Blood Surf (2001) Horror Crocodile

Blood Surf (2001) This commentary and synopsis is TOTALL FILL WITH SPOILERS.  A couple of surfers, Bog Hall (Dax Miller) and Jeremy (Joel West) are planning a stunt where they chum the water of the surfing area to attract sharks. With a television pair they film the boys surfing with the sharks. Blood surfing seems like a crazy idea but the young foolish surfers think the idea is awesome. Establishing a competitive relationship between the surfers furthers the idea that they will do most anything to one up each other. They support crew of  producer Zach Jardine (Matt Borlenghi) and director Cecily Herrold (Tziporah Malkah) (Sirens (1994) the Elle MacPherson vehicle when she was the hottest supermodel in the world) meet the locals Sonny (Chris Vertido) and wife Melba (Susan Africa) and are warned away from the beach they want to surf the next day. Shark infested waters are too dangerous. The character development is around the Bog trying to get the Cecily to sleep with him even though she is involved with the Zach. An Australian boat captain John Dirks (Duncan Regehr) tells them they are idiots to go near Palm Island but of course the group won't listen. Dirk's hot as hell blonde Arty (Taryn Reif) does a sexualized dance to attract the surfer guys and anyone else who will go for it. Later when the drunk sailors are sitting at the docks they happen to see her getting banged  by Dirks and Bog on makes some interesting eye contact while she takes it from behind. This is all secondary and not really pertinent to the plot other than to set up a character they will see later in the film.
 Awoken by Sonny's daughter Lemmya (Maureen Larrazabel) Jeremy flirts and they seem to hit it off. Its so she can go along with them and be his love interests for Jeremy. The film starts with someone's memory of people in the surf being eaten by something. It is revealed to be Dirks' who had the flashback in the beginning of the film. He was the leader of an adventure outing when all his passengers were eaten. Setting up his future decisions this is important to where his character is in his life.  The next day Sonny takes the surfer group to Palm Island. Chumming the water to attract sharks we see Jeremy is a bit weary about the event even though he says otherwise. We see the sharks arrive and things at set for the event. Cecily is going to shoot from the water so besides the two surfers it makes three in jeopardy. We get some surfing shots with sharks cutting across the waves just what Zach wants. Its not the best effects just fins seen from the surface and some underwater shots of sharks around the surfers and camerawoman. She gets surrounded by sharks but the fast acting Bog gets to her quickly before her shark proof suit can be tested. From the beach they see a shark get turned into a bloody splotch in the ocean and the group decides that more surfing is out of the question.
  Lemmya and Jeremy head off for some smooching in the woods, Zach, Cecily, smooch on the beach while Bob gets some more surfing in. Why? because they need the couple to be together without the fifth wheel. Melba and Sonny stay on the boat.  When Melba decides to take a swim again why?, Now there are two in the water and the tension mounts. Where Dax Miller has top billing in this feature I can guess who is more at risk. This is all broken up with the interpersonal scenes but viewers are really probably wanting some action at this point. There is no shortage of boobies by the women in this film but boy does it fail the Bechdel test. They are all seen through the male gaze and even though they initiate the sex it is all about them as beautiful things to be possessed by the men. The soft core sex shots and the cutting between that and the boat are weird. When Melba has a close call, something jumps from the water and takes Sonny right as Lemmya and Jeremy at the ruins are climaxing. It is just so wrong. Then nobody seems to notice this happens beside Melba who collapses crying on the boat.
  The sun sets and instead of having some scene about what happened we cut back to Lemmya topless getting near the water. She screams at the giant crocodile behind her. Cut to Jeremy who wakes and thinks she is playing hide and seek. Looking for her he only finds part of her clothes. Bob, Zach, and Cecily don't really believe him but coming back to the dock they find the remains of the boat and Sonny. Even still Zach wants the camera tape and looks to Bog to get it for him. There is a Jaws moment as he swims under water at the boat to retrieve the camera. The Crocodile attacks the dock they are on and they run for the shore as fast as they can. The beast is after them as they sprint through the jungle. Zach can't go any further and they stop in the tall grass. Instead of a crocodile they are met with men with guns who are not so happy to have them on the island. They are taken to a boat which they still hope means they can get back to civilization. The inevitable rape threat to Cecily is interrupted by the giant crocodile jumping out of the water just in time to eat her attecker. Taking advantage of the situation the boys push the remaining armed men into the water with the beast. The ones who make it to shore happen to blow up the boat with gunfire leaving Zach in the water to be picked up by Dirks who arrived on the scene just in time. On his boat the "Fury" they recover as they head back to the main island.
Since this film started with Dirks' memories it means that this could be his story. Dirks prowls his deck drinking trying to keep back the memories of the past while still feeling the crocodile is near. He is Ahab and the crocodile is his white whale. Zach is snooping about when Arty comes up on him and shows him the chum bucket for hunting the crocodile. He is hunting the crocodile and it does not matter if the groups safety in put in jeopardy.  This is Perth Australia and when a crocodile needs to be killed it needs to be killed.. Arty convinces Zach to make the capture of this animal the subject of his next TV show. So in the morning when everyone awakes they find themselves back at the Palm island.  Naming it "Big Mick" Zach makes his pitch to the rest of the group. John Dirks explains the danger of the situation by recounting how the crocodile dismembers and ate his last party. We go from this right into a scene from Jaws where the shark takes a barrel. When the engine blows it is full on Jaws. Dirks harpoons the creature and prepares to kill it. Cecily jumps in the water with her camera filming when the creature, but it breaks the binds they harpooned onto it. They save her just in time but like the shark in jaws the crocodile is up on the back of the boat and it gets one of the group.

