Canada is a land of extremes.  Our whole nation offers rugged outdoor adventure, but there are many places where merely existing can be a struggle against nature.  Eastern Manitoba, in the dead of winter, is one of those places.  A stark, beautiful, frozen landscape where knowing how to work with the elements is mandatory just to sustain yourself.  

This is the setting for Hair of the Bear, a new survival thriller from co-writers and directors James McLellan and Alexandre Trudeau¹.  The story opens with Tori (Malia Baker), who is in a troubled phase of her life and refuses to attend school, being delivered to the remote cabin of her Grandfather, Ben (Roy Dupuis).  Tori’s single mother, Nicole (Catherine Bérubé), is at her wits’ end and can’t both work and monitor her daughter, so this extended stay is the compromise.  

We’re never privy to exactly what Tori is going through, just a few wayward scratches at her wrists and self-disparaging lines of dialogue hint at the extent of it. Ben, the kind of man who may appear to be a gruff, out-of-touch loner, turns out to be a gruff, well-aware-of-the-world teddy bear who is quick to accept Tori for who she is.  He begins to do what every great-grandfather does: teach her what he knows and not let her accept the limitations she has imposed on herself.  

This dynamic between Dupuis and Baker is wonderful.  It’s easy, natural, and it’s a relationship you instinctively want to root for as a result.  Dupuis, one of our great Canadian actors, feels so comfortable in the role that he may as well be Baker’s real grandfather.  Baker, too is excellent as the troubled Tori.  She has a pensive energy that highlights her inner turmoil, and when the film calls on her to have big emotional swings, she’s very easy to both empathize with and root for.

Things turn south when Ben and Tori rescue Sam and Miles (Robert Naylor and Johnathan Lawrence), a pair of young men who put their snowmobile through the ice, who later turn out to be in the area for nefarious purposes. This is also where the film breaks down a little as well, as there’s very little here you won’t be able to predict if you’ve ever seen a movie where a person has to overcome their personal doubts and trauma in order to defeat an adversary who ends up hunting them. 

Hair of the Bear isn’t bad as a result, but the indulgence in tropes also keeps it from being great.  The performances are solid, as is the premise, which is why it has been done so many times before.  The writing too is efficient and thoughtful; McClellan and Trudeau take the time to make sure that the guns set up in the first act go off meaningfully in the third, and there are no wasted moments, but there is also none that feels like real artistic risk. 

Still, Hair of the Bear has a lot going for it between Dupuis and Baker’s performances, and the Manitoba winter lends itself well to some beautiful cinematography.  There is truly nothing wrong here, and the film will likely serve as a good gateway to the genre for many.  Considering McClellan and Trudeau are first-time writers and directors, it’s exciting to see what they might do next.  If a good movie is three great scenes and no bad ones, Hair of the Bear definitely passes the test, but without taking a few more risks, it falls just short of being more than only good. 

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Hair of the Bear, in cinemas March 6th, 2026

1. Yes, Pierre’s son and Justin’s brother ↩︎