Fun, but still needs some love.

VincenzOhRly

Review based on the "completed" version screened by the Monmouth Film Festival (having seen the VHS workprint version some time ago).

Modern, digitally-shot stock footage of concert goers dressed for Coachella is introduced with no regard for the anachronistic continuity errors it creates when cut into the original 80s film footage of extras covered in denim. There has been no attempt made to degrade any of the new footage to match the old.

Also new are two sets by a Hungarian band... singing in Hungarian. Their presence at an American rock concert simply makes no sense. There's a third added performance by an American band that's not bad at all... but their style is also at odds with the stylings of the bands originally featured (and their act looks to have been shot in someone's backyard, nowhere near resembling the elaborate stage borrowed from The Rolling Stones).

Speaking of the original performers, their acts have been drastically cut down. And though I found them kind of grating in their unrefined workprint version, their nigh-on absence in this new cut makes me weirdly nostalgic for them. Their oddity added a weird charm to the proceedings. This paring down also leads to some strange moments, story-wise. Immediately springing to mind is with the flirtatious dress rehearsal of "So Good, So Pure, So Kind" being essentially nixed, the remnants of the doomed-to-never-be romance subplot between Chrissy and Barry that are still included seemingly come out of nowhere and are just as quickly forgotten.

Festivals can be great proving grounds for works before releasing them to a wide audience. My words of advice would be: ditch the newly shot stuff (and the mismatched modern stock footage) and reincorporate more of the original production. And maybe scour the music libraries for more period-accurate pieces for the score. The newer compositions stick out and take one out of the piece. Maybe license cues from Robert Ragland's score for the first Grizzly? That'd be fun and a way to further tie the franchise together!

score 5/10

VincenzOhRly 16 August 2020

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5999337/