Film Review: MANEATER (2007)

I wish I could say that this Gary Busey starring throwback to ‘80s made-for-television horror is horrible (like so many other films that premiered on the Syfy channel) but oddly enough it’s not terrible. The film Maneater (2007), which shouldn’t be confused with the countless other films with the same title, concerns Grady Barnes (Busey) whose small town is suddenly under attack from a wild Bengal Tiger that has misplaced from its known world. He then must enlist the aid of the National Guard and a wild game tiger hunter from India in order to kill the wild tiger before any more people are killed despite the fact that the Mayor refuses to close down the local Corn & Apple Festival which brings in lots of tourists and keeps their small town alive.

Sounds like a riff-off of Jaws (1975) and for the most part it is, just replace the giant great white with a Bengal Tiger and there you have it. The thing that makes this film slightly different from other films is the religious allegory and motif that is established between the tiger and the small boy in which the tiger has become attached (and is the only person exempt from the tiger’s jaws). This doesn’t make the film better as it suffers from mediocre acting from most of the cast (although Busey does give a much more subtle performance than I’m used to).

An asset to the film is the real tiger used in the film and the lack of CGI effects. This film feels like a monster film from the ‘80s from beginning to end. Unlike other Syfy films that rely too heavily on the CGI monster it was nice to see a film that strived for realism. This is not to say that the film was a masterpiece but it’s nice to see that there are still a few films being made in which they feel like the films I watched on television when I was young.