Summary
- Cocaine Bear's mix of gore and laughs creates a bloody yet entertaining movie experience with high praise from critics.
- The deaths in Cocaine Bear, caused by the lethal combination of a bear and cocaine, provide shocking and memorable moments throughout the film.
- Not only the bear is responsible for the deaths, as other characters meet their demise in unexpected and gruesome ways, adding to the mayhem of the story.
Cocaine Bear deaths highlight the R-rated horror comedy's bloody mix of gore and laughs. Directed by Elizabeth Banks from a screenplay by Jimmy Warden, Cocaine Bear is loosely based on the true events that transpired in 1985. The film was released in theaters on February 24 and received a mostly positive critical reception, with most of the praise going to the movie's willingness to have some bloody fun with the premise. With a star-studded cast that includes Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, and Ray Liotta, there are many people wondering who dies in Cocaine Bear.
The mix of a lot of cocaine and a hungry black bear in the wilderness makes for a lethal combination as these characters soon find out. The scenes of the bear going wild on drugs and devouring the helpless victims make up some of the most memorable moments in the movie. However, with the high kill count in this movie, it is not only the bear who is responsible for the deaths and there are some pretty shocking demises. Some of the Cocaine Bear deaths are more effective than others, but all are worth taking a look at.
11 Olaf The Tourist
Olaf is the only main character who dies in Cocaine Bear with the attack happening off-screen. After Elsa’s death, it was assumed Olaf (whom his wife called Kristoffer) had also been killed by the Cocaine Bear, but the tourist managed to escape somehow. Olaf ultimately meets up with Sari and helps her find her daughter Dee Dee. Still terrified from his first encounter with the bear, he decides not to venture into the cave with Sari and flees instead. Unfortunately, that decision doesn't save him.
Eddie, Daveed, and Syd find his body outside the cave, his guts hanging out of his body. While it is a good use of practical effects for his death, it is a very strange choice by the filmmakers that robs the death of any impact. Instead of showing Eddie and Daveed come across his body, they make reference to finding it followed by a quick flashback. It is a jarring moment that seems like it was added just to show off the gore, but it halts the movie in such a way that it would have been better to cut it and leave Olaf's fate unknown.
10 Vest
Vest is one of three teenagers who have been stealing from the park, even threatening O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s Daveed with a knife (until he beats them up). Vest is attacked by the Cocaine Bear while inside Ranger Liz’s office. It is a long, drawn-out sequence with some great tension as the terrified people inside the cabin wonder where the wild beast is before its arms reach through the window and grab Vest by the face. While the rest of the attack disappointingly takes place off-screen, the result of the paramedic finding his head in a mop bucket saves the death a bit.
9 Andrew C. Thornton
Andrew C. Thornton is a character used to recreate some of the real-life story of Cocaine Bear with the movie opening with the ex-narcotics officer and drug smuggler, gleefully tosses pounds of cocaine from his plane. But when he gets ready to jump, Thornton ends up hitting his head on the plane door, knocking himself out before he’s pulled from the plane to the ground below. The way Elizabeth Banks frames this particular death in Cocaine Bear is obviously meant for laughs, especially since Thornton head-bumping the plane door is so unexpected, abruptly ending his jubilation.
In reality, Thornton’s parachute was faulty, which ultimately led to his death. It helps to set the stage for the movie's tone which is willing to mix death and humor quite liberally. The fact that he dies while rocking out to Jefferson Airplane is also a fun way of placing the movie squarely in the 1980s.
8 Elsa The Tourist
Not long after Thornton is found dead, a pair of tourists, Elsa and her husband Olaf (a couple of names that recall Disney’s animated Frozen), are hiking Blood Mountain. They’re happy together, discussing their future child when they spot a bear. They make the mistake of thinking the Cocaine Bear is cute before she notices them. Elsa and Olaf make a run for it, but Cocaine Bear drags Elsa away, with Olaf looking on helplessly as her severed limbs are tossed about.
Elsa is the first person killed by the Cocaine Bear, and it sets the stage for just how dangerous and lethal the black bear is. However, it also feels like the death is the movie struggling to decide on its tone, struck somewhere between being horrifying and being cartoonish. It is a vibe the movie settles into more effectively later on.
7 Tom The Paramedic
Tom the EMT was only trying to help when he walked into the chaos of the earlier cabin massacre. He and his coworker, Beth, managed to rescue Liz, but they didn’t expect the Cocaine Bear to come after them. Tom does his best to stop the feral creature from killing him while in a moving vehicle, but the black bear eventually wins out, and Tom is torn to shreds.
