Into the Grizzly Maze (originally titled Red Machine, then changed to Endangered and later to Grizzly), is a 2015 American action horror-thriller film directed by David Hackl from a screenplay by Guy Moshe and Jack Reher. It stars James Marsden, Thomas Jane, Piper Perabo, Scott Glenn, and Billy Bob Thornton.
After serving time in jail, Rowan returns to his home town in Alaska to find a fellow hunter who’s gone missing in the Grizzly Maze, a dangerous patch of forest normally off-limits to hunters. His brother, Deputy Sheriff Beckett, isn’t too happy to see him but the two must work together when they discover a gigantic grizzly bear has attacked and killed several people in the area. With the help of Beckett’s wife, wildlife conservationist Michelle, and Beckett’s colleague Kaley, Rowan and Beckett must find the bear before it harms anyone else and before veteran hunter Douglass gets his hands on it.
Tropes:
- Animal Nemesis: After being attacked by a bear in his sleep, and managing to drive it off by stabbing it under the jaw, hunting guide Douglass became obsessed with hunting and killing grizzlies.
- Bears Are Bad News: The plot follows two estranged brothers as they reunite at their childhood home in the Alaskan wilderness. The pair are then led to the Grizzly Maze, where they are stalked by a massive, unrelenting, and bloodthirsty grizzly bear.
- Blade Brake: When the bear attacks Rowan and Kaley in Kaley's tent, it starts dragging the entire tent away with them inside. Rowan draws his hunting knife and digs it into the ground to anchor himself, so the bear drags thhe tent off him.
- Caught in a Snare: Michelle comes face to face with the bear, but in doing so, gets caught in a trap she set.
- Dead Hat Shot: When Rowan and Beckett find the spot where Douglass has been attacked by the bear, Beckett picks up Douglass' broken and blood-splattered glasses.
- Deus Ax Machina: During the climax, Beckett attacks the bear with a fire axe that was on the sheriff's inflatable boat for some reason.
- Dirty Cop: Sully, The Sheriff, is taking bribes to allow Evil Poachers to operate inside the Grizzly Maze.
- Disconnected by Death: Deputy Zoe is on the radio to sheriff Sully reporting that she had found Johnny Cadillac's car when she is attacked and killed by the bear.
- Dramatic Ammo Depletion: After Michelle becomes separated from the group, the bear corners her. Douglass arrives and unloads several shots at it from his high power hunting rifle, which gets the bear's attention and it charges him. Douglass keeps firing, hitting it multiple times without slowing it down. When the bear is almost upon, he pulls the trigger one last time at point blank range, only to discover he has emptied his clip.
- Egomaniac Hunter: Douglass believes he is the best hunter in the woods, and the only one capable of hunting down and killing the rogue grizzly. He is especially contemptuous towards to anyone connected to conservation and environmentalism, like Beckett and Michelle.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: The bootleg loggers' dog barks to warn them of the approaching bear but they don't hear him over the noise of their chainsaws.
- Evil Poacher: The first people killed by the bear are a group of poachers illegally hunting bears for body parts, and who tried to kill their guide when he objected to the number they were killing.
- Facial Horror: After being attacked by the bear, Douglass shows up with half of his face ripped open and flapping loose.
- Flare Gun: During the climax, Kaley shoots the bear with the flare gun from Sully's boat to little effect. Beckett them uses the flare gun to ignite the circle of gasoline he has poured around the bear.
- Gaia's Vengeance: This is what Douglass thinks the rogue grizzly is: that it is exacting its wrath due to the poaching and illegal logging rather than satisfying its hunger or establishing its territory.
- Hand Cannon: Rowan uses a Ruger Speed Six with a 2.75-inch barrel chambered in .357 Magnum.
- Just Got Out of Jail: Opens with Rowan Moore on a bus returning to his home town having just got out of prison.
- A Minor Kidroduction: The film opens with brothers Beckett and Rowan Moore encountering a grizzly bear in the Alaskan wilderness as children, then jumps forward to the adult Rowan returning home having Just Got Out of Jail.
- No Escape but Down: Fleeing through the forest from the rogue grizzly, Rowan escapes by leaping off a cliff into the river.
- The Place: The Grizzly Maze is a section of wilderness famed for its grizzly bears.
- The Sheriff: Sully is the sheriff of a small town in Alaska who is having to deal with a rogue grizzly bear killing hunters and loggers. It is later revealed that he is a Dirty Cop who has been accepting bribes to allow Evil Poachers to illegally hunt bears for body parts.
- "Shut Up!" Gunshot: When Rowan and Beckett start brawling in the campsite, Kaley gets them to stop by firing a rifle into the air.
- Slashed Throat: While escaping from the Evil Poachers, Johnny Cadillac slashes the throat of one of them.
- Stab the Scorpion: When Beckett confronts Sully on the beach, Sully suddenly raises his shotgun and aims it directly at him. Then Sully yells "Get down!" and it is revealed that Sully is actually aiming at the bear that has appeared behind Beckett.
- Twisted Ankle: While the group is fleeing from the bear, Kasey falls down the mountainside and impales her leg on a broken branch. They bandage her leg and stop the bleeding, but for the rest of the film, she has to be helped to walk by one of the other members of the group.
