Grizzly

Grizzly is a Cult Classic independent "Nature Strikes Back" film from the 1970s. Notable for ripping off Steven Spielberg's Jaws at every possible opportunity, and still managing to be some fun in its own right.

Released in 1976, Grizzly was actually the most successful independent film made that year, raking in a shocking $30 million from a budget of $750,000. It was the most successful independant motion picture until two years later when John Carpenter made Halloween.

It's also notable that the film had a sequel produced in the 80s that was never finished or released. It seemed that the sequel would never see the light of day. That is, until a very rough work print (without the bear footage, save for some scenes at the end featuring an animatronic) was thrown on the internet during the Charlie Sheen craze in 2011, due to the film being one of the earliest roles for Charlie Sheen (as well as George Clooney believe it or not).

Tropes used in Grizzly include:
  • Blood From the Mouth: Helicopter pilot Don bites it with copious amounts of this.
  • Bloodless Carnage: Averted. For a PG-rated film, there is a ton of blood.
  • Everything's Worse with Bears
  • Family-Unfriendly Violence
  • Follow the Leader: There is little in this movie not directly lifted from Jaws. A comparison can be found here.
  • Hellish Copter: The bear attacks the helicopter in the last reel
  • Hope Spot: Scotty wakes up after being mauled and buried by the Grizzly, only to be killed again moments later by the same animal
  • Infant Immortality: Subverted. Poor little Bobby has his leg torn off by the bear, though his ultimate fate is implied to be survival.
  • Monster Vision
  • Novelization: And it made far more sense than the movie, too, as it actually gave real reasons for why the bear started eating people. If you must know, it grew too big too fast, so its mother drove it off before it knew how to hunt properly; it injured its jaw before entering the park, leaving it in serious pain; and one of the first victims was menstruating. Angry hungry bear plus the scent of blood = massacre time.
  • Off with His Head: That poor horse
  • Super-Persistent Predator
  • Too Dumb to Live: The park ranger who strips to her underwear to "dip her feet" when she's searching for a man-eating grizzly bear, and Scotty
    This article is issued from Allthetropes. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.