Grizzly II: Revenge (2020)

Having first heard whispers about GRIZZLY 2: THE CONCERT, and only that it "starred" Laura Dern, Charlie Sheen, and George Clooney, I was interested to see these actors together in their earliest roles. Tracking down a version of this lost "film", made from the fragments available, I watched eagerly. Wellll, let's just say that it was quite a shock to witness this thing! The aforementioned actors had very small parts, in which they play typical horror movie fodder. There are also other victims roaming through the woods, awaiting their collective doom, including a group of unbelievably vicious poachers! Wow! These guys would fit right in w/ those insanely eeevil backwoodsmen from DELIVERANCE! The rest consists mostly of a big concert being performed in the same park terrorized by the monster bear of the title. Said concert, overseen by a particularly cranky woman (Louise Fletcher), is certainly a spectacle, but not in any positive way! Combining the worst, most synthetic elements of MTV w/ DANCE FEVER, this concert is more like watching an overlong exercise video of the same era. Lacking in energy, artistic quality, or even entertainment value, the singers / dancers appear lost on stage, wondering where Deney Terrio might have gone. This is made even more tragic, knowing that an actual rock band was supposed to perform, but was inexplicably replaced by these Studio 54 rejects! Meanwhile, wild-eyed hunter / gatherer, John Rhys-Davies lumbers about, looking for the titular creature. It all -blessedly- ends in an explosive non-finale of madness and spandex. Alas, this movie is sooo ethereally godawful, that it will probably never be finished. This is an enormous blow, since it could very well have been the ultimate mega-schlock masterpiece! My tears flow freely, now...

Now, maybe i'm a bit biased because of my searing loathing of the disappointment that is known as Grizzly (i call it a waste of time) but I liked this movie. Now, it is unfinished and a bit dull, but there was huge potential in this. It's just as dumb and inaccurate as the first one, but seems better to me. The bear is over-kill in height, better than the crap one from Grizzly, and is actually kinda scary to think about. The giant robot is a nice effect too, not looking that bad. Maybe it worked better because it rips off Claws, one of the few good killer bear films of the 70's. The original songs are okay and fit nicely. Hopefully it will see a nice remake soon that can show the glory it could have had!

I manage to see this movie via an unknown source.. I have to admit it was one of the most boring movie I had to sit through and watch.. I didn't see the credits in the beginning due to the fact, there was some personal problems in relations to the film. What also bored me to death was the concert scenes.. it really put me off. If this is a monster movie, why add the concert stuff? Just didn't make sense at all. Another thing is I didn't see was the bear itself. Obviously there are reasons there. I guess whoever seen it also knows what's happened.At the end of the day.. it weren't my cup of tea. Yes, the first Grizzly movie was awesome. But this one? Absolutely terrible. For what it's worth..? No comment! Total thumbs down!!

Briefly, the film's co-producer was unable to clear the Grizzly title because of a bankruptcy court involving the original Grizzly picture. Superstar Charlie Sheen's first picture, it also starred Laura Dern, Louise Fletcher, John Rhys-Davies, Deborah Foreman and Deborah Raffin. When problems arose with the animatronic 18 foot bear, Academy Award director John Avildsen advised me to shoot the bear footage with a large man wearing a bear suit. We went back to Budapest, Hungary, where the forest stood in for Yellowstone National Park and re-shot bear footage. Menahem Golan whose Cannon Films bought the picture went into bankruptcy after making a deal on the picture. I have videotapes of the original footage in our garage on Long Island and the screenplay that I co-wrote. My producer wife, Florina Massbaum, and I currently reside on the West Coast where we have several pictures in the works, including Racer Rocket Rebel which Haley Joel Osment read and will star in once we complete the financing. The re-shot footage includes the bear's attack on the outdoor concert. Amazingly, the Hungarian director who lived in Paris fell apart over personal reasons and I had to take over directing and editing. To this day, I am convinced we should have had the actor (Charlie Sheen) come back alive in the picture and hunt down the bear. In fact, we are currently planning a picture for Mr. Sheen and his stunning wife, Denise Richards. The superstar, George Clooney, makes a great role in the picture, another reason to get this picture out!