly I'm not sure if I saw it in a theater (shame on my parents... : ) or edited on bad weekend afternoon TV.
Regardless, I recall the thrills of the rampaging bear. I remember the three protagonists being similar to my Jaws family. I remember the horse.
So I gleefully plopped down in front of my TV, and spun up my new copy of my old fave, "Grizzly."
WOW is this a bad movie! Howlingly bad. Excruciating. Painful. Often unintentionally funny, and not in a good way.
In terms of "acting", Christopher George does his best to maintain some sort of rugged believability. Andrew Prine has a modicum of laconic naturalness. Richard Jaeckel, as the slightly-off naturalist, has, I think, one decent line.
Everything else, and I mean everything else, is flat-out awful. There is better acting to be found in any elementary school Christmas pageant seen across the country each winter.
The gore is not enough to satisfy the Fangoria set, yet the day-glo blood and brief shots of mangled limbs (and one mangled child) will surely turn off those with less-hardened sensibilities.
Even the score must have sounded dated the weekend after this film was originally released.
The only real pleasure in seeing this film now is mentally checking off the hysterical number of similarities to "Jaws". THAT'S kinda funny, and could be somehow converted into a pleasant drinking game amongst fans...
SPOILER ALERT...I'm giving away a little of the ending...
...especially when throughout the movie, this freakin' bear gets shot a few dozen times, without a scratch. There's a casual comment about a helicopter pilot being in Vietnam, and a brief scene of two people loading up the copter with guns and stuff.
So after this bear wreaks his havoc throughout the forest, the bear gets shot with a bazooka-like device, and explodes like nothing you have ever seen.
Seriously...the editing is comical, but it's basically...shoot! Then...HIROSHIMA! Then somebody somberly walking by a perfectly circular spot of fire about ten feet in diameter.
It's just goofy.
The most exciting part for me was recognizing the work of one of my old favorite comic book artists, Neal Adams. He did the cover artwork!
The DVD is actually a terrific set. Nice extras. The film itself will probably never look this good ever again. The period featurette still has the VHS dropouts, rolling bars and glitches there for all to see.
Fans will wax deliriously over this release, and justifiably so. But I warn you, if you haven't seen this movie in twenty years, you might want to preserve those memories just the way they are, and spare yourself the disappointment...
Rating: - Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Out Camping...
I remember watching GRIZZLY on television many years ago. I didn't watch much of it but a few scenes stuck out, such as the aerial photography of the forest and the climax. But after watching the DVD last night, I can tell you that GRIZZLY is one of the better JAWS-style, nature-run-amok films. Although the similarities to JAWS stick out like ol' Grizzly's claws, there's plenty going for it to make it stand out on its own, such as the three leading men (Christopher George, Andrew Prine, and Richard Jaeckel), the aforementioned aerial photography, Robert O. Ragland's musical score, and some very intense Grizzly attack sequences, especially the one on little Bobby! If a movie such as this invites comparisons to a bigger and more successful movie, it must have its own unique qualities to really stand out, and GRIZZLY does the job; it was the highest-grossing independent film of 1976 and is still remembered today.
Big up to Shriek Show for another top-of-the-line release of something other labels would not have even given a passing thought to. On this double-disc edition, there's a commentary, a vintage featurette (culled from VHS, no doubt), a screening of the film, new interviews, a trailer, radio spots, and a poster and photo gallery. I also recommend DAY OF THE ANIMALS, another nature-run-amok film from William Girdler, the late director who really knew how to work these kind of films.
Rating: - What a great dvd release.............
I recently picked this up and being a fan of this film ever since it scared the crap out of me as a child, I was blown away to see it in all of its widescreen glory. The cinematography is beautiful. It was also a welcomed surprise to finally see the cut scene of the discovery of Scotty's body. I always hated the vhs copies with the jarring cut before they discover him. Fans who have the video and the first released dvd will know what I am talking about. The extras were great and I still need to listen to the film with the audio commentary.
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