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.