The Great Alligator (1979) Horror Alligator

The Great Alligator (1979)  - To say this film is problematic for our current PC world is putting it mildly, it is problematic for the year it was made. There is some early lip service by spa owner Joshua (Mel Ferrer) lays on photographer Daniel Nessel (Claudio Cassinelli) about the abundance of wildlife and the spa's adherence to fitting in with it. Not only a capitalist but an imperialist Joshua believe he is improving the lives of the natives by building a resort "Paradise House" near their village.  It's pretty smart how Director Sergio Martino goes from this scene to one on the ground where his crew is using TNT to blow down trees and terrifying the natives. When the helicopter lands bring the model and photographer to this "little piece of Eden" they are greeted by Alice Brandt "Ally" (Barbara Bach) a cultural liaison for the Spa and local tribe. Again to counter what might be a good thing we immediately  see the resort staff heading live piglets to the river caiman (they call the alligators). The little squealing things roped up and tossed out into the river desperately swimming back for the boat before they are a reptile's lunch. That is not all of the exploitation in the depiction of the indigenous population. They are shown as curious happy primitives in loin cloths. They are drum and dance through the night in rituals to keep Kruna, the giant beast from harming them.They are easily frightened by things and are generally seen as simple. Many of the women dance topless although Martino does not shoot it from a male gaze. still they are easily bought, paid with Coke-a-Cola and blue jeans. Even our cultural anthropologist Ally when talking about the tribe and how they lived prior to contact with white puts it in terms of the white perspective, saying that they hunted and fished, work for the good of the tribe. That they only lived about 30 years so implying that there exploitation is better for them.

  When model Sheena (Geneve Hutton) goes off with a local for some love making but then the pair get eaten by, lets say alligator since that is the title, things get tense. The native perform ceremonies hoping that the great Kruna stays away but Joshua seems more interested in keeping it quiet and not letting the tourist know what has happened. Daniel and Ally take it upon themselves to investigate and so first visit the locals and then an old priest who lives in a cave, Father Johnathan (Richard Johnson) that adds only confusion about whether it is a crocodile, alligator or a river God. It did give a really nice shot of a waterfall.
  Things have to go bad at some point and the big bash being thrown for the tourists is the event waiting for Kruna. The tribe, the Kuma have a legend of a crocodile half man, half creature who comes for revenge (they keep switching terms but in this case say crocodile. The guest find this quaint but it could be that the tribe is showing themselves as the creature. So we have sabotage to the radio and to the helicopter. Are the natives doing it or the angry river beast? At the same time Ally goes missing and a cobra is left in her room. Meanwhile the clueless tourist go out on the raft for a dance party. Daniel using his camera's telephoto lens sees Ally is taken hostage by the tribe and he is the only one who knows about it. A hero for a problem he springs into action. She is stretched out over the water as a sacrifice but luckily for her the "gator" is more interested in knocking people off the raft and getting a "buffet de tourists". Worse than that the as the raft heads back to the dock we see that the Kuma have risen up to slaughter everyone in the resort. The only was to appease Kruna is by driving out the white interlopers. It is a pretty wonderful third act.
  So much of this third act reminds me of Jaws (1975) or even better Piranha (1978) except not done nearly as well. Daniel having untied Ally and just missed getting eaten by the alligator pulls the sacrificial raft towards shore while we cut to the crunching of the alligator on all the people left in the water.  Really a wonderful scene the people struggle from the raft jumping into the water and swimming for dear life to get inside the alligator proof fence. Once in they emerge from the water only to be confronted by the native tribe on the war path. Anyone who leaves the water gets shot with flaming arrows by the Kuma, caught between a Kuma and a hard Kruna. Kruna then breaks through the fence and the real feast begins. Daniel and Ally seem to get away from the tribe in a VW minivan only to have the bridge they are crossing to collapse into the river full of crocodiles. Kruna is waiting for them as Daniel works to free Ally from the wrecked van. It would have been wiser if the film makers had invested more in a realistic looking crocodile prop because what they have is comical more than frightening. Of course at this point they must have been searching for an ending they have lots of carnage and the bad guys get their due but it all falls a bit flat. When the van falls into the river at night but five minutes later when they come out after defeating Kruna it is light you wonder if there were some re-shoots. The strangely happy ending doesn't seem to work either. All the survivors are save from the natives because Daniel killed the beast, and a flurry of helicopters arrive to raise spirits. Even with its incompetent effects department this is a film that had some things right but because of budget could not execute them. All said and done I won't recommend this one because of the stated issues.

