Blu-ray Review: Grizzly (1976)

May 31, 2021

Written by DanXIII

Daniel XIII; the result of an arcane ritual involving a King Diamond album, a box of Count Chocula, and a copy of Swank magazine, is a screenwriter, director, producer, actor, artist, and reviewer of fright flicks…Who hates ya baby?

After Don Stober (Andrew Prine) spits out one of, if not the most laid back environmental preservation speech ever (doubtless the helicopter he is piloting is nowhere near as high as him), we are treated to a hell of a whimsical musical ovation for a film that concerns a giant bear eating the ever-loving fuck outta people, but I digress…
Enter: Smilin’ Mike Kelly (Pieces’ own Christopher George) and the other shit eatin’ grin wearing forest rangers in his employ… but fret not my wicked weirdos, those smiles will soon be wiped away, because lovely ladies are turning up mauled into hamburger thanks to the claws of a fifteen-foot grizzly bear.
As the body count rises (more on that in a bit) Kelly, Stober, and resident Naturalist Arthur Scott (Richard Jaeckel) step up to the plate and attempt to end the murderous rampage of that bitch of a  berserk bear!
They are going to need a bigger pic-a-nic basket…
Ya know what I love about Grizzly? It’s that PG rating… I can only imagine the look on parents faces as their kids bore witness to horse decapitation, children being dismembered, and gallon upon gallon of vivid crimson splash across the screen with wild abandon. This film is gory as all fuck, and I can’t believe it got a PG rating, and I grew up in the fucking ’70s and ’80s! You can also bet your ass that you’ll be hearing some swears as well… hell, I thought I saw a tit or two but it ended up being a nude colored bra…
Along with that beastly boon, we are treated to some great chemistry among the film’s leading men. George is such an affable presence, and Prine and Jaeckel share some solid banter, and the locations are certainly picturesque enough… but yeah, you know damn well you paid to see a bear rip folks a new one, and you certainly get that here cats n’ creeps!
Speaking of paying for shit, you definitely get your money’s worth with this Blu-ray release from Severin, as there are some choice bonus features included here!
First up comes two audio commentaries; one with Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson and film writer Troy Howarth, and the other featuring Producer David Sheldon and Actress Joan McCall. If your keeping score at home, I preferred the former as I found it a bit more informative, but both are definitely worth a listen.
Moving on we get author Stephen Thrower discussing the career of the film’s director, William Girdler (who also directed the following year’s Day of the Animals which features many of this film’s cast and crew… and if you want to know what I think of that one, click here), interviews with Girdler’s business partner J. Patrick Kelly III, actor Tom Arcuragi, Sheldon & McCall, and a duo of archival featurettes detailing the film’s production.
Last up comes a series of radio spots and trailers.
All in all, Grizzly is one of the best nature-run-amok pictures in the biz; it’s full of solid acting, scenic locales, and most importantly enough blood n’ gore to satisfy the terror-tooth of any horror hound!
 
 


 
 
 

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