Camp Takota (2014)

Directed by Chris and Nick Riedell
Written by Lydia Genner, Mamrie Hart and Michael Goldfine
Starring Grace Helbig, Mamrie Hart, Hannah Hart and Chris Riedell

With her personal and professional life in shambles, Elise ends up having to take a job as a counselor at her old summer camp. There, she reunites with two estranged friends who attended camp and never left. When the future of the camp is put in jeopardy, the three friends must band together to save it, changing the course of their lives forever.

The most apparent thing to me in watching this is that the writers and directors had no idea what demographic they were going for. The humor seemed to be intended for children or preteens. Yet much of the subject matter and dialogue seemed to inappropriate for people in that age group. The whole thing came off as a mash-up of two different scripts written for two separate demographics.

The acting was absolutely atrocious, which is understandable seeing as how the cast was lined with YouTube celebrities, who given their massive following, believe they can act. Every other element of the way it was filmed felt like a Disney Channel original movie, most notably the cinematography and the overall story arc.

While certain characters and situations did provide me with some chuckles, what this boils down to is not the movie itself. In retrospect, the one thing I am 100% certain about is that whatever demographic this was intended for, I'm not a part of it. So there is a strong chance that many other people would enjoy it. It just wasn't for me. I have no idea why Netflix recommended it to me.

My Rating: 4/10

Grizzly (1976)

Directed by William Girdler
Written by Harvey Flaxman, David Sheldon and Andrew Prine
Starring Christopher George, Andrew Prine, Richard Jaeckel and Joan McCall

When a eighteen-foot tall grizzly bear terrorizes a popular National Park during peak camping season, the head Park Ranger must protect the visitors from its wrath.

In an attempt to become the "Jaws" for the woods, this movie takes damn near every single plot point and filming style from Spielberg's classic thriller. Everything from the shooting style (having angles from the perspective of the creature), to having a Park Manager (the Mayor in "Jaws") who refuses to close the mountain risking the lives of their visitors for the sake of money.

It even has a war veteran who has stories that give him extra inspiration to seek revenge on the killer animal. And he makes huge speech about a tragic even caused by the bear much like Quint does in the 1975 film (Spoiler: Even the endings are the same).

Yeah… This happens.

The only thing they didn't rip-off, excluding the antagonist and location of course, was the soundtrack. The soundtrack to this movie switches between sounding like it's from an old western film to that of a romantic film from the 50s. It is so unfitting that it's laughable. And that's not the only thing funny about this.

The scenes in which the bear kills someone are pretty hilarious. I don't know if it would have been scary back in the 70s, but today it'll just make you laugh. The acting is terrible. 90% of the scenes throughout the entire movie are ADR'd (Automated Dialogue Replacement). And the way the killing scenes are shot have been parodied by too many modern comedies to not produce a chuckle.

This movie isn't bad enough to be good like "Troll 2" and other great-terrible movies. And it's certainly not good enough to be good. It's just bad. The blatantly stolen plot points from "Jaws" don't help it's case either. It does have an awesome poster, though.

My Rating: 2/10