Alligator (1980) Horror Alligator

Alligator (1980)  This film really does not waste a lot of time. It opens introducing the audience to the animals in question. A little girl and her family are part of the crowd watching some men doing alligator wrestling. We here some exposition about alligators but then things go horribly wrong and one of the wrestlers is maimed. After the show the little girl convinces her parents to buy one of the alligator babies sold at the store. Back home her father in what seem like an overly angry tirade flushes the creature down the toilet. We follow the little guy through the pipes into the sewers still alive and kicking.  Twelve years later body parts start appearing in the water treatment plant. Human and dog and the police are called in. We meet David (Robert Forster) a cop with a storied past who recently joined this force after losing a partner in the line of duty in another city. He is a guilt ridden man who obsesses about hair loss. Yea! hair loss it is a weird quirk in this film where the cop worries about his thinning hair. It is mentioned by several people through the film and ends up being a bit amusing. David is on the case and although his standing is not great in his new job, he seems to have the freedom to investigate unimpeded.   The rest of the plot is special a pharmaceutical company is experimenting with growth hormone and is killing puppies at an amazing rate. They are getting the animals they need by enlisting a local pet shop owner (Sydney Lassick) who goes around catching strays for them. He also gets rid of the dead dogs by dumping the hormone filled carcasses into the sewers. Can you say giant hormone filled alligator since he gets to eat all those dogs. As cop David closes in on the drug company the head honcho Slade (Dean Jagger) puts a call into the corrupt mayor (Jack Carter) to get David fired. This naturally won't stop the cop from getting the job done.
  The bodies pile up and we get city action once they know there is a giant gator living in the sewers. The script is pretty tight written by John Sayles who has written some great movies like Piranha (1978), The Howling (1981), The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Eight Men Out (1988), The Secret of Roan Inish (1994), and Sunshine State (2002). He is a professional and even in this early film he shows his chops. He has a creature feature where he has the beast running around the streets of Chicago. He has the conflicted cop who won't give up. A love interest (Robin Riker) for him and a plan to beat the corrupt city political structure and kill the alligator. He even writes in a great white hunter who comes at the Mayor's behest to hunt the creature down. Mix in some decent acting by real veterans and a musical score that is reminiscent of Jaws (1975) makes for a very wonderful little film. Director Lewis Teague makes the script works and keeps the pacing up. There are some great scenes once the monster breaks through the sidewalks and begins roaming around the city. The most wonderful having to be the scene at the wedding. I recommend this film, it is not great cinema but a fun little monster movie.

