DVD Review: ‘Into The Grizzly Maze’

‘Into The Grizzly Maze’ is a disappointingly stale and unoriginal movie about two estranged brothers that reunite at their childhood home in the Alaskan wild where they set out on a two day hike only to be stalked by a crazy grizzly bear. Pretty much everything in the film has been done somewhere else and a lot better. Perhaps its only good point is its pacing, which keeps the film from dragging out into tedious boredom.

The film’s editors do a good job making it seem like there is a giant bear attacking through clever cuts and so forth, but the special effects are unnecessarily gory and non-sensical. I say unnecessary not because I have a weak stomach, but because I understand that a bear slash should not unleash a gallon of blood. Of course if you are one of the film’s main stars then this over the top gore doesn’t apply to you. Everyone who isn’t a star is treated a ‘Star Trek’ red shirt. The stars get thrown around by the bear and escape without much of a scratch.

‘Into The Grizzly Maze’ is a confusing film, for more than one reason, but mainly because with its stars and director it should be a lot better than it is. Unfortunately, the characters never develop and the story never goes beyond its simple trope filled set-up. It doesn’t make you care about the characters or want to keep watching to see what happens.