10 Crazy Movies Like Cocaine Bear Every Fan Needs to Watch
In only a few months – precisely, in February 2023 – we’re getting one of the weirdest, craziest movies based on a true story – ever. Elizabeth Banks is the director of Cocaine Bear, and after the first trailer dropped just recently, fans are rejoicing at just how insane it looks. In it, a bear inadvertently ingests tons of cocaine and goes on a killing spree.
It would be a crazy movie even if it were purely fictional, but what’s even crazier is that it’s based on a true story that happened in the Georgia woods in 1985. That poor bear actually died terrified and in excruciating agony after eating over a million dollars worth of cocaine, but the fact that the story happened is just mind-boggling.
That got us thinking – are there any other super-insane movies like that out there? I’ve done some digging, and I got to tell you – oh yes, there are. Some are based on true stories, while some are just the fruit of crazy writing. Without further ado, here’s a list of ten crazy movies like Cocaine Bear that you just have to watch. The list is unranked but alphabetically ordered.
127 Hours (2010)
IMDb Rating: 7.6/10
Genre: Biography, Drama
Synopsis: Aron Ralston is an adventure seeker that loves to go on solo hiking trips around the US. Things go horribly wrong for him on one of his trips when a boulder traps his arm in an isolated canyon in the Utah wilderness. With nobody around to help him, Aron has to go to drastic, dramatic lengths to survive.
Why it’s like Cocaine Bear: 127 Hours is one of the craziest true stories you’ll ever hear or see on the big screen. It’s also the length of Aron Ralston being trapped in a canyon after his arm is crushed by a boulder. Ralston tried everything to get out, but nothing worked.
He was on the brink of death and realized he’d have to cut off his arm if he wanted to survive. That’s exactly what he did, and miraculously, Aron lived to tell the tale. The movie is shocking and riveting, and James Franco delivers a phenomenal performance.
Watch the trailer here.
30 Minutes or Less (2011)
IMDb Rating: 6.1/10
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Synopsis: Nick is a pizza delivery guy with not a lot going for him. It gets even worse when he is kidnapped by two idiots who put a bomb around his neck and force Nick to go rob a bank for them. The pizza delivery guy manages to complete the heist, but not in the way his kidnappers wanted. He tricks them and runs off with the money himself.
Why it’s like Cocaine Bear: Although the movie is done as a comedy, the shocking true story behind the film is anything but funny – and had a much darker outcome. You can get the full diabolical story in the Netflix documentary called Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist (2018).
Basically, a woman was the evil genius, along with two accomplices, who made a pipebomb collar and put it around a guy’s neck, forcing him to go rob a bank. He was surrounded by the police and pleaded that he could hear the bomb ticking and that it’ll go off at any moment, but the cops wouldn’t believe him, as they didn’t know the whole story.
Of course, it went off, killing the poor, innocent guy right on the spot.
Watch the trailer here.
Alive (1993)
IMDb Rating: 7.1/10
Genre: Biography, Drama, Thriller
Synopsis: A plane crashes in the Andes. Half of the Uruguayan rugby team survives the crash, though, and are in the middle of nowhere in the snow-riddled mountains, with no way of escaping their fate. Their radio works one way – no one can hear them, but they hear the radio and the conversations.
The worst thing happens – they hear that the search for them and the plane is called off, and nobody is coming to their rescue. So, they end up taking desperate measures just to survive…
Why it’s like Cocaine Bear: There are no crazy, coked-up bears in this movie. However, the story might be even crazier, darker, and more brutal. The true story is just that – the plane crashed, and the survivors could hear that nobody was coming for them. They had to resort to cannibalism to survive. Only a few of them did.
Watch the trailer here.
Backcountry (2014)
IMDb Rating: 6.0/10
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Horror
Synopsis: A couple living in a big city decides to go on an adventure into the wild, camping in the woods and backpacking the wonderful nature surrounding them. However, they end up getting lost in the middle of nowhere, with no way of contacting anyone to come and rescue them. On top of that, there’s a predatory black bear on the loose, hunting them down.
Why it’s like Cocaine Bear: This might be the best killer bear movie I’ve seen so far. Just like in Cocaine Bear, the main, imminent danger to the couple’s lives is a bear, albeit not as awesome as the one on cocaine. But, even without the bear, being lost in the unforgiving wilderness with no way of finding your way out is just as terrifying.
Oh, and it’s a true story – Jacqueline Perry and Mark Jordan were attacked by a bear in Missinaibi Lake provincial park in Ontario, Canada.
Watch the trailer here.
Bernie (2011)
IMDb Rating: 6.8/10
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Crime
Synopsis: Bernie is a chubby, kind mortician from Carthage, Texas, who strikes up a friendship with an old, wealthy widow. However, things turn sour when the woman becomes controlling and horribly mean to him. The mean widow, Marjorie Nugent, is hated by the entire community.
When she’s found shot to death, and inside a freezer, everyone is on Bernie’s side despite his confession of committing the crime.
