Cocaine Bear (2023)

I went in expecting a decent little flick—something mindless I could just switch my brain off for—but man, what a letdown. It was a total drag. Boring, witless, and honestly? Almost a disaster. 👎

Such a solid slice of retro trash! I was actually pleasantly surprised. 🤣🙏

Total garbage movie.
I was hoping I’d at least get a decent laugh out of it, but honestly, it didn't even manage that.

A trailer for this movie just popped up on my YouTube feed
I guess I don't really feel the need to go out of my way to actually watch it.

Kenneth Lewis84 said:A trailer for this movie just popped up on my YouTube feed
I guess I don't really feel the need to go out of my way to actually watch it.

Thanks. Please stay in the US; we need people like you here. 🙂

It’s a watchable movie, but man, it had so much more potential. The plot was pretty dumb—though, let's be real, we all saw that coming—but it really lacked the humor needed to make it actually work. The cast was great (Ray Liotta 🙏 🙂 ), and the tension isn't half bad. I wouldn't say Banksville is the issue here, but the script definitely needed more teeth 6/10

So... it was just a bunch of tomatoes and peppers everywhere... I wasn't exactly dying of laughter or anything, but it was definitely a watchable person. That scene where the guy is chasing the ambulance while Depeche Mode fan music plays was actually pretty cool. Just a mid-week vibe

I’d give anything to have my last hour and thirty-five minutes back...👎👎👎

Nothing revolutionary here, just a decent enough flick. I actually
found myself laughing out loud a few times.
Apparently, some people were dying for unnecessary sexual stunts
and LGBTQ propaganda, so their final rating ended up being this low.

Honestly, looking at how everyone was acting and all that over-the-top directing, it felt like everyone else in this movie was high on coke instead of the poor bear. It’s so bad that, weirdly enough, that fact almost makes it enjoyable. I don't need much to lift my mood—just something like the mom's look, you know? That classic, total 80s bombshell vibe, that face, the party atmosphere, and that tracksuit 🙏
.
I'd say the casting actually hit the mark. Those honey scenes are the highlight (especially the slaughter part). I dig how the cops and the criminals are just mindless drones—good old-fashioned clichés, right?—how the kids are irritating as hell, and man, Ray Liotta could've easily played the last Michael Myers.

Again, I'm giving it a pass solely because of that sexy mom in her jogging gear.

+++🙂++

It’s as if some talentless studio head suddenly had a "brilliant" epiphany—an idea that wasn't even funny to him personally, but he figured the mindless masses would find it hilarious, so he just greenlit the whole thing without a second thought.

"Cocaine Bear" isn't an homage to anything, nor is it genuine trash; it’s more like this polished, self-aware, highly intentional kind of fake trash—except the high production value actually ruins the whole concept.

It isn't funny, it isn't scary, and it doesn't evoke a single actual emotion...

Just total nothingness. I didn't sit through much of it. A complete waste of time.

I just finished watching this, and honestly, I have to wonder why anyone would even bother throwing money at making something this stupid.

It would’ve been way more interesting if they had actually stuck to the real story about smuggling drugs out of a small plane over the States—you know, where the crew is tossing the stash out the window while being chased by the DEA in another aircraft, and then that poor bear ends up finding the loot. They could have shown the whole chaotic escape where the smugglers bail out of the plane, including that part where one of them fails to deploy his parachute properly and ends up slamming right onto someone's car.😁

Total garbage from top to bottom—it doesn't even qualify for that "so bad it's good" cult classic category.

Someone clearly thought the premise was just crazy enough to carry the whole movie on its own.

''Cocaine Bear'' (2023) - Review #92

- This could have been so much better—as it stands, it’s just one of those movies you watch once and then move on from...

Despite what everyone else is saying—I actually thought this was a killer trash movie.

It totally caught me off guard. I was expecting some generic action flick loaded with tired clichés about a pissed-off bear hunting down people, but instead, I got this breezy, lighthearted dark comedy.
The humor is subtle—just enough to keep things moving with a few fun twists. Honestly, the only thing that bugged me was a couple of unnecessary scenes featuring bloody limbs being ripped off.
They could have easily cut those.

Definitely one of the better easy watches I've picked up in the last few months.

This movie is absolute gold if you love trash cinema. It hits all those classic 80s vibes perfectly—honestly, it feels like the first time Banksy really nailed that style.

bluerider3 said:This movie is absolute gold if you love trash cinema. It hits all those classic 80s vibes perfectly—honestly, it feels like the first time Banksy really nailed that style.

Could you actually name a few 80s movies that have those exact traits?

I've sat through plenty of 80s cinema, and honestly, I can't think of a single one that fits that description.

One movie that immediately comes to mind is Maniac Cop. It doesn't necessarily have to be an animal attack flick to count; it just has those specific qualities you find in those cheesy 80s cult classics. Take Friday the 13th, for example—you've got those silly tropes involving local police and all those classic 80s trash film clichés. It really hit all the right notes and crafted a solid piece of trash cinema that captures that 80s spirit perfectly. It’s just fun, features some entertaining kills, and honestly, it works exactly how a trash movie should.

bluerider3 said:One movie that immediately comes to mind is Maniac Cop. It doesn't necessarily have to be an animal attack flick to count; it just has those specific qualities you find in those cheesy 80s cult classics. Take Friday the 13th, for example—you've got those silly tropes involving local police and all those classic 80s trash film clichés. It really hit all the right notes and crafted a solid piece of trash cinema that captures that 80s spirit perfectly. It’s just fun, features some entertaining kills, and honestly, it works exactly how a trash movie should.

Hmm... the thing is, 80s movies with these themes had one massive difference: they didn't actually view themselves as trash.
Basically, someone who hasn't watched much cinema wouldn't even be able to explain why those films are considered trash.

They *were* trash, but they acted "as if" they weren't.
The "trashiness" only exists because of those repetitive patterns, situations, and clichés we recognize now.
They lacked that obvious, self-aware farce that hits you over the head.
There was no winking at the audience.

Pop culture details that eventually became "trashy" due to being overemphasized weren't the main focus back then.
In actual 80s movies, they weren't making a big deal out of little things like posters on a wall, bandanas, fashion choices, or songs playing on the radio...

Also, 80s movies didn't capitalize on nostalgia for previous decades. A movie like Friday the 13th or Maniac Cop isn't set in some caricatured version of the 50s or 60s—it takes place in its own contemporary time.

That's kind of why Cocaine Bear fails—because it isn't really a movie about Cocaine Bear, but rather some sort of self-aware fake.

It feels like a movie made by someone who clearly hasn't watched many 80s horror flicks, but has heard that they are "trash." So, this is just the realization of a wrong assumption regarding what such a movie should look like.

You're totally right—those guys basically pioneered this whole genre of Piranha trash. This one is such a great throwback, too. I don't really see what’s "wrong" with it or why it wouldn't work as a solid cult classic; honestly, if you ask me, everything is exactly how it should be. I've spent a massive amount of time diving into pretty much every horror flick from the 80s, whether they were major hits or just obscure gems.