They called it “Jaws with claws” and it was a huge hit in the summer of 1976, earning nearly $40 million on a $750K budget. William Girdler’s Grizzly – a really fun riff on Jaws, featuring a fifteen-foot-tall grizzly terrorizing campers – was a no-brainer for a sequel, but it took until 1983 for one to go into production. Grizzly II: The Predator (a.k.a. Grizzly II: The Concert), however, was never finished; only an incomplete bootleg version is out there (easy to find on YouTube). The plot has a big concert taking place in the park as a giant grizzly starts to kill again. As a park ranger tries to control the chaos, a seasoned hunter is tasked with taking the beast down as it tears its way through campers and hunters, creating a path of destruction to the big gig, where it eventually meets its end. According to a 2014 story in the New York Post, the production went entirely off the rails, with one of the producers disappearing with a bunch of money, the production moving to Hungary and leaving the director behind (without being told he was replaced!), the new Hungarian director having no experience, the caterer rewriting the film(!), and the bear attack scenes left unfinished because the creature animatronics didn’t work. Lawsuits and debts have kept the film locked away ever since. What exists in the bootleg is hilariously awful – a nonsense plot, goofy performances and some terrible ’80s bands given way too much screen time to perform. The bear is reduced to some POV shots, a couple laughable practical effects and grunting noises. But Grizzly II does have a load of notable actors in it. Charlie Sheen, Laura Dern and George Clooney all become bear food, with the latter two having a roll … Continue reading BEARING DOWN: GRIZZLY II