From my favorite movies..

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Gary Busey stars as the sheriff of a small town in the Applachian Mountains where a series of tiger attacks has the community in an uproar. With the upcoming festival drawing near the mayor is worried about all of the visitors abandoning his town because they are scared of the tiger, the little boy in this movie has a problem with sleepwalking which involves him with the tiger , but i won't ruin it for those of you who haven't seen this movie yet. Gary Busey seems kinda stiff cardboard like in his acting, but it is a real performance , very character driven, after the national guard and the townspeople can't handle the tiger, a tiger hunter from India comes to help the sheriff track down the manheater in hopes of killing it,, it is laughable with how the guardsmen handle the whole tiger dealings,, and watching the media is hilarious,, not a bad movie for sci-fi.

Okay, so there were no gorgeous chicks (we could have used a hottie as the female deputy), but there was also no silly, unnecessary love affair, no tension building count-down timer, and almost no "Jawstraneous" reference to economic disaster caused by interference with the coming tourist event (the Apple-Corn Festival, huh?).The acting was competent, assuming Busey (who is definitely showing his age and scars) was acting the part of a tired, worn-out sheriff, and not just being a tired, worn-out actor. Ty Wood was really good as the kid with the soul of a tiger. I also liked Ian Clark as the white hunter (shades of Jim Corbett, "Man-Eaters of Kumaon", which I read in high school before any of you were born).The ending kinda sucks. I'm not sure roast tiger is really fit for consumption. I suppose the hero (Sheriff Busey) had to do the deed, but I think a couple of rounds from the colonel's 400 express would have been a sounder send-off. Other than that, I liked it -- much improved for Sci Fi Channel fare, although lacking much sci.

...as you may think. Essentially a re-make of JAWS, only the shark is now a tiger and the sea is now the Appalachian Mountains. How much like "Jaws?" Read on: the local sheriff gets involved when a Bengal tiger gets loose and begins killing the townsfolk, so he raises the alarm, much to the dismay of the town's smarmy mayor, who doesn't want the town's big money-making festival canceled. The local yokels get involved when a reward is announced for the killing of the tiger, and an outside "expert" tiger hunter shows up to track the beast as well. So many scenes are reminiscent of "Jaws" it's a wonder Spielberg hasn't sued. For example, a news photographer sets up a shark-proof cage...er...make that a TIGER-proof cage...in a field in order to capture some photos of the animal, and the results are pretty much the same as what befell the shark cage in "Jaws"...that is, it didn't offer any protection! The only significant difference between the two films is that this movie features a young boy who seems to have a strange sixth-sense about the animal, which features strongly in the plot.In spite of the obvious similarities, I actually enjoyed "Maneater" quite a bit. Gary Busey is quite likable as the local sheriff, and Ian D. Clark is just terrific as the British tiger-hunter. Ty Wood is very effective as the young boy with the affinity for the tiger as well.All-in-all, an entertaining way to spend 90 minutes of your time, though if you've seen Jaws, nothing here will surprise you.

"Maneater" is really good for those who love the Sci-Fi Channel's Creature Features.**SPOILERS**In the Appalachian Mountains, Sheriff Grady Barnes, (Gary Busey) is inundated with a plethora of calls about missing people, and after finding the remains of one of them, it's decided that a wild animal is responsible. After another attack produces some evidence, they point to a Bengal Tiger as the culprit, and announcing it to the press, Mayor Earl Hunt, (Blake Taylor) is irate over it being leaked. When the National Guard is called in, Sargent Winshiser, (Aleks Paunovic) comes in to take charge of the situation only to have no success with hunting it down either. Esteemed hunter Colonel Graham, (Ian D. Clark) hearing of the rampage, offers his expert help with the animal, and soon makes a remarkable discovery about the creature. Using this to his advantage, he tries to take it down before it kills more townspeople.The Good News: This here was a pretty pleasant surprise. This is especially important in that it's the first time that the Sci-Fi Channel's original films doesn't have a negative mark against it for it's creature. This one's got an actual creature that's not CGI, and that itself is a huge plus, since it eliminates most of their flaws right from the start. That it's seen rarely also works for it as well, as featuring it throughout the film would've lessened it's impact. The fact that it's also a really vicious creature helps, as it's got some really great gore in here. It's all in the mutilation and severing of limbs, half-eaten body parts and finding of devoured parts, as most of it is off-screen and the showing of what it did to them results in all the gore. They all look quite good and messy, with a partially eaten skull, including down to the bone in certain areas, and a lower-half of a body found being the big ones here. There's even some nice action in the film, as it's got some great moments in the second half. The involvement of the armed troops livens it up substantially, as it gets some great stalking going on with the creature in the jungle, and it's certainly suspenseful enough. That also helps to get the film going, as there's some nice kills and stalking, provided by flashback where it goes on the rampage that gets in on-screen kills as well as putting some life into it. That is one of the film's best qualities, and helps to make it really watchable.The Bad News: There really isn't a whole lot wrong with this one. Perhaps the most grievous one is that there's way too much time spent on the subplot with the kid. It's clichéd to start with, having the ignorant kid believe that the outside force is actually friendly despite everyone in town knowing otherwise, yet the fact that it comes to play here and takes up the majority of the second half means that it gets a lot of time. It's incredibly irritating to have to be forced through these scenes since they're quite obviously based on the mentality rather than anything else, and it really makes it a struggle at times. These here make it the hardest part to get through, as well as it's other noticeable flaw. That is the film's annoying habit of cutting away from the gore scenes and instead showing the aftermath. Very rarely is the actual viciousness of the attacks displayed, but rather the attack occurs where it's impossible to determine what happened or just off-screen entirely. That it leaves the others mainly done in flashback at least offers up some, but most is still off camera, and is also something that can harm the film.The Final Verdict: Without a whole lot of real problems, this is a really nice and enjoyable entry for those who go for this kind of film. Recommended to those who have a particular like for the Sci-Fi Channel Creature Features or those in general, while those who aren't won't really find much new with this one.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language