Why it’s like Cocaine Bear: The synopsis doesn’t do the craziness of this film justice. Like, Bernie killed Marjorie in cold blood, and yet everyone in the community rooted for him to go free. Marjorie must’ve been a really horrible person – which is actually supported by real-life interviews with real-life Carthage residents, shown in the movie as well.
Watch the trailer here.
Compliance (2012)
IMDb Rating: 6.4/10
Genre: Crime, Drama, History, Thriller
Synopsis: A fast food restaurant employees receive a call from an alleged police officer, claiming that one of their coworkers stole from a customer. He instructs them to keep the coworker detained, perform a strip search, and horrible sexual humiliation. Only when the coworker in question, Becky, is completely broken do they question the caller’s identity…
Why it’s like Cocaine Bear: Before you get into it, I have to warn you that it will be hard to watch. I mean, the lights that people are willing to go to just to adhere to ‘alleged’ authority is not only crazy – it’s scary to think about!
The worst thing about the movie is that almost everything depicted actually happened in real life. The guy claiming to be ‘Officer Scott’ called a McDonald’s in Mount Washington, Kentucky, and instructed them to do, well, what they did in the film. He was actually a prison guard from Florida, calling from a payphone.
When the police ask you to do something, you do it, no matter what, right? It’s just crazy.
Watch the trailer here.
Operation Dumbo Drop (1995)
IMDb Rating:5.2/10
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family, War
Synopsis: A Vietnamese village is helping the US Army to spy on the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnamese war. However, they refuse to continue doing so after their sacred elephant is killed by the North Vietnamese Army.
They have a ritual involving an elephant in a week, so the Captain, his supply chief, and the rest of the crew scramble to get a new elephant to the village unnoticed. They end up doing it via helicopter, which is not that easy when you’re carrying a 4-ton cargo.
Why it’s like Cocaine Bear: Yes. This happened. They actually called it Operation Dumbo Drop. They actually airlifted two elephants and carried them to a Vietnamese village. Although, they didn’t do it for a ritual, but rather to transport wood products to a saw-mill for war purposes.
The movie is just as bizarre as it sounds. Also, it has Ray Liotta, just like Cocaine Bear, and it’s not a bear in question but rather an elephant. Po-tay-to, po-tah-to, right?
Watch the trailer here.
The Edge (1997)
IMDb Rating: 6.9/10
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Synopsis: A wealthy older man (Anthony Hopkins) travels to a photo shoot with his young wife. However, their plane crashes in the middle of nowhere, and they are stranded in the wild – the wife, the older man, another guy, and the jealous young photographer (Alec Baldwin), eager to get the girl (Elle MacPherson).
On top of that, they are not just stranded in the harsh Alaskan environment, exposed to the elements – they are also hunted down by an aggressive Kodiak bear.
Why it’s like Cocaine Bear: You got the wild, you got characters that you love to hate, and you got a killer bear on the loose, hunting them down on his own turf. The only thing you’re missing to make it exactly like Cocaine Bear is, well, the cocaine. Also, just like Cocaine Bear, it’ll leave you wondering who the real antagonist is – the bear or the humans.
Not-so-fun fact: I was irritated when they talked about Kodiak bears in the movie, saying they are usually highly aggressive toward humans. In reality, attacks by Kodiak bears happen quite rarely because they are a shy species that are more likely to run away from humans than to fight them.
Watch the trailer here.
The Revenant (2015)
IMDb Rating: 8.0/10
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Synopsis: In the 1820s, a fur trading expedition goes horribly wrong after their frontiersman is left to die due to being heavily injured by an aggressive bear attack. He fights for his life in the horribly harsh winter conditions that actually somewhat help him survive the wounds.
Why it’s like Cocaine Bear: The Revenant and Cocaine Bear are likely in different stratospheres in terms of the quality of the movie itself. I mean, The Revenant is a triple Oscar-winning film featuring Leo DiCaprio. Also, The Revenant is far from a comical film, whereas the lone premise of Cocaine Bear is utterly ridiculous.
Still, both films feature bear attacks and survival in the wild and are just absolutely crazy. I mean, the carcass scene in The Revenant… You just have to watch it to get what I’m saying!
Watch the trailer here.
The Terminal (2004)
IMDb Rating: 7.4/10
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Synopsis: Viktor Navorski is a tourist arriving at JFK airport from an Eastern-European fictional country, Krakozia. After his country is left in ruins, his passport doesn’t work anymore, so now he is left stranded with no documentation, forced to remain at the terminal for an extended period of time, essentially living there.
Why it’s like Cocaine Bear: This might be the craziest movie on this list because, believe it or not, it’s based on a true story. In fact, the real-life story was even crazier and not at all funny.
In 1988, Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian refugee, came to Paris, specifically the Charles de Gaulle Airport. He wanted to travel to the UK but was rejected by their immigration officers due to lacking a valid passport. However, he couldn’t legally be returned to Iran, so he spent the next sixteen – yes, sixteen – years living at the airport terminal.
He was hospitalized in 2006, leaving the terminal for the first time, after which he continued living in an immigrant shelter in Paris. There are at least half a dozen movies, shows, articles, books, and even an opera written about the absurd story where bureaucracy essentially stole a person’s life.
Watch the trailer here.