Night of the Killer Bears is a Thai slasher film about a few friends who go to a reunion after spending years apart. As you may suspect, it is a reunion that ends in bloodshed. It was directed by Kanphong Banjongphinij. It was written by Banjongphinij, Lee Thongkham, and Sorawi Alapach. The original title was The World of Killing People. Both titles accurately represent the film in different ways.

The acting is good, but there are moments of greatness sprinkled throughout. The actors provide dramatic acting and over-the-top performances in equal measure. The characters fit the somewhat traditional mold of slasher protagonists, but time reveals more depth to each of them than one might expect. The character relationships are decent, and the dialogue is ok. 

The pacing was mildly odd for me. Our protagonists are in a drama, and a slasher film is happening around them. It took a while before the slasher film leaked into the drama and introduced itself to our protagonists. I don’t mind if a slasher wishes to take its time to build its characters before they’re introduced to the threat, but the character relationships aren’t more complex here than in films that don’t give their characters nearly as much time. For all the extra time given to these characters, they don’t have that much more depth than typical slasher protagonists. There are characters introduced just to be killed. I don’t have a problem with this, but these kinds of characters don’t get me invested in what’s happening. I prefer if characters we care about are put in danger too. Pulling the trigger sooner may have provided Night of the Killer Bears with some of the tension it is lacking. There are some poor jump scares. The score attempts to carry some of the slower scenes, but for me, it didn’t add anything. Night of the Killer Bears is juggling a lot of tones. It is playing with drama, comedy, action, absurdity, and horror. It attempts to express all of these things, and it is the horror element that suffers for it. The other elements are expressed well. There are a few genuinely emotional and relatable scenes, and the silliness and absurdity of it all is entertaining. 

Night of the Killer Bears looks good, but it couldn’t create an atmosphere that tailors to all the things it is trying to do. It presents a gorgeous environment, but there isn’t an environment or setting that ever put me on edge. There isn’t anything here that stylistically captured my attention or imagination except for the effects. It uses both practical and CG effects. The practical effects are excellent. The CG is used intelligently. The CG might go unnoticed sometimes because it is most commonly used to complement the practical effects. There are not many instances of the CG being used in an obvious or explosive manner. 

This is a fascinating experience. There are as many things in this film that scream Night of the Killer Bears as The World of Killing People. It does feel like a merger, like a chocolate peanut butter cup. Sometimes I was watching Night of the Killer Bears, and it was bizarre, bombastic, bear-themed fun. Other times it felt like I was watching The World of Killing People, and it was a slow, dramatic, emotion-filled product of pessimism. If you like your slashers with a heaping helping of oddity and a slice of social commentary, this is one you might want to watch. 

7 out of 10