Grizzly II (found workprint of unfinished thriller film; 1983)

Fan-made poster for the movie.

Status: Found

Date found: 2007

Found by: Unknown

Grizzly II is the sequel to the 1976 Jaws ripoff Grizzly. It is also known as Grizzly II: The Predator, Predator: The Concert, or a variety of other work-in-process names.

Filmed in 1983, the movie never saw a proper release. There is a multitude of stories as to why, the most common involving the producer running off with the budget, or the bills for the equipment not being paid, resulting in the Hungarian government seizing most of the productions materials.

In 1987, Cannon Films picked up the movie with the intent of releasing it, but started having financial issues in 1988 and forgot the movie. Its existence was often doubted until 2007, when a bootleg finally surfaced, albeit of an unfinished work print.

Technically, there are two movies known as Grizzly II, as the 1977 film Claws, a similar Jaws-inspired film about a killer bear, was retitled Grizzly II in Mexico and Canada.

The Plot

A huge concert is being held at a national park, at the same time that a massive, prehistoric grizzly bear goes on a rampage and starts attacking people in the park after its cub is killed by a hunter. A Native American tracker is called in, who often refers to the bear as an evil spirit, but is unable to prevent the bear from attacking the concert, and is eventually killed.

What Was Finished

In 2007, a bootleg surfaced, ripped from a VHS copy of an open matte work print.

The majority of bear scenes are unfinished, due to the scenes featuring the animatronic grizzly being pushed to the end of filming because of technical difficulties, and filming never being finished due to producer Joseph Proctor disappearing with the last of the film’s budget, according to producer Suzanne Nagy.^[1]

Black frames take the place of unfilmed effects shots (sometimes with sound effects, other times with no audible soundtrack).

Many scenes are accompanied by temp music, including songs by Michael Jackson.

ADR is not finished, and in many shots you can hear on-set audio such as the director giving directions to the actors, or yelling “cut.” Other shots which have no dialogue (shots of people running from explosions) have no soundtrack at all.

Due to the open matte nature of the video transfer, in some of the bear POV shots, the shadow of the camera operator can be seen at the bottom of the frame.

The end of the film where the grizzly attacks the concert is shown twice: first in an unfinished edited version, and then again as raw footage, including multiple angles of the same shot.

Although the animatronic bear was never filmed, there was a puppet used in a few scenes. In an old upload of the movie, there was a comment made by someone who worked on the movie which stated that it had been altered and didn't use the puppet they had made. It is possible there was more special effects footage made and unused, but as the movie is relatively obscure, it isn't known for sure. As the old 10 part, the low-quality edit was removed from YouTube, the statement was lost.

There is a fan edit that adds footage from movies like Grizzly, Claws, and Day of the Animals over the blank film, although it has yet to surface on YouTube. However the Archive.org upload, was later removed soon after by the moderators a few years later.

The bootleg workprint on Archive.org.

On June 15th, 2018, Suzanne Nagy, producer of Grizzly II, posted a comment on the Archive.org upload of the workprint, stating:

Dear Sir,
As you’re probably aware, the Grizzly II: The Predator, is copyrighted by me, Suzanne C. Nagy. All content of the film material was legally transferred to my company. Any illegal copy, as the one uploaded on archive.org, is unauthorized. Therefore, this has to be taken down.
If not but anything, the quality of the video should alert you that this an illegal copy. I urge you to immediately remove this film and not to cater any other sources to re-upload any content of this material.
If I don’t see immediate action, I will have to proceed legally.
Suzanne C. Nagy
Producer of Grizzly II

As of February 2020, after the announcement of the official release of Grizzly II: Revenge, the video is still up.

The Other Grizzly II

Claws, the 1977 film also known as Grizzly II is also very obscure. It is a cheaper-looking movie than Grizzly, due to the lower quality film and lack of restoration, and has never seen a higher release than VHS. Released in 1977, this direct knock-off of Grizzly is a much-hated film, although more creative when compared to Jaws. After being wounded by hunters, an Alaskan Grizzly bear (which would be larger than a grizzly from Yellowstone Park bears) goes on a killing spree. Eventually, with the help of a Native American tracker, the bear is hunted down and killed in a flaming bear vs. ax fight.

There is very little known about the making of the movie, and if it will ever see a proper release on DVD or Blu-ray. It seems to be in the public domain, unlike Grizzly II, and is still mistaken as the sequel to the more successful film.

Claws, also known as Grizzly II

Grizzly II: Revenge (2020)

In January of 2020, an official trailer was uploaded to YouTube, revealing that a remastered Grizzly II would be released under the title Grizzly II: Revenge by GBGB.

Official trailer for Grizzly II: Revenge

On the official Grizzly II website, producer Suzanne Nagy stated:

In 2018, the time was right to rethink the Grizzly movie and create a challenging new narrative with a new message which could fill the missing part in the movie. Restoring the old footages was a great challenge. But in the summer of 2019, we got a clean, super crispy digital transfer from London. During the waiting period, we worked on the new script and re-erected the film from its dormant stage. We didn’t want to make a 21st century movie when we looked at the footages. We wanted to keep it as original as possible to have an authentic American movie quality from the 80’s. Something that was missed or lost and found later on to attract enthusiastic cult lovers. With the casting power and the existing entertainment value with a big bear, we believe the movie will resonate with today’s audience. Animal movies are rare and very difficult to do right. There has been no bear action movie since 1976 since the first Grizzly movie. It was a great financial and entertainment success. I consider this “second chance” for the sequel a real victory for the movie and for me as a person who stuck to my dream regardless of all the horrifying circumstances.

^[2]