Grizzly Rage (dvd review)

The Movie *
The dvd **

I have been out of the loop when it comes to the current crop of "nature fights back" horror movies. I grew up on movies like Grizzly and Day of the Animals, so when I saw this new line of movies called the Maneater series I blew them off. I figured they would be cheaply made movies that would use a catchy name to lure people in. Boy was I right.

The first movie that I watched from this series was Grizzly Rage. The movie is about four rich white kids who decide to go this forbidden forest. Why is it forbidden? Because somebody dumps toxic waste there, but they only show you this twice and when they do, they glance over it like it's not a big deal. While the kids are hotroddin' it through the forest they run over a bear cub. They get out of the car and check to see if the cub is still alive by checking it's pulse. This made me laugh because I have never seen this happen in a movie before. I know that a bear would have a pulse because it has a heart, but the idea of checking it's pulse seemed funny to me.

The group divides up to look for water and one of them is killed, in an attack so badly shot that you don't even know what is going on. The bear is actually able to sneak up on it's first victim. How this is possible, but it happens.

This movie is filled with enough headscratchers that, by the end of the movie, you may have scratched a hole into you skull. Take, for instance, the scene near the end of the movie, where they lure the bear into their jeep and then blow the jeep up. This is not the part where I scratched my head. It was when the bear came walking out of the fire untouched that had me looking the remote to stop this movie.

As a critic, it is my job to inform you of whether a movie is good or not, and I have to say that Grizzly Rage is a bad movie. Not a so bad it's good movie, but just a bad movie. The movie does nothing to thrill us and the ending is so stupid that I wondered what the filmmakers were thinking when they were shooting this. I still am wondering.

The dvd: Grizzly Rage comes to us in a standard amaray case, with no insert. Disc art resembles the cover art.

The Picture: Arriving to us in a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer, the picture is very good. The colors come out nicely and there is no blocking during the nighttime scenes. There are a few scenes that really standout. Overall, this is a very good transfer.

The Sound: We are given a 5.1 mix that is over produced. The dialogue is muffled by the many rock music cues and the attack sequences seem weak.

The Goodies: There is not one special feature on the disc. In fact, there is no scene selection either.

Overall: Grizzly Rage is terrible movie that is given a so-so dvd release. Where the picture thrives, the sounds suffers and there are no special features. This is one dvd that I would not recommend to anyone.