I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

the audience applauded

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

INTO THE GRIZZLY MAZE is an action horror movie with an A-list cast and B-movie feel. It's about a bunch of characters who end up in the woods with a rampaging grizzly bear hunting for them, and the entire plot consists of waiting to find out who lives and who dies as a result. The film seems to be a throwback to the exploitation pictures of old, like GRIZZLY, but it fails to entertain due to the fact that it simply isn't thrilling.Instead this film consists of clichéd characters and situations and over-obvious direction. Familiar stars show up and spout dialogue and either hunt or are hunted by the grizzly. James Marsden and Thomas Jane have both had successful careers but seem weak and insipid here, and Billy Bob Thornton's kooky character is underutilised in what amounts to little more than an extended cameo. Scott Glen has even less to do other than hang around looking haggard. The main recommendation is that the bear attack sequences are convincing, reliant on trick photography rather than the usual CGI creations or man-in-a-suit monstrosities.

No movie with Scott Glenn in the cast can be completely bad, but in the case of "Into the Grizzly Maze", there is not much more than Glenn to say what's positive about this viewing experience. Sure, for the most part the movie looks good, with expert cinematography and some very scenic locations (though the CGI effects look really amateurish.) And the last fifteen minutes or so are reasonably tense and exciting (though when the threat is finally eradicated, the movie ends really abruptly, as if the production had run out of money.) But the moments that lead to those last fifteen minutes are not particularly engaging. The story is really slow in unfolding. To make matters worse, even when the threat of the movie is (eventually) established, there is no real feeling that the characters are in deep peril until near the end. One reason for this is that even though the production got a real bear (the legendary Bart the bear), his sporadic appearances are for the most part so poorly directed that we can't get a sense that the characters are facing a wild and out of control animal. If the movie had been rewritten to make Scott Glenn the threat, maybe we would have had something here.

The cast was a definite appeal for me: James Marsden, Piper Perabo, Billy Bob Thornton, Thomas Jane and Scott Glenn are all actors that I enjoy usually.And although they aren't terrible I don't think any of them shine in their roles, but then they didn't have much to work with; the characters are all pretty flat with little to no character development.The script is not well-written (to put it mildly) in fact it reminds me of the typical creature feature that SyFy channel mass-produces by the dozens every year, but with better acting and better music.Extremely clichéd and no real suspense, I mean there were attempts at suspense but it all felt pretty flat just like the rest of the movie.PS, Piper Perabo plays a deaf-mute woman so she has no dialogue, in case you were like me looking forward to see her act again she does so just by gestures and facial expressions.I recommend Backcountry aka Blackfoot Trail instead.

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.