QuoteUnreleased 1983 horror film Grizzly II: The Revenge has finally been finished and is now set for release almost 40 years after it was originally filmed, featuring an all-star cast of George Clooney, Laura Dern, and Charlie Sheen.
The original film Grizzly, which follows a bloodthirsty 18-foot tall bear eating a whole lot of people, was the highest-grossing independent film of all time back in 1977.
grizzly, grizzly 2, george clooney, laura dern, charlie sheen
Grizzly cashed in on the horror-theme trend of the time, taking a regular run-of-the-mill animal, tripling its size, and having it rip apart human after human in absolute carnage (something tells me one 25-foot shark would get along well with this murderous bear). Yet whilst Grizzly was a hit, the history surrounding the film is messy.
Following the release, the film's creative team had to sue co-producer and co-writer David Sheldon for their cut, producer Edward L. Montoro disappeared with more than $1 million of company money, and director William Girdler was killed in a helicopter crash just two years after its making. At this point, Grizzly II was still set for production, following the story of yet another killer bear eating a whole lot of people, but this time at a music festival.
A switch in directors, the price of those huge bear puppets, and having to hire close to 50,000 extras to fill out the festival, all apparently bled the film dry, with producer Joseph Proctor claiming that money had run out and getting on a plane just half an hour later. The Hungarian Government took possession of the mechanical bears and the film was left abandoned.
Now, almost 40 years later, producer Suzanne C.Nagy has revived the project with some additionally shot footage. With a young cast of Laura Dern playing Tina, George Clooney playing Ron, and Charlie Sheen playing Lance, the '80s horror flick has been screening at festivals and is set for wide release before the end of this year.
Seems like everyone was downloading the unfinished version from the internet back in the day, even I had a copy on DVD-R.
The trailer for the restored version surfaced last year I think:
Error 404 (Not Found)!!1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8ESXMnn3FY#)
Wow. I didn't think we'd ever actually see this finished.
Edward Montoro also released the SA made film Kill & Kill Again in the USA - it was a huge hit - and then he buggered off with $1 million. :hatred:
Quote from: Trevor on September 06, 2020, 02:28:42 AM
Edward Montoro also released the SA made film Kill & Kill Again in the USA - it was a huge hit - and then he buggered off with $1 million. :hatred:
For some reason this is one of my favorite 1980s mysteries. They think he went to Mexico. He would be 91 years old if still alive.
(https://media1.tenor.com/images/e8672485801bab8d8b176293f1cb02c7/tenor.gif?itemid=17889573)
It has a poster now.
(https://i.imgur.com/tErKni7.png)
It's going to be ON Demand, in January. They've also mentioned a ;imited theatrical release, but I can't find any details about how limited it's actually going to be.
The Unknown Movies Page interviewed someone who worked for FVI, who said this movie didn't exist. http://www.the-unknown-movies.com/unknownmovies/reviews/fvi.html (http://www.the-unknown-movies.com/unknownmovies/reviews/fvi.html)
I guess this shows us that anything is possible, even if official sources say otherwise.
Quote from: chainsaw midget on December 04, 2020, 08:43:47 PM
It has a poster now.
(https://i.imgur.com/tErKni7.png)
It's going to be ON Demand, in January. They've also mentioned a ;imited theatrical release, but I can't find any details about how limited it's actually going to be.
Laura Dern, I wanted my turn. In 1993 anyway when I saw
Jurassic Park (1993). She didn't really do it for me in
Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), but I think that was mostly because the movie sucked and I wanted my money back.
Read a few reviews, this one seems to qualify as a legit bad movie. They spliced in newly shot footage of a animatronic bear head into the original footage for attack scenes, and used tons of bear stock footage that seems to be taken from youtube.
They also stole the burning shark footage from Jaws 2 (!!!!) - the close up of its mouth set on fire - as the death scene for the bear :bouncegiggle:
Whoever owns Grizzly II obviously did this "restauration" for a quick buck. Cheaply slapped together with little to no effort.
Quote from: pacman000 on December 06, 2020, 12:39:04 PM
The Unknown Movies Page interviewed someone who worked for FVI, who said this movie didn't exist. http://www.the-unknown-movies.com/unknownmovies/reviews/fvi.html (http://www.the-unknown-movies.com/unknownmovies/reviews/fvi.html)
I guess this shows us that anything is possible, even if official sources say otherwise.
The person interviewed said that Kill & Kill Again was "moderately successfull": it hit number 2 on the Variety box-office charts and made no effort to disguise the fact that it was made here. An entirely SA cast and crew, directed by my friend Ivan Hall.
Quote
Whoever owns Grizzly II obviously did this "restauration" for a quick buck. Cheaply slapped together with little to no effort.
Somehow that seems fitting.
I haven't seen the movie yet, but I've been following the saga of its road to "completion" over the past year or two. Suzanne Nagy was one of the producers on the film and she was prompted to finally finish it a couple of years ago when a "workprint" turned up on YouTube. I guess she got P.O.'d at a bootlegger stealing "her" movie.
Pretty interesting interview w/her here:
https://www.killerhorrorcritic.com/reviewsnews/interview-producer-suzanne-c-nagy-discusses-the-troubled-production-of-grizzly-ii-and-when-we-can-expect-to-see-the-film (https://www.killerhorrorcritic.com/reviewsnews/interview-producer-suzanne-c-nagy-discusses-the-troubled-production-of-grizzly-ii-and-when-we-can-expect-to-see-the-film)
She also has self published a book about the experience:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0899GGVY4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0899GGVY4&linkCode=as2&tag=dawnofthedisc-20&linkId=cf251083e60f04e65d369c5ecf3a567e (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0899GGVY4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0899GGVY4&linkCode=as2&tag=dawnofthedisc-20&linkId=cf251083e60f04e65d369c5ecf3a567e)
Meanwhile, John Rhys-Davies, who starred in the movie as the bear hunter, seems to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. Sounds like he's just glad it's out there for people to see.
https://ew.com/movies/grizzly-2-george-clooney-john-rhys-davies/ (https://ew.com/movies/grizzly-2-george-clooney-john-rhys-davies/)