The entire chase sequence is one of the best parts of the movie and there is a real sense that Tom and the others may be able to evade this drug-fueled bear. Tom's death is the least memorable of this intense sequence but the gruesome image of his hand dangling off his wrist is effectively brutal.
6 Beth The Paramedic
Like Tom, Beth, a paramedic, was panicked that the Cocaine Bear would hurt them. Beth was in charge of driving the ambulance, so she couldn’t exactly defend herself from the rampaging bear, but she did the best she could to get herself, Tom, and Liz out of the park and to safety. Unfortunately, the Cocaine Bear was relentless in her attack.
Between the terror, the grizzly attacks, and the pressure to get to safety, Beth drove the ambulance straight into a tree. The paramedic was thrown from the vehicle, dying instantly from the impact. It is an unexpected death that simply adds to the mayhem of the scene. It's made funnier by the way the bear shakes off the crash and casually strolls away from the carnage it created.
5 Detective Bob
Perhaps the most tragic death in the movie comes with the demise of Detective Bob who was one of the most likable Cocaine Bear characters. Bob was immediately on the case to find the cocaine and take down the organized crime figures behind it. Unfortunately, this puts him in direct contact with Eddie and Daveed, who are keen on grabbing the duffel bag full of cocaine that Bob managed to get to first.
While they have a stand-off that lasts quite a bit, they decide to call a truce to deal with the Cocaine Bear. What ultimately kills Bob isn't the violent bear, but Syd, who arrives on the scene and immediately shoots Bob. The detective stays alive for a bit, long enough to realize fellow cop Reba's betrayal and uses his dying moments to ask her to take care of his dysfunctional dog. It is a surprisingly touching moment with just the right amount of absurdity that makes the death stand out.
4 Ponytail
There are a few key Cocaine Bear deaths that are not actually the fault of the bear which solidifies the theme of Cocaine Bear's ending that the animal is not really the villain of the story. Ponytail is the second of the three teenagers to die and it is one of the funnier and more unexpected deaths in the movie.
While trapped inside the park ranger’s office, they’re attacked by the bear, but it’s while Liz is attempting to get a shot at the bear that she winds up killing Ponytail instead. He was, she claims, standing in her way of a clear shot. It is a total surprise and a darkly comedic moment, made all the funnier by Liz's reaction which is a lot more subdued than people might expect from someone who accidentally shot a person in the head.
3 Peter The Wildlife Inspector
Another memorable sequence from the movie comes when the bear confronts several of the main characters and forces them up a tree to hide. Peter is the wildlife inspector visiting the part who initially seems like an obnoxious character who the audience will be happy to see go. However, when he and the others come across the lost children and the hungry bear, he tries in vain to save the day.
When the bear goes after one of the kids, Peter tries to call the bear away which proves to be a deadly heroic choice. The bear takes notice of the cocaine-covered Peter and attacks. With most of the other Cocaine Bear deaths up until that point happening off-screen, this feels like the death that really grabs audiences with a tense sequence that ends with Peter hanging upside down in the tree as he is eaten alive. It is the most chilling the movie gets with its usually silly tone.
2 Liz The Park Ranger
Liz the park ranger is a memorable character in Cocaine Bear. She doesn’t like when people think she isn’t cut out for her job, and has a crush on Peter the wildlife inspector. She also proves her toughness by surviving her first encounter with the bear. Though injured, she returns to the cabin for more ammunition to kill the bear only for it to track her down again.
After Liz manages to survive yet another attack, there is a feeling that she could be the unexpected hero of the movie. However, her luck doesn't last much longer. Strapped to the gurney in the back of the ambulance, Liz is helpless to defend herself when the bear jumps onboard. Rather than eat her, the animal shoves the gurney off the speeding vehicle, causing her to be dragged along the pavement. It is a disturbing and grisly demise made all the more impactful as it is beloved character actor Margo Martindale playing Liz.
1 Syd Dentwood
Cocaine Bear marks one of the last roles from Ray Liotta who passed away before the movie was released. While it is a little strange to see the acclaimed actor meet his demise in this movie following his real-life death, it is a thrill to see Liotta totally commit to his role of crime boss Syd and create a miserable character who gets what's coming to him in the most memorable of the Cocaine Bear deaths.
Syd was adamant about retrieving the duffel bags of cocaine, no matter the cost. This endeavor put Eddie, Daveed, and Reba’s lives on the line, but Syd didn’t care. Syd’s stubborn quest didn’t end well. Not only did he end up in a stand-off with the wild animal at the end of Cocaine Bear, but he was also attacked by her bear cubs, both of whom had the same hungry eyes as their mother. The death not only marks a gory end for the movie's true villain, but it allows the audience to sympathize with the bear after all the mayhem and even cheer it on.