Customer Reviews

Maneater

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As another reviewer commented, I loved this movie. Most of these low budget animal-gone-wild-killing-people movies are very predictable, and much of this movie is highly derivative of Jaws. However, Gary Busey is plays the sheriff in a wonderfully understated way. The movie also injects humor at exactly the right times. An example was when the mayor gets upset about possibly losing the next election because of what was going on and one of the deputies deadpans that two of the dead weren't voters. And Ian Clark is superb as the experienced British tiger hunter. But what makes the movie different from so many others of the genre is the role played by Ty Wood. While Tony the Tiger seems intent on eating everyone else, Roy seems to connect with the tiger. There is a wonderful scene with Col. Jim and Roy discussing tigers. The action scenes were very well done and the ending is very exciting. All in all, one of the best and unknown movies of this type. Thanks to the Sci-Fi Channel for showing this great movie.

"Maneater" is a made for TV movie about a tiger loose in the woods of Appalachia. The film is highly derivative of earlier films in the genre (notably "Jaws") but is actually better than most of the other comparable films. Understand that this isn't Academy Award fodder, but for a low budget horror movie, it works and is enjoyable to watch.

The film begins with several gruesome killings in the woods surrounding a small town. A local vet quickly examines the bite radius of the cast made from a victim's torso as being from a Bengal tiger. If that wasn't enough of a homage to "Jaws", the mayor also pleads that the sheriff not interrupt the "Corn and Apple Fest" due to concerns about the ravenous tiger. Gary Busey plays the sheriff, and exceeded my expectations, though he still has that kooky patina that makes him so interesting to watch. The tiger likes one boy (Ty Wood) who lives in a trailer, and therein begins the weird, mystical tiger-whisperer subplot that runs throughout the movie. Also making a peculiar entrance is Ian D. Clark as a Punjab tiger hunter. This at first struck me as utterly pointless, but actually his performance was one of the true highlights of the movie.

Needless to say, the carnage must continue for the film to work, and feeding grist into the mill is the Army National Guard, who show up with an arrogant smirk on their faces that doesn't last long. Aaron Hughes plays Sgt. Howe, and has a terrible accent that detracts from the generally good performances surrounding him. Fear not, his contingent is not part of the story for long. Throughout the film there are numerous confrontations with the press, and by the end I was praying that the Channel 8 Action News reporter could be eaten, preferably in slow motion, two or three times. Like the actual media, she was that annoying.

The film concludes with its final homage to "Jaws", an impossible gunshot to a tank of compressed gas. I was extremely amused despite the obvious derivation of the scene. The end of the film ties up several loose ends in a predictable, yet improbable manner, but seeing Gary Busey getting chased by a tiger was worth the price of the DVD by itself!

The film is a fine examle of contemporary B-cinema, and is one of the better made for TV creature-run-amok films I have seen; the cat is beautiful, the acting is good, the story is well-paced, and the price is right. What else could you want?

I've always been a fool for the "animals gone bad" movies.Everytime I go into a movie with high expectations,and am always let down.Except for Maneater!The plot was fun and not completely unbelieveable,the casting was good, and well acted.
Gary Busey as the small town sheriff who was used to dealing with small town problems,until a Bengal tiger starts to reduce the population.The Sheriff acknowledges this is nothing he's seen befoer and seeks help. A pleasant change from the "Super Sheriff" who does it all at the cost of many lives.
Ian D. Clark is a wonderful surprise as an experienced tiger hunter,trying to do what he does best and save face after being kicked out of his home whan the Queen mum gave India back to the Punjabs.You feel for him as a character in many ways.And many of his words are profound.
Ty Wood is the little boy who's God fearing mother shelters him from the outside world.You have little choice but to sympathise with this little boy.
Maneater is not only a fun film,But surprising good.Give it a chance.You wont regret it.

Here's an enjoyable piece of nonsense from the Sci-Fi Channel's "Maneater" series, a modern updating of the classic "Nature Strikes Back" subgenre of horror films. In Maneater, a tiger is loose in the woods surrounding a small community where Gary Busey is sheriff. It goes about hunting and killing and making the townspeople dreadfully uneasy. What's even worse is that the damn tiger is a threat to the success of the annual Apple and Corn Fest. There's also a boy who lives with his religious zealot of a mother that seems to have a kind of friendship with the tiger. It's even hinted that he might have some slight psychic connection with the beast. A British tiger hunter and the National Guard show up to kill the tiger, but since Busey is the star of the film, we're all pretty sure that in the end it'll be him in the final face off with the tiger.
I gave this movie a high rating of four stars. It might be a tad too much, but three seemed too low. It's not one you'll be wanting to watch frequently or purchase, but it's good popcorn entertainment. It's got a bit of gore, but this is mostly aftermath stuff like big pools of blood, body parts and eviscerated corpses lying around. Not much as far as actual animal attack scenes go. And they use a real tiger!! No CGI junk here, no sir! It actually looks like an animal instead of a friggin' video game! The cast is decent enough, though the script doesn't ask a lot from them. Busey is his cool, kooky self. He's a bit more "normal", but has a few funny lines here and there. I will say the guy gets creepier looking as he gets older. It's a performance on par with his portrayal of the Gingerdead Man(that was an attempt at humor, but it probably just sounds dumb).
No real complaints about the film coz it is what you'd expect a film like this to be, and as long as it meets expectations, it can't really disappoint. My only complaint would be the tiger/child connection. It's unnecessary, cliched and lame. Thankfully is isn't expanded on too much.
All in all, a good waste of time. I just bought a puppy tonight and he watched it with me(then peed on my chest), so I guess it'll hold some sentimental value for me.

