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List Price: $12.95 | | Label: Rhi Entertainment
Salesrank: 26391
Released: January 8, 2008 |
| Our Price: $2.99 |
| Used Price: $2.74 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
The hunter becomes the hunted when the forested shadows of the Appalachian Trail are stalked by a wild animal out of its element, hungry and born to ravage. After Sheriff Grady (Gary Busey, The Firm) finds a dismembered body in the area, he quickly discovers a print near the scene that identifies the predator as a Bengal tiger. Six hundred pounds, twelve feet from nose to tail, it’s one of the most powerful cats on Earth. Now it’s loose—and there’s no man on the Appalachian Trail with the skill, or the courage, to take it down. Maneater is the third installment in the Genius-branded "Maneater Series" and its now available for the first time on DVD!
Maneater Reviews:
"For The Inexperienced, Stalking A Man-Eating Tiger Is An Exotic Means Of Suicide." 
2009-11-14 - "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?
Where is the tiger? 
2008-10-11 - A verry disapointing movie, almost no blood, and more disapointing, we see the tiger about 2 minutes. No suspense, don't worth buying.
O-Oh Here She Comes...Watch Out Boy, She'll Chew You Up!
2008-08-20 - 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.
Man Boredom 
2008-07-06 - 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.
Going a Shikaar! 
2008-05-24 - 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?
