DVD Review: MANEATER Features An Unnatural Killer Polar Bear

It looks like 2015 is the year of the killer bear movie. We’ve already had Thomas Jane and Billy Bob Thornton in Into The Grizzly Maze, Leonardo DiCaprio is tacking the fury killer in The Revenant and now Maneater (also known as Unnatural) has just dropped on DVD.

Maneater is a rollicking B-movie that sees a genetically modified Polar Bear going on a rampage through the Alaskan wilderness. Things take a bloody turn when the angry bear comes across a remote cabin – and its inhabitants soon become lunch for the hungry animal.

Hank Braxton embraces the B-movie craziness of the whole endeavour and he stacks film with plenty of familiar faces (James Remar, Graham Greene and a pair of Twin Peaks veterans Sherilyn Fenn and Ray Wise) to keep his audience hooked. Humour and bloody gore sit side by side as plausibility is ignored for visceral killer bear thrills. However, the willing cast do a good job and they make sure that the dramatic energy never flags. James Remar brings a grizzled machismo as the cabin owner battling the aggressive furball, while Fenn stars a shady and unethical scientist who helped create the unnatural killer.

Sometimes genre movies like Maneater can fall through the cracks and be missed due to the sheer amount of movies being released on multiple formats. However, this horror-thriller embraces its genre roots and it deserves to be discovered on the small screen.

Glorious B-movie fun, Maneater is a great little flick for those who enjoy a good man versus nature monster movie. The cast deliver and director Hank Braxton creates enjoyable gory thrills to keep the audience entertained. Good fun.