“Cocaine Bear” by Elizabeth Banks arrived in Italian cinemas on April 20 and, as perhaps it was easy to predict, is causing discussion. On the one hand, the unfortunate temporal coincidence with the events related to JJ4, the she-bear who mortally attacked the runner Andrea Papi, on the other the concentration of impropriety, black humor and excess that the film itself contains. It also seems that the production house The Asylum has a similar job in the pipeline, this time starring an alligator.
The true story of “Cocainorso”
The story from which the screenplay “Cocainorso” takes its inspiration it really happened. In 1985, in Georgia, a black bear emotionally died, without harming anyone, after having absorbed a large quantity of cocaine, abandoned in the woods by a policeman turned trafficker. Jimmy Warden, author of the script, has taken this exceptional protagonist and placed him in a context of horror and fun at the same time. Dismemberments, extravagant characters and an out of control creature made entirely in computer graphics: “Cocainorso” passes from the disturbing register to the insane one without interruption.
Known precedents
Lovers of the “killer animals” genre will undoubtedly remember the illustrious precedents of the bear under the influence of drugs. In 2002 “Arac Attack – Eight-legged Monsters”, a film directed by Ellory Elkayem which can boast in the cast performers of the caliber of David Arquette and Scarlett Johansson. As the title suggests, giant tarantulas are spreading panic in this case, in homage to the science fiction cinema of the 1950s. In 2006, David R. Ellis’ “Snakes on a plane” was released, where drugged snakes and the protagonist is none other than Samuel L. Jackson.
“Sharknado” and its legacy
However, there is a film that could be considered the king of animal-themed B-Movies: “Sharknado” (2013) by Anthony Ferrante and its five sequels, the last one in 2018. Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Cassie Scerbo and others they have to deal with a Los Angeles invaded by tornadoes, inside which huge angry sharks swim. Rottentomatoes’ review sums up the fans’ affection for this absurd film well: “Proudly and unashamedly, ‘Sharknado’ redefines a new genre of So bad it’s so good.”
The alligator arrives under the influence of amphetamines
In “Cocainorso”, among many, there are Ray Liotta, who disappeared in 2022, in the role of a drug dealer, the son played by Alden Ehrenreich, his deputy (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), a detective (Isiah Whitlock Jr. ) and Sari, played by Keri Russell: all end up in the clutches of the Cocaine Bear. The story is so original, and the tone of the story so exaggerated, that even The Asylum, a historic production house specializing in mockumentaries (parody films of action and fiction) has decided to slip into the vein of “animal drug addicts”. On social media, the preview billboard of “Attack of the Meth Gator”, movie about an alligator who has taken amphetamines. The advertising claim is a pun in English and at the same time a tribute to the work of Elizabeth Banks: “Hold our bear… I mean, beer. Coming for your life this summer This summer, at the risk of your life”. Observers are on the alert: perhaps a new film genre is being born.