By Geno McGahee
In 1976, GRIZZLY was released and it was a massive hit, bringing in 40 million on a budget of 750 thousand. With that sort of return, it wasn’t a big shocker that a sequel would be in order and in 1983, GRIZZLY II: REVENGE began filming but it didn’t go as planned and was never released…until now. There were bootleg copies of GRIZZLY II: THE CONCERT where the available materials were put together in an attempt to make a film out of it, but we now have an official release.
Immediately, it’s obvious that new footage was filmed to fill in the voids, but it’s not very good and doesn’t mix well with the old footage. We see some poacher shoot a bear and the CGI blood is so bad. Why the hell does anyone use CGI blood? It’s terrible. We see a bear in incredible pain, but his pained expression looks so odd. I understand the usage of the new footage, but it’s dragged out and doesn’t feel right.
The headliners that were in it for about 2 minutes include George Clooney as Ron, Laura Dern as Tina and Charlie Sheen as Lance. Ron and Tina are doing strange kisses and tell Lance to take a hike. Tina starts undressing as the big bear watches on. Not only is this bear a killer, but he’s a peeping tom. It doesn’t take long for the bear to come on down and kill everyone. So much for the big name headliners.
Ranger Nick (Steve Inwood) is very concerned about the big upcoming concert at the park and the dangers involved. He’s also concerned about his daughter, Chrissy (Deborah Foreman), working for those rockers and getting tied up in the sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll lifestyle. Little does he know, there’s a big fucking bear ready to kick some ass.
Eileene (Louise Fletcher) oversees the park and her focus is on good press and increasing its popularity. When bodies are discovered and Nick brings the concerns to her, she blows it off. This is very much like the original. It sort of follows the same formula, which isn’t a bad thing. You have to have a person in power that looks the other way.
As the bear increases to be a problem and Samantha (Deborah Raffin), of bear management, is brought in and she desperately wants to stop all poachers and protect the bears, even the huge one that has been going around and killing people. Nick and Samantha have a difference in opinion on the matter and their debates are very intense with their incredible overacting.
The poachers…what can I say about this group of poachers? I would say that they are odd, but I’ve never met a poacher and maybe they are all like this. Drew (Charles Young) informs his buddy, Luke (Marc Alaimo), that his brother was killed by the bear and they now plan revenge on the monster bear but also see the amount of money they can make by poaching it and selling the parts. Papas (Jack Starrett), the leader of the poaching group, was immediately recognizable. He was the dude from FIRST BLOOD and I think he’s probably prouder of that role than this one.
The poachers drink and start talking about Ranger Nick. They start remarking that Nick walks like he has a stick stuck up his ass and they don’t stop there. Papas walks around and does an impression where he’s fucking himself with a stick as he walks and it’s hilarious. Then the group plays a little grab ass. WHAT THE FUCK is up with these poachers? Drew got such a handful of Papas’s ass. I wonder if that was in the screenplay or it was a spur of the moment such of thing.
The concert has a group of bands that nobody would ever pay to see, but the crowd is huge! I guess they were really there for a concert. Nazareth was playing and the filmmakers worked out some deal to use the crowd as if they were coming to see the shit bands that they had playing. I don’t think the guy in the W.A.S.P. shirt and the guy in the Warlock shirt were there to see a bad girl band singing “you take the milk from the coconuts.” You can see the confusion in some of their faces when they do crowd shots as they watch these bands that are the farthest thing from metal, playing.
To help with the bear issue, bear hunting expert, Bouchard (John Rhys-Davies) is brought in and he’s a strange dude that thinks he’s Native American and talks about himself in third person. Samantha hates him because he kills bears and probably hates people that talk about themselves in third person. I have to give Bouchard the line of the film award. When he hears about the size of the bear and the damage, he replies “you got the devil bear.” I want to say that to somebody. I hope a bear kills a bunch of locals so I can tell the cops that “you got a devil bear.” It’d be a shame to see people die, but damn, it’d be worth it to say that line.
The bear heads to the concert and we get a final showdown with the bear, Nick, Samantha and Bouchard. There are all sorts of explosions and the bear is the biggest bear in the history of bears and we see (spoiler) Bouchard taken out and the bear tricked into running into some high voltage lines and the film ends.
GRIZZLY II: REVENGE had a world of potential. The new footage that they spliced in, including some new musician singing right into the camera in a total new location takes you right out of it. If you’re going to add another musician, pretend they’re playing to the crowd. The addition of the new crowd members is also a distraction. You can’t have a ton of metal heads dressed in denim and head-banging and then some people dressed in suits slowly swaying.
I get the feeling that the editing was rushed. I remember, and I may be wrong, a much better and longer ending with the bear in GRIZZLY II: THE CONCERT. The filler didn’t work well either and the same footage was used multiple times and went on forever to get this to movie length.
I am happy that GRIZZLY II: REVENGE got an official release after all these years. It seems that it was thrown together and not made with the love that I expected it to be. I’m guessing that it was given to an editor and they just threw it together and might have gotten exhausted at the end, which is why the ending seemed so rushed.
In the end, I recommend GRIZZLY II: REVENGE. I was really amused by it. If you were waiting this long for it, you might be disappointed, but it’s better than not having it at all.
