00:00The true story of an unbearable tragedy is retold in the drama Grizzly Night.
00:05Hmm, I think the scare of that bear might be a little off.
00:09On August 12th, 1967, in Montana's Glacier National Park,
00:13there were not one but two fatal bear attacks on the same night,
00:17which had never occurred previously.
00:19Inexperienced park ranger Joan Devereaux, played by Lauren Kuhl,
00:23finds herself leading the effort to try and locate and aid the victims
00:26while trying to avoid being attacked by bears themselves.
00:30This movie has been terribly mis-sold as a horror film, and it isn't one at all.
00:34What it is, is a docudrama on a real event.
00:37In fact, this is the very instant that is the reason why there are so many rules and safety measures
00:42that were introduced to keep tourists safe from bears.
00:45So if you come into this expecting an OTT animal attack flick like Cocaine Bear,
00:49you've got completely the wrong expectations.
00:52This isn't that kind of movie at all.
00:54It's much closer to a disaster movie, especially early on,
00:58where you see the seeds of catastrophe being sown,
01:01from a cavalier attitude towards bears generally,
01:03to understaffed rangers trying to look after too many tourists and campers.
01:07But the biggest contributing factor is bags of food waste being left behind by caretakers
01:12who don't want to use an undersized incinerator,
01:15resulting in bears getting very close to humans and losing their fear of them,
01:20and the parks even using how they get near to the chalets as an attraction.
01:24It's a recipe for disaster that evokes Jaws,
01:27and while this isn't nearly as effective as that movie,
01:29it's a reminder that such rules are often written in blood.
01:33It's also a disaster movie in that there's a big cast of characters in several different groups and subplots.
01:39Too many, in fact, which makes it hard to keep track of who everyone is,
01:42and it should have been consolidated,
01:44as there's not much characterization you can fit in just 90 minutes.
01:47A few do stand out, like Kool's Devereaux,
01:50a newbie ranger naturalist who is the closest thing to a main character,
01:54but also Oded Fair as a doctor in the chalet group who provides vital first aid in the emergency.
02:00This is the feature debut of director Burke Doran,
02:02who clearly wanted to avoid sensationalism and depict events as faithfully as possible,
02:06even if that means it feels like an old TV movie at times.
02:10You see this in the attack scenes,
02:11where instead of juicy close-ups of maulings,
02:13they're done below frame with sound effects,
02:16and the injuries are seen in the aftermath in wincingly realistic detail.
02:20Admirably, the film uses real bears,
02:23although this naturally means that they're only seen sparingly throughout.
02:26I was most haunted by Bo Basinger's performance as the ill-fated Julie Helgeson,
02:31who is heartbreaking in her final scenes,
02:34even if the film's editing fumbles the first attack by using it as an opening teaser,
02:38and then later as a flashback,
02:40rather than using it in chronological order.
02:42I found Basinger's performance genuinely moving and upsetting,
02:46especially with the knowledge that this actually happened.
02:49So yeah, look elsewhere if you want a silly genre flick,
02:51as this is a flawed but sincere effort.
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