GRIZZLY NIGHT (2026)

New On Demand from Saban Films!
Directed by Burke Doeren.
Written by Bo Bean, Katrina Mathewson, Tanner Bean.
Check out the trailer here!!

During the 1967 tourist season at Glacier National Park, Montana saw two separate bear attacks in one night. This is the story of that terrible night.

I love a good man vs. nature movie. Films like NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLY and of course, GRIZZLY are classics that highlight the dangers of nature getting a little too close to civilization. But aside from the absolutely terrifying BACKCOUNTRY, which contains one of the most agonizing bear attack sequences this side of the documentary GRIZZLY MAN, it seems to be difficult to make a good grizzly bear horror movie. I found COCAINE BEAR to fail to live up to its entertaining premise, so with this GRIZZLY NIGHT movie, I was hoping for some of that grindhouse, gnarly bear horror of old.

The film starts out promising enough. It is kind of amazing that parks used to bait bears to come near the tourist locations with trash piles—one of those details that really makes you wonder how the human race survived at all given the lack of attention to safety. These opening moments where tourists flock to cabins and get dangerously close to bears for photo ops were the most entertaining of the film. GRIZZLY NIGHT does a good job of highlighting the naivete of some people to think that nature won’t bite back. Even the park rangers seem uninterested in safety protocols, as they ignore warning signs all over the place that disaster is going to strike.

But its when disaster strikes or more accurately, the bear strikes that things begin to wobble. There’s a nice sequence that occurs twice in the film for some reason. I guess it is because there needed to be a bear attack in the opener, so it makes a tiny bit of sense that we see the scene play out where two sleeping baggers are attacked by a grizz once before the credits and then again, in sequence later in the film, but it feels more like filler than a stylistic narrative choice.

The way the bear is filmed, it is quite obvious the actors where miles away from it during filming. I understand you couldn’t have a real bear and the actors tussle about but at least get the lighting and camera stock to be similar. The film isn’t very bloody either, so you just get someone screaming at someone tugging at her sleeping bag from off camera and then a cut to the bear roaring for a treat from its trainer. Mixed together, this doesn’t make for the most traumatic or terrifying of attack sequences.

The biggest problem with GRIZZLY NIGHT is that aside from one bloody swipe on the shoulder from one guy, the bear’s body count is pretty low. Sure, I get it. The film wanted to be accurate to the events that occurred in real life, but it builds to a climax that is lackluster to say the least and to be more accurately, pretty cruel by today’s standards of filmmaking. I understand it’s protocol to put down a bear after an attack, but these final scenes lack any dramatic heft or anything. It simply feels like they ran out of money and decided to explain the rest of the story through expositional paragraphs about bear safety protocols before the credits.

The film has some ok acting. THE MUMMY’s Oded Fehr is a vacationing doctor who helps treat some of the bear claw wounds. FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES Brec Bassinger is one of the not-so-happy but cute as a button campers. Veteran actor Charles Esten plays a solid ranger. Everyone reads their lines well, though unfortunately, those lines feel pretty cliched.

I think GRIZZLY NIGHT would have been more effective if they might have depicted some of the grislier grizzly attacks throughout history in the area, rather than just focus on one night where a bear kills two people. Or made more effort to make the few scenes of run-ins with the bear more intense through quick cuts and tight shots. It’s funny that back in the day, someone wearing a bear suit could cause chills and screams due to some creative edits. It’s great that a real bear was used, but if it can’t go near the actors, its power really doesn’t register. It doesn’t help that the real grizzlies look pretty emaciated as they dig through the trash at the cabins and don’t match up with the size and girth of the performing bear used in closeups. GRIZZLY NIGHT is a man vs nature film that feels more like a docudrama than a horror film.