Before settling in for a fun tale of gory bear encounters and dispensable campers, audiences should prepare themselves for a different kind of movie. Grizzly Night is not about having a good time, seeing as how the horror of reality weighs heavily on everything, even from an early start.
The cold open has an apt preview of what’s all to come, and that doesn’t come across like a scene out of a horror movie. In what is quite the opposite, director Burke Doeren and writers Katrina Mathewson & Tanner Bean pave the road for a docudrama. At times a very tense one, but that doesn’t change the fact that this isn’t an outright creature-feature. That is simply because Grizzly Night is based on real bear attacks—ones that are considered some of the deadliest in U.S. history.
After August 13, 1967, the way Americans looked at grizzly bears changed forever. The catalyst for this shift was a pair of maulings that happened on the same night in Glacier National Park, Montana. The incidents in question, which are often referred to as the “Night of the Grizzlies,” are now the basis of a new movie called Grizzly Night. What could have easily been a loose and low interpretation of the fatalities ends up being something more of a reenactment. And as the movie shows with complete transparency, fact is often scarier than fiction.
Pictured: The killer bear in Grizzly Night. Courtesy of Strike Media.
While Grizzly Night is indeed a period piece, a lot of the time it’s not the most impressive-looking one. The movie’s so-so attempt at a convincing ‘60s aesthetic is easy to miss when the movie itself is shot so modernly and flatly. At the very least, the rustic and woodsy settings help in alleviating that dissonance. Yet, even when the production values border on drab and generally just lack in style, that natural appearance emphasizes the authenticity of the story. That is what this movie is prioritizing over entertainment and creativity: the truth.
Author and journalist Jack Olsen documented the Glacier National Park attacks in his 1969 book, Night of the Grizzlies. That text is so widely known and revered that it became the namesake for the whole ordeal. This same book matches up well enough with what Grizzly Night shows and does on screen. Fine details, such as the chalet rate and mention of a victim’s collapsed veins, line up with what’s found in Olsen’s documentation. So much so that maybe the literary account of the events would be preferred. That way, one’s education on the attacks doesn’t get distracted by the movie’s visual shortcomings, as well as some deficient performances. Regarding the latter, stars Brec Bassinger (Final Destination Bloodlines) and Charles Esten both stand out in their roles; they tip the scale whenever the acting verges on amateur.
“Grizzly Night is a film that carries an important message of respecting nature and wildlife—and that’s absolutely what drew us to want to tell this story as a feature film,” Burke Doeren said of his directorial debut. The “Night of the Grizzlies” is fascinating, despite its seemingly simple explanation for the bear’s behavior, and certainly no one is denying the validity of the movie’s ecologically inclined objective, either. However, as a genre movie, Grizzly Night delivers the facts and, apart from a gruesome moment or two, not much of anything else that’s really worth noting.
Again, the aforementioned book would be a better and more complete introduction to the subject matter. For those who would prefer their infotainment to be visual, though, the PBS-produced documentary is the more optimal, not to mention most tonally consistent, route.
Grizzly Night will be available on Digital starting on January 30.
Pictured: Grizzly Night poster courtesy of Strike Media/Saban Films.
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