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Will ‘Cocaine Bear’ blow us away? Gay Twitter™ is already hailing our next queer horror icon

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Lions and tigers? Meh! But cocaine bears? Oh my!

This weekend, horror-comedy Cocaine Bear comes roaring into theaters, and it just might be the camp masterpiece we’ve been waiting for since…. well, since M3GAN slayed the dolls back in January.

Unlike that killer AI glam-bot, Cocaine Bear is actually based on a true story, believe it or not. Unsurprisingly, creative liberties were taken.

Related:

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M3GAN’s an icon, she’s a legend, and she is the moment—now come on now!

As the tale goes, in 1985, a disgraced former narcotics officer and convicted drug smuggler by the name of Andrew C. Thonrton II was flying over Georgia when he dropped a duffel bag of cocaine out of the plane. Apparently, he jumped out to retrieve it but, due to a faulty parachute, died upon landing.

Three months later, a large American black bear was found dead in northern Georgia next to a pile of 40 opened plastic containers of cocaine. Clearly, the bear found Thornton’s stash and overdosed.

Now, the real bear isn’t known to have killed anyone after ingesting the drug, but Cocaine Bear imagines what might’ve happened if he went on a cocaine-fueled rampage, mauling anyone in his path.

As gruesome as that might sound, Cocaine Bear definitely has a sense of humor about itself, leaning into the absurdity. After all, it’s directed by actress Elizabeth Banks who’s best known for bringing big laughs to the Pitch Perfect series, 30 Rock, and even The Hunger Games.

Banks has assembled one hell of a cast, too, including Kerri “Felicity” Russell as our protagonist, Queerty favorite Jesse Tyler Ferguson, esteemed character actress Margo Martindale, queer star on-the-rise Aaron Holliday (who’s about to become everyone’s new crush), and the late Ray Liotta in one of his final on-screen roles.

All of that is to say: Yes, we’ll be there opening night! Like M3GAN before it, Cocaine Bear‘s self-aware blend of scares and laughs is the perfect recipe to get the gays excited.

Before they movie has even opened, Twitter is already ready to declare the cocaine bear our next gay icon:

Of course, most gays already know that Cocaine Bear is based on a true story—just not the one we mentioned above…

So, will Cocaine Bear deliver the goods just like M3GAN before it? As it stands, the film holds a 93% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics calling it “gloriously deranged” and “95 minutes of pure unadulterated fun.”

Sounds like a gag! Cocaine Bear opens in theaters everywhere on February 24, so we’ll see you there!

Related:

No hack jobs: 10 queer slasher movies that are good for a scare—or a laugh

Don’t pick up the phone, don’t answer the door, and—whatever you do—don’t turn off the TV… because there are plenty of queer slasher movies to watch!

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