"Grizzly" is kind of cheesy, but it's all right. It's quite watchable and has a few exciting moments. It's the story of a huge, 18 foot tall grizzly bear roaming a state park that has started to feast on campers. The bear is explained to be some sort of evolutionary holdout - so, in a way, it's kind of a sasquatch-type movie as well. When I first came across it I had the impression that it was one of those made for TV movies that were all the rage in the 1970's, but it's far too graphic and the language is too harsh for that. It was, though, made on a show string budget of $750,000, which sometimes does show through. In particular, some of the more graphic aspects of the bear attacks do seem cheap. They're graphic - limbs and heads are torn off of victims - but somehow the limbs and heads always looked to me like something off a mannequin. But that can be forgiven on a low budget movie.The performances were all right. The biggest name (for me anyway) was Richard Jaeckel, and somehow he seemed totally miscast as the big name bear hunter. It just didn't seem to be a part that worked for him.This movie is often considered a bit of a rip off of "Jaws," and there are similarities - the authorities refuse to close the park, just as they refused to close the beach in Jaws. But even if it was a rip-off of Jaws - well, it wasn't the only rip-off of the basic themes of "Jaws." Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. "Jaws" worked, so of course others tried to copy the format. For a low budget movie, this was OK. (5/10)

The film is what you think: A group of men end up getting together to kill this massive Grizzly Bear that is killing women to start with, then goes off to kill the men hunting it down. A Helicopter & some guns become clearly necessary to find the massive man-eating Grizzly.There is some fake blood, or is it tomato sauce, splattered about - dripping off the dying and dead. But the film is not overly bloody - it's more talky than a lot of action.It's okay for a one time watch - nothing I would care to see again. It's an average film and nothing really stands out to make me wanna view this one again.4/10

Most every review you read of this movie points out that it is a rip-off of Jaws, so I won't belabor the point. The interesting thing, however, is that much of the movie is so implausible that you wonder if perhaps the writers are doing it for laughs. The best bit is of course the female forest ranger who strips down to bra and panties to go skinny dipping while hunting a dangerous bear that has killed two people, but there is also the park manager who decides that the best way to combat the bear is to open the hunting season and let the masses of hunters go after him. This is COMPLETELY unrealistic. I can only guess that the film is employing a certain exploitative impressionism, kind of like when you are telling your five-year old a story and you exaggerate stuff for the fun of it. As a result, this movie is actually fairly entertaining, sort of like bedtime horror story for adults.

The reason why I watched this movie is because of the film editor Bub Asman. A friend from the TV/movie knows him and he told me to check this movie. So I did mid-last week. As expected, it is a bit of a knockoff from Jaws. Even the tag line: "Not since Jaws has terror been like this!" attests to this. The movie itself is a typical b-horror film. A reluctant hero that no one believes in, plenty of death/gore, and something (in this case a giant grizzly bear) for the audience to be fearful of. It is a movie to laugh at; at its cheesy music, bad effects (a guy in a bear suit, go figure), and just overall campiness. Yet, it is still fun. I enjoy watching these movies once in awhile. The only thing you'll learn from this film is to have a little campy fun and bring a bazooka in case a 15-foot grizzly bear comes charging at you. My rating: 5/10