Bearry (2021)

For a movie to resonate with an audience, it must do one thing: relate to them. Think about it. You become more interested in a story if it provides the smallest amount of connection between you and the characters. It could be slashers geared toward horny teens where the villain goes after anyone who even thinks about getting freaky in the sheets. It could be a workplace comedy filled with exaggerated versions of people you know from your job. Two of the most common relatable traits that make their way into movies are love and loss.

Everyone has experienced the highs and lows of these emotions. That unrequited first love. The moment you finally share your feelings with someone. You’ve gone through it. I’ve gone through it. And loss? That hits even harder. Many of my favourite movies dealt with loss in some way or another. Loss of life, loss of innocence, loss of control. If a character loses part of their life, part of what makes them feel whole, the audience relates to it. The audience understands. The audience has experienced loss. It builds the connection between seats and screens.

Bearry put both those emotions together to tell a horror comedy tale. Chloe (Sarah French) told her husband, Andrew (Kevin Caliber), that she loved him. He immediately demanded a divorce. Her friend, Sam (Felissa Rose), gave her an adult-sized teddy bear to cheer her up. As Chloe rejoined the dating pool, she became the prime suspect in a series of grizzly murders. Murders committed by her bearry good friend.

There was some big loss within Chloe’s love life. She had a stable marriage that she thought wasn’t in any danger of dissolving. Andrew, however, felt differently. She lost that stability. She lost the way of life that she thought had been built between herself and Andrew. As the movie went on, she lost people she knew due to murder. She lost her freedom as she was pursued by the police and, later, Bearry.

Among all that loss was a whole bunch of love. Bearry was about finding someone new following a big breakup. Well, sort of. It was mostly about a jealous, murderous teddy bear. The romance was a part of it, though. Throughout the movie, Chloe went on various dates set up by Sam and their other friend, Luis (Charles Chudabala). Most of them were bad. They were put into the same sort of speed-dating style montage that has been in many a romantic comedy. Weird guys. Creepy guys. A stalker who followed Chloe home before being killed by Bearry. The horror story was in the background through most of the dating stuff, only coming to the front for the stalker and when Chloe realized she liked the restaurant manager more than any of her dates.

Love was the main emotion in Bearry. The divorce was the loss of love. The dates were the attempt to find love. Bearry killed people who came in between his loving feelings for Chloe. It all came to a head when Chloe and the manager, Stephen (Thomas Haley), shared their feelings for each other. Bearry was jealous of their connection because it meant Chloe wouldn’t love him quite as much. He wanted to be the object of her affection, and it drove his actions. I keep gendering the teddy bear as a he/him because that was how they treated the bear in the movie.

Each of these forms of love can be relatable to the audience. Many people have fallen out of love with others or had others fall out of love with them. That connects them to the divorce story. People might struggle to find people who they vibe with, in the same way Chloe struggled to find the right man on her dates. People could have feelings for someone, only for that someone to fall in love with someone else. That would relate people to Bearry’s plight. Sam and Luis caring too much about Chloe’s love life. Andrew being an emotionally abusive ex-husband. Feeling like your love could be ruined by a jealous, murderous teddy bear. Those were all relatable.

Of course, that’s not to say Bearry was a good movie. There’s a reason I included it as part of Sunday “Bad” Movies. It was a movie with a killer teddy bear. Even if this were an art film, people would probably still look at it as an insane, bad movie. But it’s not an art film. The acting wasn’t good enough for it. The cinematography wasn’t good enough for it. The direction wasn’t good enough for it. The highlight of the movie was a shot that looked like it was setting up for an homage to Psycho. Guy in the shower. Shadow of the bear through the curtain. Perfect reference to the shower scene. Only, the curtain opened, and the guy was cut down with a chainsaw. It was over the top. It was ludicrous. It was Bearry.

Love and loss have been the driving forces behind many stories. Action movies frequently have the hero winning over the affection of someone they save. Romantic comedies are a whole subgenre of their own. The “elevated horror” of recent years has often dealt with loss and grief as the result of trauma. Why? Because people relate to these emotions as much as, if not more than, any others. These emotions keep people coming back. Repeat viewings. Because they’re relatable.

Gone are the days of the simple slasher where audiences are there for the kills more than the connection to the characters. Okay, mostly gone. The Terrifier franchise still exists. Characters have more depth, more emotion. Audiences feel more at home with these characters. They understand them. They feel their pain. And with that, the audience becomes more invested in movies. All because people can relate. It’s a basic idea that goes a long way.

Here are a few notes to round things out:

• Felissa Rose is already back for another Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance. I swear this was unintentional. She appeared in Sleepaway Camp, Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor, Return to Sleepaway Camp, and Stream for the blog. Now she’s in Bearry, too.
• The only other returning actor in Bearry was Noel Jason Scott, who previously appeared in Lavalantula.
• Have you seen Bearry? What did you think of it? What are your favourite ways to connect to characters in movies? Share your thoughts in the comments, find me on Bluesky, or let me know on Threads.
• Any suggestions for future Sunday “Bad” Movies are welcome. You can hit me up on Bluesky and Threads, or you can leave a comment.
• I already know what I’ll be covering next. The next post will be a post with multiple movies. I’ll be tackling a franchise called The Substitute. I think it started out as one of those teacher-cleans-up-gang-problem-at-school movies, but I could be wrong. I’ll find out soon enough, I guess. It spawned three sequels, anyway, and I’ll be checking all four movies out. See you whenever I get that post up in the next month.