Grizzly

One of the first of the many Jaws rip-offs, exploitation director William Girdler’s spin on the natural horror film brazenly supplants Spielberg’s underwater threat with an 18-foot prehistoric grizzly bear hell-bent on terrorizing a national park. With the elusive animal running rampant in the deep woods of northern Georgia, it’s left to the chief ranger (Christopher George)—with a Vietnam vet helicopter pilot and naturalist by his side—to subdue the grizzly threat, whose victims are mostly women. Produced and distributed by mockbuster pioneer Edward L. Montoro, Grizzly became the most financially successful independent film of 1976. 35mm print courtesy of UNC School of the Arts.