[Blu-ray Review] — Cocaine Bear: Maximum Rampage Editon (2023)

Available to purchase on Blu-ray and DVD. 

Yeah, I'm a little late in the game to be reviewing Cocaine Bear (Rated R; 95-minutes) a horror film that came out to theaters in February of this year. The movie is already available to own on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital, and it's streaming on Peacock, so probably most horror fans who wanted to see the film have already done so. I received a Blu-ray copy and watched it right away, and life happens, and things pile up on my desk, and I'm just now getting around to sharing my thoughts on the movie.

Cocaine Bear is loosely based on the real-life account of the 1985 crash of a drug runner's plane, the missing cocaine, and the bear that devoured it. By "loosely," I mean that, except for the bear allegedly ingesting cocaine, Jimmy Warden, the screenwriter, concocted everything else in the film. Interestingly, actress Elizabeth Banks directed the movie, the last person I would have expected to helm a horror-comedy. Generally speaking, Banks does a great job in the director's chair. The cast includes Keri Russell, O'Shea Jackson, Jr., Christian Convery, Alden Ehrenreich, Brooklynn Prince, Isiah Whitlock, Jr., Margo Martindale, and the late Ray Liotta.

Although the Blu-ray release is called the "Maximum Rampage Editon," it is only a standard Blu-ray release. Recently, Universal Pictures has started calling their Blu-ray disc releases "Collector's Edition" or something similar, despite nothing on the discs that make them collectible. It's merely a marketing strategy. There are a few features and extras, which are listed below, but nothing noteworthy.

• Alternate Ending Deleted & Extended Scenes
• Gag Reel
• All Roads Lead to Cokey: The Making of COCAINE BEAR - Meet the hilarious ensemble brought together to bring the movie of what is soon to be the world's most famous bear to life.
• UnBEARable Bloodbath: Dissecting the Kills - From rigging to special effects makeup to some actors doing their stunts, we'll get a bears-eye view into some of COCAINE BEAR's hilarious and gory kill scenes.
• Doing Lines - The cast and filmmakers read lines from the script to COCAINE BEAR, a work of art unto itself.
• Feature Commentary with Director/Producer Elizabeth Banks and Producer Max Handelman

Who would have thought a CGI black bear on cocaine would be funny? But it turned out that the bear was the movie's star. Yes, there are a few oddball characters to enjoy, but not all survive. Most of the cast gave strong performances, particularly the two younger actors, who had me laughing out loud early in the 95-minute running time.

Overall, Cocaine Bear is worth seeing if you enjoy dark humor, blood, gore, and a coke-fueled CGI bear. ╌★★★★✰