Grizzly Night is a new thriller and survival film that revives the archaic idea of demonizing wild animals in their natural habitat, but at the same time refrains from fully committing to this perspective, resulting in a half-finished product.
The film recounts a series of events that occurred on August 12, 1967, when several groups of people visited Glacier National Park in Montana, unaware that several ferocious grizzly bears were in the area. Overall, Grizzly Night largely ignores this perspective, much like its characters try to avoid the bears, and also disappoints in terms of the bloody and adrenaline-fueled scenes one might expect from an unpretentious entertainment film.
Director: Burke Doeren
Writers: Bo Bean, Katrina Mathewson, Tanner Bean
Stars: Charles Esten, Oded Fehr, Brec Bassinger
Grizzly Night opens with footage of real-life encounters between humans and grizzly bears, exoticizing the animal during the opening credits, before setting the action on August 12, 1967, in Glacier National Park in Montana. A local woman approaches the ranger station with a handwritten report she has prepared, detailing a dangerous encounter with a grizzly bear that a group of Girl Scouts had experienced a few days earlier.
The girls managed to escape unharmed only because their leader was able to distract the animal, and the woman now wants the authorities to be aware of the situation. Joan Devereux, to whom the complaint is made, is unfortunately a rookie, having only started working as a ranger a few months prior, so all she can do is report it to her superiors.
However, Joan assures the woman that the rangers are already dealing with the bear situation and that no grizzly bear attacks have been reported in the park in the last 50 years. Joan then joins a meeting led by head ranger Gary Bunney, who informs his colleagues about numerous smoke sightings, indicating the possibility of wildfires after a terrible thunderstorm the previous night. Therefore, park rangers are assigned the responsibility of monitoring for fires to ensure that any wildfires are quickly contained, and grizzly bears are not considered a serious enough threat at the moment.
Joan is assigned the task of guiding a group of tourists to the Granite Park Chalet, a cozy cabin in a picturesque location in the national park, which has been opened to tourist groups to generate extra income. Meanwhile, a young woman named Julie Helgeson informs her mother of her intention to spend the weekend camping with her new boyfriend, Roy, and lies, saying that her best friend, Paul, will also be with them. Julie obviously wants to spend time alone with Roy, and Paul also finds the perfect opportunity for a weekend getaway when a friend of Julie's, Michele, invites him to go camping with her group.
Michele's close friend, Denise, has planned a camping trip to Trout Lake, a scenic spot just a few miles from Granite Park, along with her boyfriend, Ronnie, and his brother, Raymond. Since Michele is uncomfortable spending time with Raymond, as the couple will surely sneak off at the first opportunity, she invites Paul to join them. This is a great opportunity for Paul to finally confess his feelings to Michele, so he readily accepts. In the following hours, the three groups of people—Julie and Roy, Michele and her friends, and the group of tourists accompanied by Joan—venture into the forest, completely unaware of the madness that is about to unfold.
When Roy and Julie stop at a makeshift campsite and attempt to spend the night in their sleeping bags in the open air, a grizzly bear suddenly attacks them. Despite their attempts to play dead, based on the popular belief that bears don't attack dead humans, the animal grabs Julie and carries her away. It also attacks Roy from behind, inflicting deep wounds, and the young man loses a lot of blood before he can reach the others. Dr. John Lindberg and his family, who are part of the group of tourists spending the night at the Granite Park chalet, are awakened by Julie's loud screams coming from inside the forest. Almost simultaneously, Roy manages to reach another makeshift campsite, where a young local man named Don had taken two guests from the chalet, as they had not reserved a room.
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