Into the Grizzly Maze
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. 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. The film was released on video on  demand on May 19, 2015, before a limited release on June 26, 2015. Plot. Deep in the Alaskan wilderness, in a region known as the Grizzly Maze, brothers Beckett and Rowan Moore encounter an enormous grizzly bear. Years later, the brothers have become estranged; Beckett a local deputy married a deaf-mute wildlife photographer and conservationist Michelle and Rowan an ex-convict. Returning home, Rowan gets supplies to find old friend Johnny Cadillac. Meanwhile, three hunters (one of them Cadillac) are attacked and slaughtered by the same bear the brothers encountered years earlier. After Rowan kicks out a prostitute named  Amber (whom he met at a bar), Amber is then assaulted by her boyfriend Franco, who gets into a fight with Rowan. Soon after, Rowan sees Beckett for the first time upon his release from prison. When asked why he came back, Rowan says he returned to go to the Grizzly Maze and pay respects to their father. Meanwhile, in the woods, two loggers and their dog are killed by the bear. After the brothers visit their mother's grave, Beckett gets a radio call about the killed loggers and drops Rowan off. Following a map, Rowan comes across a  car belonging to Johnny Cadillac. While Beckett investigates the logging incident, hunter and butcher Douglas arrives and tells them that the bear that killed the loggers is a large and intelligent specimen. While Douglas offers his help to track it, Beckett refuses. Accompanied by medical examiner and Rowan’s ex-girlfriend Kaley, he goes out to the Maze to find Rowan and Michelle. After Michelle encounters with the bear via getting caught in a trap she set, Rowan arrives and scares off the bear. Rowan and Michelle travel together. Sully visits Douglas, who once again informs him that this bear  is exacting its wrath due to the poaching and logging rather than satisfying its hunger or establishing its territory. When Zoe, one of Sully's deputies, finds the abandoned car, she is killed by the bear. After Douglas agrees to hunt and kill the bear, Sully and Jerry investigate the car. While searching the woods, Beckett and Kaley eventually find Rowan and Michelle at Dad's Flats, a special place for the Moore family. Michelle and Beckett look at a satellite of their tagged bears and hypothesize they are running away because of the larger bear. Beckett wants to return  to town, but Rowan refuses to leave. When confronted, he admits that he's came to find Johnny. Beckett angrily tells Rowan that Johnny deserves whatever happens to him for bringing poachers into the maze. This enrages Rowan and he storms off to take first watch. During the night, Kaley is attacked by the bear. Rowan and Beckett manage to save her. As the bear continues to stalk the group, the group decides to make it through the Maze. Sully goes to get the group out by boat. The group encounters Douglas standing over one of Beckett and Michelle's  collared bears. Initially believing he killed it, a video recording shows the collared bear was attacked by the larger bear. Afterwards, the group spots the butcher cabin, where they find the remains of the poachers and Johnny dead in a tree. Just then, Douglas reappears having tracked the bear's sent to the cabin. Looking at the body, he points out a gunshot wound, noting that is what killed Johnny. Douglas revealed that he had warned Johnny about the men as they had come to him earlier for the job. However, realizing their true motives, he turned them down and  reveals (to Beckett's shock) Sully was in on it. Setting up camp, Rowan explains to Kaley one night in the Maze, Rowan acted as a guide for Johnny during a drug deal in the Maze. During the deal, state troopers appeared. As Rowan almost fled, he noticed an injured ranger was about to get killed by one of the smugglers. Without thinking, Rowan shot the smuggler and saved the trooper. Unfortunately, this caused the remaining troopers to arrest Rowan. Shaken by what he heard and realizing he misjudged Rowan, the brothers reconcile. As Sully comes in on his boat , Douglas shoots the bear, but is injured while the bear gets away. While Beckett gets the girls to the boat, Rowan manages to distract the bear, making it chase him to the cliff. Rowan seemingly falls to his death much to Beckett's and Kaley's anguish. Michelle becomes separated from the group in the fog and is corned by the bear. An injured Douglas appears and tries again to kill it, but he runs out of bullets and the bear kills him. Beckett and Kaley find Michelle and continue to run to the river. The trio makes it to  the boat and are encountered by Sully. Angry and grief stricken over losing Rowan, Beckett confronts Sully about the poachers. Sully admits to letting them into the Maze in exchange for his retirement money, but insists he didn't know that it would trigger the bear. The bear arrives and kills Sully. While Beckett and the girls try to get on the boat, Rowan appears. The brothers work together to confuse the bear. They pour gasoline around the bear and set the circle on fire, trapping it. However, in their moment of triumph, the bear bursts through the flames and  brings down the boat. Nearly killing him, Rowan rams his knife through the bear's throat, killing it. With the threat finally over, the exhausted and injured group leave the Maze. Production. On January 19, 2012, James Marsden, Thomas Jane, and Billy Bob Thornton joined the cast of the thriller, then titled "Red Machine". Later that month, Piper Perabo also joined the film cast to play the role of Jane's fiancee. According to "Deadline Hollywood", filming began in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in February 2012. The producers are Tai Duncan, Hadeel Reda, and Paul Schiff. On February 2, 2012 , more cast members were added, including Scott Glenn, Adam Beach, Michaela McManus and Kelly Curran. Animal actor Bart the Bear 2 was also hired to co-star. He hailed from Heber City, Utah's "Wasatch Rocky Mountain Wildlife". On February 27, 2013, Open Road Films acquired the distribution rights of the film. Open Road also changed the title of the film from "Red Machine" to "Endangered". Release. After Open Road Films acquired the distribution rights of the film, the studio dropped the project and Vertical Entertainment and Destination Films acquired distribution rights instead and released the film on video on  demand on May 19, 2015, before a limited release on June 26, 2015. Reception. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 36% based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The film has a score of 43% on Metacritic out of 4 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.