By Geno McGahee
In 1976, GRIZZLY was a smash, and so after over ten years, a sequel was made, but NEVER released. GRIZZLY II – THE CONCERT was filmed and never finished for various reasons, but a work print has made it out to the public and I was fortunate enough to see it. It is a shame that this movie was never released.
In the original GRIZZLY, we were dealing with an 18 foot bear, and you need to go bigger if you are going to make a sequel. So now we are dealing with a 30 foot bear and with a huge outdoor concert looming, there is a recipe for disaster.
Nick (Steve Inwood) steps into the role of forest ranger, and has to deal with a bloodthirsty bear, much like Christopher George did before him. He becomes aware of the huge bear and wants to get help but with the big concert monopolizing much of the police and security, he has very little help and chance to defeat the monster “devil bear.”
Bouchard (John Rhys-Davies) is the man that has never lost to a grizzly and plans to bring his expertise to stop the bear, although Samantha (Deborah Raffin) hopes to save it. She and Bouchard have different ideas as to how to deal with the bear. Bouchard has killed grizzlies with his bare hands and is looking for a king-sized trophy. Samantha hopes to tranquilize it and study it. Nick has to decide between his brains and what’s in his pants and eventually decides that killing the bear and saving the people is more important than nailing Samantha.
Unfortunately, the 30 foot bear is more than Bouchard or Nick bargained for and it makes its way to the concert to raise some hell. After listening to the musical acts that they had headlining this concert, I’m not surprised that the bear wanted to kill everyone, especially the musicians. The music was so bad that it was funny to listen to.
It is really unfortunate that this movie never saw the light of day. This is a great follow up to the original GRIZZLY and the majority was filmed and with a little CGI and TLC, they could release this officially. It probably will not happen, so you will have to stumble across it as I did. I highly recommend it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7/10.