  The crocodile now riled up is after them and the boat is dying. Dirks breaks for the reef to ground the boat leaving the group stranded in the beast's turf.. John will stay behind hoping to blow the ship and the crocodile up while the others cross the reef and make there way to the island. The film is moving towards climax. We lose another of the group surfing towards shore but not making it. Dirks and the creature have it out on the boat like Quint, this Captain is cut in half and his life ends in failure. No explosion means Bog has to head back to the boat for the explosives. The two women head for the ruins on the island where they were told the water is too alkaline for the crocodile to tolerate. Foreshadowing a future risk we see one of the gun toting bad guys has survived and is closing in on the women. Bog finds the explosives while the women's risk of rape reappears. Cecily tries to avoid getting banged but the brute. Such a problematic film when it comes to the female characters.
 We get crocodile POV to show us it is hunting the women. They are slightly lost but manage to find a rope bridge with rotting board where they can see the crocodile below and know they are at risk. They make it to the ruins where supposedly the water is too alkaline for the Croc. The water does seem to stop the creature but it camps out on the shore trapping the women. They only talk about if Cecily likes Bob which means that neither of these women seem to have any agency at all. Arty was with Dirk because he won her in a dart game. She is a thing that was possessed, while Cecily is just a love interest for both Zach and Bog and a rape target for two different thugs. Bog arrives with the explosives and places what looks like C4 around the ruins. It's a plan with Bog as the bait and the girls hitting the switch they mean to crush the crocodile. The staging is a bit ridiculous as he tries to attract  the beast by throwing rocks at it. The plan does eventually work dropping tons of stones onto it in a comical CGI chase. As they leave Arty in blind anger kicks the crocodile until it wakes up and eats her. The other two run and jump onto a vine with the crocodile leaping behind them jaws ready to crunch. It gets impales on a stalagmite or jagged rock that just happens to be there. The survivors kiss and Cecily claimed by the man and the film ends with her being into it.
  Needless to say this was not the best of films. Problematic with its approach to female characters who have no agency but are instead just there things for the men to have and save. The 2001 CGI is really quite not up to the great standards we have today. What little we see looks pretty bad. The script by Sam Bernard (The last credit he has) and Robert L. Levy (also the last writing credit but he has gone on to be a successful producer.) is linear with trite character development that leaves the viewer not really caring about the characters. The Directing by James D.R. Hickox  ( Detention (2010) ) is adequate to get the tale told.  So this one is not a recommend if you want an opinion about that.

