10 Documentaries More Terrifying Than Most Horror Films

Treadwell was a bear enthusiast and documentary filmmaker who spent 13 summers recording his time living with bears. However, in 2003 Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were attacked and eaten by a bear while camping at Katmai National Park.

During the five years leading up to his death, he recorded hundreds of hours of footage. In Grizzly Man, acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog compiles some of this footage to create a profound character study that asks if Treadwell really did have a spiritual connection with these animals or if he was delusional to the dangers that he was putting himself in.

Though Treadwell’s footage is populated with almost whimsical shots of himself frolicking in the wilderness with fox cubs and aweing at a bear he affectionately names Mr Chocolate, the impending tragedy of his death hangs over these images like a shadow, questioning how valid Treadwell’s interpretation of nature was.

Grizzly Man is at its most harrowing in the scene where Herzog listens to the audio of the couple’s dying moments. Though we only hear Herzog’s brief description of what he hears, his stunned silence and heartfelt plea for Treadwell’s friend to destroy the tape underscores the grim reality of Treadwell’s expeditions.