Don't be fooled by the title or bear sighting of this movie, this is actually a slasher movie in disguise. Every clichés from three decades ago is here , including bear killer that pops out of nowhere, people stumbling when being chased and even the incompetent acts from the characters simply because the demand of plot. It's a mix of cheap effect and surprisingly famous names, but still a B movie.

The premise is simple, albeit slightly forced. A bear is on the loose, and this bear is particularly special for its murderous rampage. There are a lot of famous actors here such as Patrick Madsen, Thomas Jane and Billy Bob Thornton. All of which have plenty experience on action movies, even the supporting characters are familiar faces from either cinema or TV show.

However, the large cast doesn't mean a good story. As a matter of fact, the movie attempts to create too many subplots and none of them feel fascinating. There's the usual estranged family bonded together over the crisis, the tough guy who's determined to cap this bear and a couple girls who seem like padding to prolong movie.

This is far from a genuine survival story, the bear literally pops up out of nowhere like a paranormal stalker, which is strange considering the number of people assembled. It also has plot armor which makes the humans momentarily miss all their shots or this bulky bear manages to dodge in the nick of time. There's a mountain of inconsistencies here, and it just piles up towards the end, especially with the visibly subpar CGI.

One might get a bit of enjoyment from the slight horror, but Into the Grizzly Maze is nothing more than a poor imitation of Jaws or slasher flick, only with bear.

This movie attempted to be a bit different, they opted to make a realistic horror. A sleepy town is terrorised by a savage Grizzly bear. It's kind of like a Bear version of Jaws.

It's carnage in the forest, body parts start appearing, the powers that be realise quickly that the miscreant is a bear, not just any bear, it's a smart and clever unique bear! I'd almost go so far as to say a criminal mastermind and king of subterfuge. A small team consisting of two estranged brothers, A Sheriff, his deputy. The most interesting character being Michelle, a girl out photographing in the woods and happens to be deaf.

The best thing about the film has to be the visuals, they were never going to fail with the shots of the landscapes, seriously beautiful, almost awe inspiring.

Some of the effects are good, some of them are a bit amateur. The shots of the bear not attacking are great, they are glorious animals who couldn't enjoy those (Salmon I guess.) It's some of the attack scenes that look a wee bit dodgy, as viewers I guess we expect so much.

There are lots of tense moments, you are waiting for the Bear to appear and you never know when, but some of the scenes with long drawn out dialogues seem to go on forever.

Interesting finale, the Bear decides not to rip his victims apart in seconds, but to make a meal out of it.

The acting is mixed I'd have to say, James Marsden is a cut above, he us pretty good, the film was a surprising choice I guess, but good on him for doing something not mainstream. Billy Bob Thornton does a good job at making his character rather nauseating, but he's as much screen time as he perhaps should have been. Some of the lesser parts aren't great, some of the Sheriff's team seem like they've wandered into the film.

It's a bit of furry fun. 6/10