Grizzly Rage is a 2007 Canadian television horror film produced by RHI Entertainment that premiered in Canada on the video-on-demand channel Movie Central On Demand on June 7, 2007.
Featuring a cast of four, the film focuses on a group of teenagers who struggle to survive in a restricted forest while an enraged grizzly bear hunts them relentlessly seeking retribution for killing its cub.
Critics panned the film, feeling its plot, script, characters, and special effects were substandard.
Sean Stover, Ritch Petroski, Wes Harding and Lauren Findley celebrate their high school graduation by breaking into Saranac Grotto, a forest heavily marked with "No Trespassing" signs and surrounded by a tall fence.
While speeding down a dirt road, they hit and kill a grizzly bear cub, sending their Jeep Cherokee into a tree and cracking the radiator.
The vehicle starts again and they leave, but Wes panics and tries to force Sean to turn around and head back for Ritch, causing the car to go over a cliff.
Wes decides to climb a tall hill on the other side of the clearing to see if he can get a signal on his cell phone, but to no avail and the bear nearly catches him.
The bear follows and climbs on top of the Jeep, smashing up the car and eventually overturning it before leaving as the sun sets.
In October 2006, RHI Entertainment made a deal with the Sci Fi Channel to produce a series of ten made-for-television natural horror films to air on the network the following year.
[1] Dubbed the "Maneater" series by RHI Entertainment, Grizzly Rage was the sixth film released.
[7][8] Both Tyler Hoechlin and Graham Kosakoski noted that they were a little afraid of the bear and director David DeCoteau felt that working with such a powerful live animal added an element of danger for the cast and crew during filming.
[10] Grizzly Rage premiered in Canada on the subscription-based video-on-demand channel Movie Central on Demand on June 7, 2007.
Mavis states that it was a horror film that did not show anyone getting "sliced, diced, munched on and stomped" by the bear.
[10] Matt Gamble of UGO Entertainment was excited by the film's cover, but was also quickly disappointed by "insipid dialog" amongst the characters and their continuously calling each other "dude."
His final rating of the film was an "F."[15] DVD Verdict's David Johnson also questioned why the bear and actors are never seen on screen together.
He derided the scenes in which the bear would make a swiping motion, and the scene would cut to show a character flying through the air: "I don't know how the bear mastered the art of jujitsu in the wild, but it comes in handy when four teenagers snuff your cub and they need a healthy dose of comeuppance."
So, I don't fault them for following suit on this production..." and concludes with the remark that Grizzly Rage is "a pretty silly but satisfying little fright flick" and rated it a seven out of ten.
[17] Sci Fi licensed the song "Bright Light Rockin'City" by rock band Floor Thirteen for use in the film.