Black Water (2007) Horror Crocodile

Black Water (2007) - This is inspired by true event about three vacationers who get trapped in a mangrove forest in Northern Australia after a crocodile capsizes their boat and eats their guide. This is also the exact kind of story that will keep me out of boats anywhere near Alligator and particularly Crocodile habitats. It is a terrifying tale of things going horribly wrong and then getting worse. Any time I imagine being in the environment where man is not the top of the food chain is horrific and this film has that through and through. Adam (Andy Rodoreda) and Grace (Diana Glenn) are traveling on holiday with Grace's sister Lee (Maeve Dermody) and decide to stop at a local (N. Australian) expedition company. They plan to spend a day fishing and trolling about the mangrove forests and rivers. When they arrive they have missed the trip by five minutes. Jim (Ben Oxenbould) who is manning the docks offers to take them out in a smaller boat and they agree.  So the four load up the gear and head out into a vast watery wilderness. Writers / Directors David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki (The Reef 2010, ABCs of Death 2012) working with a small budget manage to make a very compelling story into an entertaining and tense thriller. Early on they pull off a classic bit of redirection where something bumps the boat making every nervous. Jim leans over the side creating tension so palpable it tightened my stomach. You know this is Australia and the entire country is looking for ways to kill you. Well at least that is the impression I have. After a few tense minute he pulls a floating can out of the water and everyone has a short laugh. It's a classic!
  The film really starts after that when a crocodile not only whacks the boat but flips it over. It takes the guide Jim and drags him under while Adam and Grace swim for the nearest tree. Lee having surfaced under the capsized boat struggles to get on top of it while the crocodile circles back looking for more prey. What is so terrifying as a viewer is the film maker are using real crocodiles. Of course the actors were never in the water with the crocs the film makers used compositing to create the effect. Still the effect is wonderful and no CGI animal can be as threatening as the real thing. The responses by the small group of actors are incredibly believable. Now trapped the crocodile begins banging the boat trying to dislodge Lee. These swamps are muddy and when the creature goes under the water it is impossible to see. So when it seems to have given up the group still can't be sure. How does the group get out of this situation? The boat seems the most likely way so Lee has to reach into the water for the rope so she can throw it to Adam. Each time someone has to hover over the water or worse get in it so tension filled. If you are at all paying attention to the film you feel it deep in your gut.
  Now some people might find this film too simple and lose interest because the scope of the film is three people in a tree trying to figure out how to get to safety without getting eaten. It is a situation where they are in a bad situation and all there limited options are also bad. The film makers do a lot with that and I found the film fascinating. The interpersonal trauma alone is heart wrenching. I don't want to spoil this film because it is definitely a recommend. I will say though that there is a build up and some really heart pounding action before all is said and done. The acting is great and the reactions seem very honest. The crocodile is absolutely terrifying as crocodiles always are. This film pulled such basic, primordial, Darwinian fear from me, I can't really describe it, other than to say its a primal fear. Thousands of years of caution for these creatures passed through generations of DNA warning  of DANGER!  This film is showing something that has happened. That could happen to you if you venture into croc territory.  In Australia crocodile attacks are not uncommon. It is a testament to the film that it captures that allowing the viewer to share it from the safety of the sofa.