It's easy to become jaded about monster-of-the-week movies when you watch as many as I have as quickly as I have (sometimes, two a night). The routine is so familiar that I can plot the film out without watching: recluse disappears, mutilated corpse appears, innocents somehow blunder through without being eaten, military types arrogantly blunder in and get eaten, a professional monster-killer arrives, the beast's weakness is discovered, and then the monster is blown up in a climactic showdown.

Maneater hits every one of these notes without skipping a beat. It throws in Gary Busey as a sheriff (Grady Barnes) in an ill-fitting suit, a British hunter out of a 1850s novel complete with victrola and tent (Ian D. Clark as Colonel Graham), and a God-fearing kid (Ty Wood as Roy Satterly) who has some bizarre connection to the beast in question.

In a Rubegoldbergian series of events, Roy blunders out into the street while sleepwalking, which causes a truck to flip, releasing its contents. And those contents are a black market tiger. Director Gary Yates is quite fond of this very first blue lit encounter, with a sleepwalking boy staring down at the reclining tiger, the shattered truck between them. He likes it so much he plays it a few times.

What is supposed to be a thriller turns into a heartwarming tale of a boy and his tiger. Roy keeps equating the tiger with Biblical tales told by his provincial mother, who forbids him from watching television. Soon he's talking to it, convinced that the tiger is his friend.

Fortunately, Maneater isn't going to let him off the hook so easily. What's refreshing about the film is that it has no easy gore shots to fall back on, just a real-life tiger. The actors have to act and the writer has to actually write dialogue, because the majority of the kills take place off camera. Colonel Graham narrates each kill in a flashback, explaining how the tiger outwits its foes. The tiger has no supernatural abilities to get it out of a jam. It's just a cunning beast.

With its austere setup, unobtrusive score, and meandering dialogue, Maneater is surprisingly pedestrian. But that's still a cut above some of the awful tripe that comes out of RHI Entertainment.

I was very disappointed when I watched this video. The cover suggests great viewing but I never could completely follow the storyline nor understand why the tiger would not eat the little boy. It really tried hard to be a good movie but it just didn't meet my expectations. It's possible that others might find it entertaining.

Part of a series of low budget films of animals gone amok that aired on the Sci Fi channel, this film is surprisingly good. For me, the main selling point was that we have an escaped Bengal tiger running amok in Appalachia and fighting with Gary Busey. What more do you need right there, I mean really?

Okay, so the plot really isn't all that complicated, essentially being yet another variant on every other 'animals run amok' movie since Jaws. Nonetheless, its quite enjoyable for such a cheesy flick (and they have a real tiger in it!). Ummm... you've got a Bengal tiger. And he escapes and starts picking off people in rural Appalachia. Gary Busey is the sheriff trying to stop it. Media frenzy ensues (complete with some reporter chick named 'Casey Couric,' lol). The army comes to hunt down the tiger, only to get eaten one by one (as highly trained and heavily armed soldiers are appearantly wont to do if movie logic teaches us anything). And a random British big game hunter, inspired by Jim Corbett, shows up to save the day.

Overall, its much better than you'd expect from a made for TV 'animal attack of the week' type movie. Sure, its kind of goofy at times. I mean, you could expect as much from the description on the box. But its also a fun movie, especially if its late at night or your just hanging out with your friends and want a straight out animal/monster attack movie. No complex plot, no surpise endings, just a regular animal going on a rampage. And the best part? Its actually the first in a series of such movies... with names like 'Grizzly Rage,' 'Eye of the Beast,' 'Shark Swarm,' and 'Swamp Devil' how can we go wrong?

Despite the Amazon listing (see "Format") the DVD has no closed captions or subtitles, which is unfortunate for about 9 million deaf and hard-of-hearing persons in the United States who might otherwise enjoy this film.

One further point of irritation: the on-screen cast credits omit all roles (the viewer is given nothing more than an alphabetical list of the actors' names), and they scroll past at quadruple speed (as though the Sci-Fi Channel were in a hurry to get back to the commercials).

All in all, a less than bare-bones DVD release.

I saw this on Sci-Fi Channel yesterday and found it entertaining. I may add to my DVD collection. I enjoyed Gary Busey in "Silver Bullett" and in this movie too.

THIS IS A VERY ENTERTAINING MOVIE WITH GOOD, SOLID, BELIEVABLE ACTING. NOTE: IT IS NOT A BLOOD FEST WITH A BUNCH OF NUDITY. LOOK ELSEWHERE FOR THAT. THERE ARE SOME GRUESOME SCENES WITH SOME EXCITEMENT.