Grizzly Night is the kind of movie that sits right in that “ehhh… fine, I guess” zone — not terrible, not memorable, just sort of lumbering along like, well, a very confused grizzly. You can feel the DIY energy from minute one, and not in a scrappy-cool way so much as a “everyone learned on the job yesterday” way. The story hops around like it misplaced its map, with characters vanishing into the cinematic wilderness only to reappear later as if nothing happened. And as for director Burke Doeren? You can tell this is his feature debut — the tension is more simmer than boil, and the camera often watches events rather than really getting inside them.
To be fair, you can’t accuse the film of lacking heart. Doeren clearly cared about telling the real “Night of the Grizzlies” story, and you can practically feel the passion in every slightly shaky creative decision. The problem is that passion doesn’t magically fix pacing issues or turn a clunky script into a tight thriller. The film wants to honor a real tragedy while also being a nature-run-amok movie, but it keeps tripping over itself trying to do both at once.
Luckily, the cast does a lot of heavy lifting. Brec Bassinger steps in as rookie park ranger Julie Helgeson, doing her best to project authority while surrounded by both panicked campers and aggressive wildlife. She’s grounded, relatable, and honestly better than the movie sometimes deserves. Around her, you’ve got Charles Esten bringing steady adult energy, Oded Fehr lending some much-needed gravitas, and a supporting lineup that clearly showed up ready to play — even if the screenplay didn’t always meet them halfway.
Where Grizzly Night really stumbles is in its storytelling rhythm. The film keeps starting and stopping, like it’s constantly forgetting where it parked its own plot. Some characters feel sketched in rather than fully drawn, and a few subplots just sort of… evaporate. Visually, though, there are moments where the forests feel genuinely ominous, and you can sense what the movie wanted to be — it just doesn’t quite get there often enough.
At the end of the day, Grizzly Night is a solid three out of five: not bad, not great, but interesting in flashes. There’s a good movie hiding in here somewhere — you see it in the performances, the real-life story, and the occasional genuinely tense moment. But too often it settles for “good enough” instead of going for the jugular. If you’re into survival thrillers or real-life disaster stories, you’ll probably find something to chew on — just don’t expect a cinematic feast.
Lightbulb Film Distribution is pleased to announce that Grizzly Night will be released on the 2nd of February, with a digital and DVD copy available for pre-order.
MPAA Rating: R
Runtime: 87 mins
Director: Burke Doeren
Writer: Craig Brewer
Cast: Bo Bean; Katrina Mathewson; Tanner Bean
Genre: Horror
Tagline: Based On the Terrifying True Story
Memorable Movie Quote: "This is the second bear attack"
Distributor: Lightbulb Film Distribution
Official Site:
Release Date: February 2, 2026
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: On August 12th, 1967, in Montana's Glacier National Park, the unthinkable happened: On the same night, nine miles apart, there were not one-but two-fatal grizzly bear attacks.
