Cocaine Bear Trailer: This Wild Horror Comedy Is Inspired By True Events

Two precocious kids, Keri Russell, and an apex predator on buckets of drugs walk into the woods: stop me if you've heard this one before. I know for certain you haven't, but you're about to, because "Cocaine Bear" is here and he's high as hell. The first trailer for Elizabeth Bank's latest directorial effort has arrived, and the upcoming R-rated horror comedy looks like a bit of a departure from "Charlie's Angels" and "Pitch Perfect 2." Bloody, foul-mouthed, and surprisingly intense, the red band trailer for "Cocaine Bear" is exactly as wild as the title would suggest. Check it out here:

Bank's new film is inspired by a true story about a bear that ate millions of dollars worth of cocaine after it fell from the sky in Kentucky in 1985. That's right, a drug smuggler apparently dropped bricks of the drug from a plane, but instead of hitting its intended target, it ended up squarely in black bear country. /Film attended a trailer premiere event for the film where Banks explained that she had empathy for the real-life bear caught in the crossfire, and wanted to imagine "the bear's revenge story." Hence, "Cocaine Bear" was born.

I can't decide which part of this trailer is more impressive, its stacked cast or its realistic CGI bear. While the creature Banks says is affectionately known as Cokey is at times hilarious – as when he fixes a butterfly in his coked-out gaze and rubs goofily along the ground – he also manages to look real enough to be intimidating. The trailer opens with a pool of blood and a pretty horrific crime scene caused by the animal's rampage and ends with him jumping into a moving ambulance. In between, he wreaks all manner of havoc.

Luckily, "Cocaine Bear" clearly also sees the absurdity in its own premise. A cast that includes Russell, O'Shea Jackson Jr, Alden Ehrenreich, Margo Martindale, Brooklynn Prince, and the late, great Ray Liotta all show up to make promising potential meals for the titular bear. "Bears can't climb trees!" one of the kids asserts proudly, before finding out that they very much can. With a script from "The Babysitter: Killer Queen" writer Jimmy Warden and dream team Christopher Miller and Phil Lord producing, "Cocaine Bear" has just clawed its way up our 2023 watchlist.

"Cocaine Bear" hits theaters on February 24, 2023.