The Brutal River (2005) Horror Crocodile

The Brutal River (2005) - Khoht phetchakhaat (original title) From Thailand comes this story of a small village on a river terrorized by a man eating crocodile. It starts as a really romanticized ideal place. The people are simple and farm palm or fish the river to fill there lives. It really establishes how the river is essential to everyday life, from travel to industry to food it is all encompassing. Like a lot of Thai movies the film tries to capture the innocence of a time when life was simple and present it as a better life than modern living. Family is important and romance are slow and gentle affairs where both people fall in love through conversation and holding hands. Nong (Chamnong) and Chuan are brother and friends and with the cop are a family that cares about each other. When the Chuan was refused entry into the military Nong enlisted and fulfilled his brothers dream. It is a quickly but well drawn story giving us a setup for the film to come. Mixed with this happy feeling cinema is cuts to the stalking crocodile making the river unsafe. He gets another old man in a boat and then onshore a dog. Early there is Crocodile to human violence show on screen a flirting swimmer has his legs chomped off in front of the girls he was trying to get to know.
   Warning everyone off the river can work for a while but  the old man who sells noodles from his boat does not get the memo and is the next victim of the beast. Now the Aughts CGI attacks are not very impressive but the film does a good job of making it a story of a village in peril. At first not everyone agrees there is a creature, even after seeing it the stories only spread word of mouth and many people choose not to believe. Still some believers band together and with machetes and rifle head into the palm jungle looking to kill the beast. They find a great mud bed and know the beast is gigantic. While the sub district chief and his men ready things to hunt and kill the crocodile there is the village fool organizing his own hunt because there is a 3000 Bhat reward for killing it.  They all end up out there at the same tie in tiny little boats.In the film they say alligator, translated of course but as far as I know there are only crocodiles in Thailand so I am going to keep using that term to talk about the creature.
   The hunt goes as poorly as small boats will allow. When the Crocodile comes everyone realizes that they are over matched and there is a mad rush to get off the river. They are all in little hollowed out boats and the crocodile is like three times the size of the largest. It is a tense dash to the shore and the last of them barely makes it. This slows down the hunt by the village as they are not sur how to kill such a big threat. They next try praying including leaving a couple religious types praying on the shore of the river. When our main characters start losing loved ones you just have to turn to your Gods. The voodoo like ritual performed which should bind the viscous beast but all it really did was allow the Crocodile a free meal of the priest. Not learning from this first mistake they next bring in a Khmer Witch doctor with strong talismans. He also has TNT so the villagers are more confident in his approach. This ends the same as the first. This time though the croc is looking for revenge and knocks a bunch of villagers off a dock blood in the water is all that is left of those who did not make it to shore.
  Now the military is called in to deal with the issue, and the reverence shown upon their arrival is something to see. Cheering villagers and the score to romanticize them. I wonder how much self censoring is going on with the film makers where they laud the military as saviors and the political appointees as trusted leaders. This mixed with the obvious romanticizing of the simple old way of life leads me to think that there is something going on.
  The military kill a crocodile but it appears to be the wrong one. Too small and not fat enough there is still a problem. The crocodile ups the ante first getting lovely Pikul, the girl liked by the cop and then getting Chuan the family is devastated. The personal vengeance hunt is on, led by Nong. The village bands together and builds a place in the river to trap and kill the beast. Requesting explosives and machine guns from the military  but bureaucracy interferes. Eventually though they get what they need and he is ready for a hunt.. Unfortunately things sort of fall apart in the film. What should be the final battle goes on with failed attempts and the more we see of the creature the more comical it gets. Eventually someone sacrifices themselves to blow up the crocodile and saves the village.  The appendix dialog at the end explains how after this incident there was a massive hunt and over 300 more crocodiles were killed making the swamp areas safe.
  So what did I think? Well this film was fine, certainly not high in production value but they were trying to tell a heart felt story. Would I recommend it? Probably but only because it is a very foreign film without the bells and whistles of an American movie making. So do with that what you will. I think it adds another kind of flavor to this reptilian buffet I am eating.

