Touches You

Admirable film.

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

If you never saw this, it was most likely because it was never officially released, until the various scraps of film were assembled and released to an unsuspecting internet in 2007. I found it on YouTube, and it is simply fascinating on a retro level, and on a filmmaking level as well. The movie was never completed due to running out of money or unpaid bills or some such jibber-jabber. It seems as though most of the movie was already done...except any bear scenes, such as the bear killing anyone at all. So there's no payoff for horror fans in that respect. The only thing going for it is simple curiousity.This movie is stocked with famous faces, which is rare for an unfinished and unreleased sequel to a killer bear movie. Louise Fletcher, an actual Oscar winner, who was born to play evil bitches, plays another one here. Charlie Sheen, Laura Dern and George Clooney (another actual Oscar winner) all appear in scenes together as a trio of doomed campers. Other famous faces include John Rhys-Davies as a "French Canadian Indian" a.k.a. "The Quint Role." Deborah Foreman (Valley Girl) appears sporadically too.Did I mention the soundtrack is loaded, I mean LOADED with Michael Jackson songs from the Thriller album, which are played constantly at any of the concert scenes? I believe this to be the real reason why the money was never finished, can you imagine how expensive it would be to pay for the rights to those songs now?It plays almost like a regular killer bear movie, minus the killer bear scenes, until near the end, which is where the unfinished portion of our program kicks in. The grand finale is a series of quick cuts and unfinished scenes pieced together in the order they would appear in a finished version, but sometimes there is no sound or you can hear someone yelling "CUT!" This tends to take away from the enjoyment of the movie, but it is unfinished and that's pretty obvious when you get to this point. Still, I wanted to see it and now I have. If you're looking to complete the series, like I was, go for it. If you're curious and interested in oddball movies in film history, I say go for it too. If you're looking for a good movie, with things like sound and coherence, maybe stay away! There are some laughs to be had though.

Now, maybe i'm a bit biased because of my searing loathing of the disappointment that is known as Grizzly (i call it a waste of time) but I liked this movie. Now, it is unfinished and a bit dull, but there was huge potential in this. It's just as dumb and inaccurate as the first one, but seems better to me. The bear is over-kill in height, better than the crap one from Grizzly, and is actually kinda scary to think about. The giant robot is a nice effect too, not looking that bad. Maybe it worked better because it rips off Claws, one of the few good killer bear films of the 70's. The original songs are okay and fit nicely. Hopefully it will see a nice remake soon that can show the glory it could have had!

Grizzly II (1987)Ahh, don't you just love lost movies? This sequel to William Girdler's 1976 cult favorite GRIZZLY was a Hungarian production that started filming in 1983 but for some reason it was never fully completed. Rumor has it that something illegal was done during the production and local authorities pretty much shut the film down. For nearly two-decades this film was surrounding in quite a myth as many believed it was never actually filmed while others thought they simply ran out of money and couldn't complete it. Then around 2005 or so, a workprint turned up and thankfully the majority of the film was complete. Being a killer grizzly film I guess it's fitting that the only thing actually missing are the bear attacks. Apparently the producers were going to film everything involving the bear in the final weeks of production so this never happened. The rest of the movie is pretty much complete but whenever something with a bear is about to happen the footage is simply missing. You still see the people attacked but there's just no actual footage of the bear doing it. With that said, if GRIZZLY II were to be released, completed or not, it would become an instant cult classic. Hell, it already is even with the missing footage. Let see what all this film has to offer:* Academy Award winner Louise Fletcher. * Deborah Raffin from DEATH WISH 3. * John Rhys-Davies from the Indiana Jones series. * Charles Cyphers from HALLOWEEN. * Deborah Foreman of VALLEY GIRL. * A soundtrack that illegally uses countless Michael Jackson songs.* GRIZZLY star Christopher George was signed to play the lead but died of a heart attack shortly before production.Wait there's one more big thing.......* George Clooney, Charlie Sheen and Laura Dern in the same scene together.GRIZZLY II has a, what else, grizzly eating people just as a State Park is about to hold a major concert. The owner (Fletcher) refuses to alert the media about the bear fearing it won't sell tickets so she demands the lid be put on it. Soon enough a group of rednecks (led by Cyphers) are trying to track down the bear while innocent campers (Clooney, Sheen, Dern) are eaten alive. Unfinished or not, GRIZZLY II is a must see for fans of bad cinema or just those who enjoy the "nature attacks" genre. There's so much wackiness in this movie that it really does seem as if you're watching about twenty-different campy movies rolled into one. You can start with the god-awful "concert" footage, which actually takes up a very big portion of the running time. The music is so awful that you can't help but have a good time with it and even though you'll want to cover your ears you just can't simply because of how funny it is. The men dancing around in tight shorts isn't any better and the silly redneck hunters are just downright crazy. There's one hilarious scene where one of the hunter's loses his brother to the bear and the only thing his buddies can do is tell him to just forget about it so they can go make money. More campiness arrives when the big three are out campy. Dern does a striptease for Clooney who is in a sleeping bad. The scene has them both cuddling in the bag when they're attacked by the bear. Just watch how Clooney appears more interesting in touching Dern than actually fighting the bear. This is followed up by Sheen getting attacked and just wait until you hear that scream of his, which has to be one of the worst in film history. There are so many campy moments in this film that you really can't help but just sit back and enjoy them. It's really too bad that the film was never completed but looking at the movie it probably wouldn't take too much money or time to fill in the missing pieces. The attack sequences really wouldn't take that long to film and when you see how many known stars are in the movie you can't help but think they'd have a terrific selling point. GRIZZLY II, so far, remains unreleased and it's a real shame because camp fans would have another classic to add to their library.

I read comments that there were problems with the animatronic 14" bear". That may be what techs were told in the US but there was NO such item. The 14 foot version was a puppet that was only intended to be used on the full sized stage and all those shots were completed before leaving Hungary. The half size animatronic version was complete and working prior to leaving Hungary too and we shot tests of it at that time. I had an agreement with Joe Proctor to direct the half size effects unit and all elements ( other than the man in a suit version which was almost complete) were finished and ready to shoot in coordination with the storyboard that I also supervised with artist Tony Beasley. The money dried up and the crew's PERSONAL equipment was seized by the Government who told us they were held against non payment of production bills. We never got our stuff out of there.