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"Grizzly II" is one of those films of which the disastrous production process, the cowboy stories and the trivia aspects have become far more legendary and notorious than the actual film itself. It was filmed in 1983, in Hungary, but unfinished and most of the footage supposedly got confiscated by the Hungarian authorities for the settlement of financial losses the country suffered. Boy, did they ever get ripped off. Illegal VHS-footage got upload onto the internet, and it wasn't until recently - early 2020 - that producer Susanne C. Nagy "officially" released the film in all its, ahem, uncut glory.
I reckon the version I watched was still the illegal bootleg, though. According to the film's freshly renewed IMDb-page, it has a running time of 1h14min. The thing I watched ran for 1h37min.; which - in reality - is about one hour of film and an awful long half hour of tedious and unendurable New Wave concert footage as padding material. The grizzly also only appears briefly during the climax, at the actual concert, whereas all the earlier appearances are just grey/blank screens with a bear's roaring as voiceover. And, oh yeah, "Grizzly II" is also famous for starring three major stars (George Clooney, Laura Dern and Charlie Sheen) in their earliest roles. Please don't let they be the reason for you wanting to see the film, or you will be sorely disappointed. Yes, they appear on screen, but with that pretty much everything is said.
And yet, in spite of the horrible picture & sound quality, the absence of grizzly bears in my copy, the excruciatingly painful musical parts and the lack of a half-decent ending, I still can't pretend I didn't like "Grizzly II". Purely seen as a product of its (original) release era, I even daresay it's quite likable. It's a sequel to William Girdler's 1976 "Grizzly", which I personally consider to be one of the better "Jaws" (on land) imitations, and features a handful of praiseworthy elements.
The plot of an enormously bloodthirsty killer-grizzly (or, "devil-bear" as Rhys-Davies' character refers to it) approaching an open-air music concert whilst prowling after the poachers that slayed her cub is quite a compelling one! Meanwhile, the good old-fashioned "Jaws" clichés remain intact as well. Louise Fletcher, typecast as the heartless lady ever since "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest", is genius as the stubborn executive who refuses to cancel the concert in spite of the increasing likelihood of a bloodbath. When the Head Ranger insists that she must call off the event because three campers on their way to the concert were slaughtered, she motionlessly replies: "I heard two people were killed in a road accident as well. Do you want me to cancel it for them too?". And of course, we have two more mandatory stereotypes, namely the eccentric wildlife expert (John Rhys-Davies) and the female Park Ranger who insists on capturing the bear alive regardless of the dead bodies piling up.
So, you see, in between all the rubbish and production difficulties, "Grizzly II" is giant-animal attack horror at its purest and finest! Just look for it.
score 5/10
Coventry 29 March 2021
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw6757465/ |
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11-4-2021 12:06:04