Primeval (2007) Horror Crocodile

Primeval (2007) - This was the first of two films to come out in 2007 with the other being Rogue (2007) which is a strange curiosity about  Hollywood. Similar ideas going through development and getting released within five months of each other. Primeval has the earlier release date and did a meager 10 million on a 6 million dollar budget. Still that is way better that the ten thousand profit made on Rogue. Both films feature a giant crocodile eating people but they take very different approaches. I like when a film starts out with a short but too the point scene that ropes the viewer in. In this film a UN team is uncovering a mass grave from what could be the Burundi civil war/genocide. The specialist looking at the bodies walks to what looks like could be another grave and attempts to dig her shovel into the ground. The ground trembles and she is violently snatched and dragged into the river by a giant crocodile. She is eaten as the UN soldiers shoot at the creature from the shore. This is a fast and brutal scene that sets up the opening credits over newspaper clipping of  troubles created by the crocodile, "Gustav" as the local named him. Its a really nice setup to get us to the characters we will be following.
   Producer Tim Manfrey (Dominic Purcell) who is in a bit of trouble with his boss at the "Network News Channel" about a story he did so is assigned to fly to Africa to produce the Giant crocodile story. More than that with naturalist Matt Collins (Gideon Emery) he is to make the story about the capture of the crocodile. They will go in light try not to upset the locals so with executive Aviva Masters (Brook Langton), cameraman Steve Johnson (Orlando Jones) and a guide they will try to make the capture of this beast prime time news. Burundi is shown as the chaotic place where things don't go as planned. The strong arming producer Tim bluffs his way to get things done. Although the great white hope aspects of the setup are really annoying the Director Michael Katleman working from a script by John Brancato and Michael Ferris pulls off showing a war torn country even if it is from the arrogant white male point of view. It is also troubling early that Aviva Masters is nothing but objectified as the cute not serious journalist, if she does not have an arc that disproves this it will be very disappointing. They meetup with guide Jacob Kreig (Jürgen Prochnow) who is tough and to the point and start their plans for the expedition. We do get some conflict between Kreig and Collins one who wants to capture the creature one who would prefer to kill it. They do not really plan more just get in jeeps and drive. The hope is that the writers did this on purpose with the idea of having the group learn and appreciate foreign cultures, ceremonies in their honor and the blessings of the native shaman (Ernest Ndlovu) adding up to a better appreciation for foreign cultures. The happy dancing villagers and the constant joking by Johnson and the inability of the Americans to take the situation seriously adds up to make the white point of view sort of offensive.
  After attempting to capture the crocodile the crew realizes it is a smarter animal than they thought. Johnson wanders off to get some B-roll for there piece and comes across the local militia beheading the shaman and shooting his family in retribution for not supporting the local warlord "Little Gustav".  This shows a real attempt on the writers part to make the message of the violence in Africa more than just a setting. Using Masters as the conduit we get commentary on the American inability to care for black people never mind African black people. Not to get too political the film shifts to an action sequence where a local ens up trapped in the cage designed to capture Gustav. The giant CGI crocodile attacks attempting to get the boy and oh boy it is obvious that the cage will not be enough for that one.
  Meanwhile Aviva has her own problems as a soldier attempts to rape her while the men are out of the camp. She fights back but is no match for the man and thankfully she is save by Gustav who was hungry and decided to have a meal of the soldier. Manfrey calls for them to leave but one of the other soldiers shoot there guide Kreig. He works for Little Gustav and the only reason they all don't die that night is the kid they saved from the crocodile shoots the soldier. A classic Hollywood trope is to bring in a storm when the climax is on the way. We learn Kreig's hatred for the beast is personal and the crocodile is coming back to finish the job it started. The last thirty minutes is wonderful survive the monster action as the croc attacks and the group loses members one after the other. Trapped on a floating dock the five night survivors wait for rescue. They will have to chance getting back to camp where they helicopter is looking for them but they know Gustav is on land nearby. Add in the arrival of little Gustav's men means another of the group dies. Dealing with both Gustav issues splits the group and creates some really decent action sequences. Unfortunately Johnson's responses to escaping the crocodile through humorous comments takes the seriousness away from what should be a heart pounding climax.
  The political angle was much more well thought out and we see corruption and murder and the double crossing means we can't necessarily have any heroes in the Africans we see. Again are seeing this through the white lens of the good Americans who now want to expose the bad African behavior to draw attention to the corruption. It is so unflattering though the idea of either happy villagers or warlords with nothing in between. As they are forced to go with Little Gustav (Dumisani Mbebe) the scene suddenly goes from day to night I guess to the dark and the rain and thunder and lightning will make the CGI crocodile look more reasonable. Why the director chose to have a kills blood spurt appear to hit the camera lens seems like a mistake in judgement. After the final confrontation we wrap the film up with touching moments and an but never get to an attempt at real journalism, so the story arcs are incomplete. Text added to the screen again attempts to make commentary about the real world events the story are based in but that wrapping seems inappropriate for the type of film this is. It tries to have it both ways on one hand being a monster movie and on the other a political commentary, which could work. Unfortunately it really is like watching two different films at once the two never quite meshing into one story. So even though we get on screen information about the end of the very real life war in Burundi the film ends with a horror scene and text about Gustav being alive and well. I guess I appreciate what the film makers were trying to do here even if it did not totally come together.  I still recommend the film but it has to be said that it is a bit messy in its delivery.

