Cocaine Bear (2023)

"She Snorts. A Lot"

Elisabeth Banks' nature-gone-wild comedy horror that's based (very loosely, obviously) on a true story gets a 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download release from Mediumrare Entertainment.

In 1985 a cocaine smuggler did indeed have to dump their cargo out of an aeroplane, and a black bear was later found dead next to an open sack of the stuff. That's 'Real Events' enough for any amount of exploitation daftness and the only surprising thing is that it's taken this long for a project like COCAINE BEAR to see the light of day.

And here we finally are, firmly in AIP-style nature-gone-wild territory, with a group of disparate characters wandering through a forest unaware that a coked-out bear is eyeing them up for a bit of chill-out entertainment. They include Ray Liotta (in his last role) as the gangster looking for his lost consignment, Margo Martindale as a forest ranger and Keri Russell (from DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES) as the female lead (apart from the bear herself, of course).

It's all good, silly, gory fun with the bear chasing an ambulance a ridiculous highlight. It could easily have been even more over the top, but as it is, a movie called COCAINE BEAR doesn't really deserve to be as good as this turned out (garnering it a cinema release), and a lot of that is down to Elisabeth Banks' direction, which embraces the spirit of those good old-fashioned 1970s DAY OF THE ANIMALS-style pictures with plenty of humour while never skimping on the gore. 

Extras on Mediumrare's disc include a commentary by Banks and producer Max Handelman. 'All Roads Lead to Cokey' is a nine minute making of featuring interviews with members of the cast (but not Liotta) and crew, 'UnBEARable Bloodbath' is eight minutes of looking at the movie's kills, and 'Doing Lines' is four minutes of various members of the cast and crew reading scenes from the script. There are also deleted and extended scenes (four minutes), a gag reel (just the two minutes) and an alternate ending. 

Elisabeth Banks' COCAINE BEAR is out on 4KUHD, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download on Monday 29th May 2023