Rating: C+
Dir: Hank Braxtan
Star: James Remar, Sherilyn Fenn, Ron Carlson, Allegra Carpenter
a.k.a. Maneater
This hits a number of the same beats as our When Chinese Animals Attack films. There is an evil corporation, carrying out dubious genetic experiments on its fauna subjects. The test critter escapes and goes on a rampage. We get a wise native local, irritating people who deserve to be eaten, a serious scientist with respect for nature, and random eye-candy. In this case, events unfold in the Alaskan wilderness, where fashion photographer Brooking (Carlson) has taken his bimbo models for a shoot. The creature in question is a bear, into which the Clobirch corporation, under scientist Dr. Hanna Lindval (Fenn), has injected wolf DNA – for reasons which are never adequately explained.
It escapes, and begins behaving less like a wild animal, and more like the killer in a slasher flick. We get sequences shot in Bear-o-vision, and it is conveniently able either to make scary noises, or move in complete silence, as necessary for the movie. Until the final reel, we don’t see much of it, though I was amused by it reaching up through the ice, to drag a bikini-clad model to her doom. For the first hour, we are thus largely left in the hands of the human cast. This is better than most, also including Remar as Martin Kakis, operator of the wilderness lodge round which the bear prowls; Ray Wise playing the Clobirch CEO; and Graham Greene (RIP) as the token indigenous guy mentioned above.
However, there is just not enough bear here for my tastes, with the barest (pun not intended, for once) glimpse of a paw about as much as you get during this stage. I will say, the foley work is up to scratch, with a wide range of suitably meaty sounds. I can honestly say, I have never before seen subtitles which read – accurately, I should add – “(flesh squelching) (screaming stops)”. Brooking is the most irritating of the characters: while undeniably intentional, the film would have been improved by him having a considerably shorter lifespan. The corporate malfeasance could have been better integrated too, beyond the initial Clobirch promotional video. The mention of things like global warming seem a token gesture, and the ending suggests no lessons have been learned.
Fortunately, it does find a new gear down the stretch. When we see the beast, it’s better than I expected, given the reticence of the movie about showing it, to that point. It doesn’t look completely like a polar bear – presumably due to the injection of wolf. The climax bumps up the rating half a grade, due to the first occurrence (of which I’m aware) of Chekhov’s Ice Auger. This is driven into the bear-wolf by Nakos, along with a yell: “Add this to your DNA!” Because it’s a spiral, see? Additional helpings of such dumb excess, throughout the movie, would have been welcome. It’s still one more memorable moment than many entries in this genre can provide.