[HorrorScience] Cocaine Bear (2023)

Reading time: 6 minutes

Year

2023

Director

Elizabeth Banks

Script

Jimmy Warden

Distribution

Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, O'Shea Jackson Jr, Ray Liotta, Isiah Whitlock Jr, Brooklynn Prince, Christian Convery, Margo Martindale, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Kristofer Hivju, Hannah Hoekstra, Ayoola Smart, Aaron Holliday, J.B. Moore, Leo Hanna, Kahyun Kim, Scott Seiss, Matthew Rhys, Allan Henry

Not long ago I commented on the movieBackcountry, which was based on a true event where some hikers were attacked by a bear. Well, today I am going to comment on a film based on a true event, which also has as its protagonist a bear that attacks hikers, but as strange as it may seem, it is an absolutely different experience (and opposite) to what was seen inBackcountry.

The movie itself isCocaine Bear(also known asCrazy Bear, Vicious Bearandintoxicated bear), and it may sound familiar to you, because it became quite famous at the time, due to the absurdity of the premise, since it is about a bear who after eating a few kilos of cocaine becomes very violent and also addicted.

The first time I saw the poster ofCocaine Bear, I thought it was a fan-made image, to have a laugh. When I found out that it was a real movie, I was curious, although I admit that I forgot about its existence shortly after, so when I came across it again, I decided that this time I would see it and dedicate an article to it, whether it was very horrible or decent.

The fact that he saw it and commented on it shortly afterBackcountryIt is purely coincidental, but I found it curious, sinceBoth films, despite narrating something similar, are like night and day. In a way, we can say that fans of the killer bears are in luck. The film begins with a drug dealer who is throwing his cocaine out of the plane door and just as he is about to jump off the plane, he suffers an accident and dies, leaving the drugs scattered across the mountain.

From here we move on to see the main characters. A mother and her daughter, who cannot agree on how to spend the weekend; a drug trafficker who pressures one of his thugs to recover the lost drugs and, in the process, straighten out his own son, who does not want to continue in the business; some police officers who follow the trail of drug traffickers; the ranger of the mountain where the drugs have fallen, her romantic interest (a wildlife expert and animal lover) and the local criminals who cause problems in the natural park.

All of these characters will encounter, at different moments in the film, the bear who, in addition to acting extremely violently, alsowill prioritize attacking those who possess cocaine, which plays against some specific characters.

I would like to be more specific about what happens to each character, but if I do I will spoil the experience for anyone who wants to see the film and I prefer not to, partly because it is a very recent film and also becauseIt doesn't have a great story or great performances, but it does have scenes that are worth watching, without knowing in advance what is going to happen, since that is its great point in favor.

Cocaine BearIt's one of those movies thatnot taken seriously at any time. The human characters are cartoonish and ridiculed in various ways, which makes them mildly interesting.The bear is so humanized at times, it's like a cartoon, which is quite fun and many of the deaths are, to say the least, curious. And precisely this lack of seriousness makes the film very enjoyable for most of its length.

The story of the film is very simple and there is not much to explain, so the charm of it is seeing what happens to the humans who encounter the bear. Even thoughand try to play lightly with the dramaand it may give us to understand that there are going to be serious scenes (especially by including children among those attacked by the bear), there comes a point at which the film makes it clear to us that it is not going to be like that.

I don't know how to explain it.Maybe it's a guilty pleasure, but I see myself seeing it again in a few months.and enjoying the best parts as if it were the first time, and that is not something usual for me with a film of this style. Maybe I had low expectations. Maybe I thought they were going to try to make a more serious horror film, but overall, I think the approach given greatly favors the film and makes it much more recommendable than I would have thought at first.

If you want a “realistic” bear movie, you can take a look at the one mentioned above.Backcountry, but if you want to see a bear movie that will give you a good time, despite the violence of its scenes, it is betterCocaine Bear, by far.

Curiosities

The film is dedicated to Ray Liotta (Syd in the film) who died shortly after finishing it (and was already filming another one). Liotta earned his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame shortly after his death.
The film is based on a real event that happened in 1985. When trafficker Andrew C. Thornton II threw cocaine from his plane and jumped out of it, with such bad luck that he died when his parachute did not open. A bear ate the cocaine and ended up dying from the effects of the drug (without having attacked anyone, at least as far as is known). So the only part of the movie that comes close to reality is the first scene.
Some of the most violent scenes were removed from the final version of the film, thinking that, at that point, they changed the dark humor tone of the film too much.
The scene in which the children try the drug caused a lot of controversy among conservatives in the United States, who went so far as to say that it is further proof of the degeneration of Hollywood.
The bear that consumed cocaine and died is on display in Lexinton, Kentucky.