Tiger Tiger in the night
I am a big fan of monster movies. Man eating tigers are not necessarily monsters so this one was not on my radar. However, when I found out Gary Busey was in it, I had to see it. What I expected was crazy wacky. What I got was eerie spooky.
A magnificent Bengal tiger roaming around the woods near a small town. At first you don’t know where the tiger came from. There’s a young sleep walking boy living in the woods alone with his mother who believes the tiger is his friend. People start disappearing quietly. One moment they are next to you and the next moment they are gone. Is there really a tiger killing people? Is it all a figment of this young boy’s imagination? Is the boy really the tiger?
Slowly the answers come into focus. National Guard Troops come in to town. A tiger hunter, Colonel Graham Ian D. Clark), from India comes to hunt the tiger. He is a man that has a shadowy past of his own. Sheriff Grady Barnes (Gary Busey) is charged with finding and stopping the tiger while trying to manage the reporters and the National Guard.
"Maneater: Maneater series" was released in 2007 and was directed by Gary Yates. Yes, the reporters were annoying to the point that you wish they were dessert and the town council was self centered and profit driven. That is a fact of nature. Some people found it derivative but I disagree.
There is more here than just a man eating tiger and lots of victims and/or pieces of victims. There are different camera angles that make some scenes appear distant and unreal. I especially liked when the camera followed in the footsteps of the tiger. The tiger weaving in and out of the foliage with glimpses of its tail slowly swishing back and forth. Tendrils of fog during night scenes, and silence during attack scenes gives the appearance of a dream like quality. There is a paranormal flavor sprinkled on this dish of man vs wild that adds a touch of spice to the movie. All becomes clear by the end however the journey there is slow and savory. I found it a refreshing departure from the usual gore fest. Yes there was gore, but it was classy.