   

Rogue (2007) Horror Crocodile

Rogue (2007) - This is a survival film which means some people are not going to make it. That said we get a very quick setup. Pete McKell (Michael Vartan) has taken an assignment in the outback of Australia. A cynical travel writer he has taken an assignment to write about a ride on Ryan's Wildlife River Cruise.  Kate Ryan (Radha Mitchell) takes the group onto the river in a large flatboat and talks a good game as they look for animals. We learn about Northern Australia extensive crocodile population and are introduced to some of the characters on the boat. There is a married couple  Mary Ellen (Caroline Brazier) and Everett (Robert Taylor) , a British family Allen (Geoff Morrell) and Elizabeth (Heather Mitchell) with a teen daughter Sherry (a young Mia Wasikowska before she hit it big), a bragging camera guy Simon (Stephen Curry), an Irish lady Gwen (Celia Ireland) and Russell (John Jarrett) a man leaving his wife's ashes in the river. Kate tell us about the saltwater crocodiles and how deadly they are. They can grow up to 25 feet and weigh a ton so we really get the scare of reality. They also have a run in with a couple locals who bother them a bit having history with Kate. This is a pretty basic setup we can see that it is a diverse group of white people all looking to see the creatures from  the safety of a boat.

  On the way home they see a flare and have to respond since when people are in trouble you really have to respond. The tension created by this is palpable as people are ready to go home. Some will miss the bus others are just slightly annoyed. So up river they go through a narrowing gorge. There are some really beautiful shots of the boat as they travel to respond. When they arrive up river to a remote marshland rain is coming in the form of booming clouds. The boat is hit by a crocodile and starts to sink but fast acting Kate beaches the boat on a mud island. Trapped and unable to get a radio signal the group falls into arguing over what to do. This is a classic setup, since the talk on the tour is of Saltwater crocs we quickly figure out that the island they beached on is going to sink under a rising tide. The establishing shots don't look like a tidal area but who am I to be judge.
  At this point a good script will raise the stakes and Writer/Director Greg McLean does just that. You have to have stakes and getting eaten by a crocodile is certainly that. The raised temperatures of the characters are suddenly stunted when Everett who was standing too close to the water is taken by a giant crocodile. There you have the threat and it is big and dangerous and hungry. When the locals Neil (Sam Worthington) and his mate Colin come and see the situation, it looks like a possible rescue. Unfortunately their boat is sunk by the crocodile adding Neil to the group but not Colin. I have always heard that the sound of an engine could attract alligators and crocodiles. This to me is all the more reason to give them their habitat and stay out. McLean has established the danger, upped the ante and now starts a ticking clock.

  When the tide starts rising Neil comes up with the plan of swimming a rope across to the main land then suspending it above the water for the group to cross. The scene is quiet and tense as everyone watches him swim across. Once the rope is secured Mary Ellen who insists she go first and who would deny her, her husband was just eaten, but she freezes on the rope about three quarters across. Allen watching from the wings decides that his daughter and he should go next against good judgement and even though Mary Ellen has not finished crossing. His impatient panic means too many people on the rope and sure enough he causes it to collapse into the water. The frantic swim of the three now in the water survivors back to the island is cover for the crocodile who swoops in to eat Neil on the far bank.  This group is running out of options and members as the crocodile keeps returning to his food source. What to do? Tensions between the survivors mount as the island shrinks under the tide. Attempting to trap the crocodile to give most survivors time to swim across seems like a plan baiting the crocodile the group readies for the attempt. Elizabeth can't swim so that is a problem but the mustache gentleman decides to help her. Kindness in the face of cruelty the plan remarkably works but we lose another of the group. It is a plan and Kate and Pete will execute it while everyone else makes the swim for the mainland. The plan actually works as the beast goes for the bait and the group makes the dash. Unfortunately Kate falls victim and now Pete is alone getting off the island by himself.

  Pete is behind the group and can't find them as he wanders around in the dark he loses the dog, Kevin and tramps around looking for it. This stumbling and bumbling is fortuitous in that the dog found Kate and thus so did he. The crocodile had taken her to be stored as a mail for later  in a cave like den. terrified and terrifying the scenes in the crocodile den are brutal to watch. Kate is alive but pretty chewed up and unconscious and the return of the crocodile means Pete has to do something and quick. He places her up on a ledge and tries to hide. Leave the sleeping crocodile lie is the old saying, well maybe not but when it rests Pete has his chance to get he and Kate away. So much tension as he creeps along trying to keep an eye out while carrying her.  It becomes a personal fight against the crocodile up close and personal. Sort of fun but also a bit unbelievable still this is what we knew would happen. Since Pete and Kate are final people they are destined to win this one but still its a lot of fun to get there. Director McLean is a good film maker and has started putting together a good stretch of pretty good films, two Wolf Creek films, The Belko Experiment (2016) and The Darkness (2016).  I liked this film and certainly recommend it.