Crocodile (2000) Horror Crocodile

Crocodile (2000) - So in July we are getting a new film about alligators called Crawl (2019) Where a woman tries to save her father during a cat 5 hurricane but because of flooding has to deal with a influx of alligators. It looks looks fairly interesting and got my imagination going. Maybe I should look at some alligator and crocodile films from the past both good and bad and see what is what? There is no shortage to this sub-genre of animal attack films. Both these beasts alligators and crocs are reptiles that have been around for 37 million years. For most of there history with men in the world they have been higher on the food chain so there has to be a deep fear created by the beast for us. In Bill Bryson's book about Australia "In a Sun Burnt Nation" he goes on in frightening detail about human run ins with crocodiles that is so worth a listen. The fear they create in us comes from that explicit knowledge that they can eat us. This has in film create a plethora of films in horror about alligators and crocodiles. So while fighting your herpetophobia lets watch and talk about some alligator and crocodile films. Since 1. this is a film from 19 years ago and 2. Most people will not watch it anyway. This commentary and description is FULL of SPOILERS.
  This first film in the series is a ease of access choice. Readily available on Amazon Prime it is not chosen for quality but because it comes up in a search. I was surprised to see that Tobe Hooper directed the film. I have read that he came into the project late but there are parts that show his black sense of humor. The script is a bit messy to be kind. The story centers around eight college kids taking a houseboat out on a California lake for spring break oh and the legend of and real life crocodile.Most of the college age interaction is hard to stomach. Unnatural in that all of it centers around interpersonal conflict but there is no familiar banter that defines the characters, well a little but not enough to know who but a few characters are. Brady (Mark McLauchlin) is dating Claire (Caitlin Martin) but Sunny (Sommer Knight) has also been invited and she secretly had hooked up with Brady while Brady and Claire are on. Duncan (Chris Solari) secretly found a way to get Brady kicked out of school because he missed his friend. (The actor is doing his best Robert Downey Jr. from that era)  Sunny came thinking she was going to get to see Brady again but was surprised to learn that Claire was even there. Of course this melodrama will play out in the film.  You can get the drift from that and boy is it painful to watch. The rest of the crew are Kit (Doug Reiser), Annabelle (Julie Mintz), and her dog Princess, Foster (Rhett Wilkins) and Hubs (Greg Wayne) but since they have no development at all are all red shirts. Everyone one acts like immature teens and the conversations are not really meaningful. Just partying and laughing  but not the kind of catching up catch and stories we tell each other when we get together. It makes the characters less real.
There first night out we hear the story of the old hotel on the hill. Harlan Clemons owned the place and he ran a cult of Egyptian cultist who worship the Nile Crocodile, even imported them. It goes on with that once they messed with the croc's eggs and it came to the mansion on a killing rampage. This is a setup for the ages. Now the old place is cursed and used by arsonist for practice, but that does not really come into play. We have a legend and a reason why this surviving croc that no one has seen in all these years will attack. This is a cut to: Two local fisherman disturbing the crocodile nest. Of course they are a bit redneck in their approach and they pay for the disturbance wit their lives. All well and good but then to have the croc do what it does with the car is just too much. There has to be lines drawn in believe ability and I can suspend disbelief with the best of them but this, THIS is too far. The group come across the eggs all broken up and Hubs decides to hide one of the unbroken eggs in Claire's backpack. Drunken antics or linear storytelling? It sets off a very unfortunate chain of event most pressing is the croc is looking for that egg and will go through all of them to get it.
  The secondary plot feature the local sheriff Bowman (Harrison Young) who after hearing that a couple local fishermen are missing hops in a helicopter and finds there submerged car. Investigating further he find the nest of 'Mommy Croc'. Unlike the kids who don't know the mess they have gotten into he deduces the issue as soon as he finds his first severed hand.  Heading out for help he recruits the ornery local alligator farmer Shurkin (T. Evans) to learn its a croc and not a gator and then to hunt it down. Shurkin wants to get the croc because he is sure it is the one that killed his Grandpappi and we even have a tie in to the story of the haunted hotel too. It does not really go anywhere but its there. They head out in a boat with their guns to kill the beast.
  The young people finally see the croc as it closes in on them and then all hell breaks loose for them. Death and destruction follow as pontoon boats are not the sturdiest of vehicles. Fleeing on foot the survivors are pursured by Mommy Croc and no little shack of a store will be strong enough to stop her. This pursuit is probably the toughest part of the film to watch because between the set pieces attacks and destruction there is a lot of yelling and stupidity on the part of the group. Grinding the audience's nerves and making me wish more would die quicker. Of course they stay near the lake instead of heading away from it. How far do you think a crocodile will walk away from the water it lives in, and into the CA desert? Eventually crossing path with the hunting party their is reprieve before the final confrontation and the reveal to Claire that there is an egg in the backpack she has been wearing the entire time. How to solve this problem, well this bunch of course picks the worst possible way. In Tobe Hooper fashion there are these moments where little jokes are sprinkled into the mayhem which I found endearing. We miss you Tobe! The climax is is seen later in one of the Jurassic Park films maybe the 2nd? If there was a part of this I would recommend it has to be the climax. Although ridiculous it at least makes fun of its self.
  All and all this movie is not recommended unless you are a Tobe Hooper completest or really like bad CGI crocodiles. Screenwriter Jace Anderson continues to work today, although he has not hit it big yet he has written these The Toolbox Murders (2004), Mortuary (2005), and Mother of Tears (2007) made by the great Dario Argento. This one was not the greatest but there is always looking forward to his 2003 film Rats.