Don't Knock Twice (2016) Horror Demon

Don't Knock Twice (2016) - Oh what a twisty tale we tell of the supernatural work interacting with the real world.  Jess (Katee Sackoff) is an artist who in the past did not take care of Chloe. She was a addicted artist who was not keeping her life together. Chloe (Lucy Boynton) is now a teen / young adult who is not so sure she wants to come home and have a relationship. There is a lot of interpersonal development in the first forty five minutes of this film. We learn about Jess and her early life as a partying artist, her rough relationship with her husband Ben (Richard Mylan) a banker who spends way too much time away from home. Now that Jess who has become a successful artist wants to bring Chloe back home and get to know her again.  We see her working and she seems to be a good artist. Jess receives an eye amulet from a model Tira (Pooneh Majimohammadi) who is posing for her.  Seems like it is given to protect her so I guessed it was going to come into play later.  We explore every detail of Chloe and Jess's relationship through out the film in reams of exposition that eventually gets us to the two caring about each other?  will the mother who abandoned her daughter be able to save her from the witch who knocks twice.
  Now how Chloe gets back to Jess is where we get some of the story that is supernatural. She and her friend Danny talk about a local witch who steals children. You can go to her house and knock on the door twice and the witch will come and get you. It will knock on your door twice before it takes you.    Unexplained is why Chloe on the dare knocks on that door of that witch even though she knows about a disappearance. Danny her boyfriend does it also and then gives her a good scare.   We see the witch in action because Danny was the first to knock on screen.  Drifting rotating camera as we move to Danny's apartment. He is woken from sleep frightened. Two knocks at his door, he goes slowly to the door and looks through the peephole at an empty hall then the lights go out. The far end the light goes on and there is a female shape "Danny" She is coming for him. He is afraid but lights and then a call on his computer its Chloe. When she steps away from the computer he is raised in the air by a mysterious force. Hurt and dragged through the open door behind him. She returns and he is not there, but a flash of some kind of gruesome face scares her before it too disappears.
She now can't get in touch with him.
  After establishing that the supernatural is real we eventually get to the story behind it. Chloe finds a myth Baba Yaga to explain what is going on.  "Evil hag, Dark Mother, she is the most evil kind of demon. she opens a doorway between hell and the world of men so she can devour the innocent. The demon's power are limited so she needs the help of a human slave or a cursed soul to do her bidding here on earth. you can tell who the human slave is because the demon marks them." (Just so happens to be the pendent Jess is wearing.) When you knock the 1st knock raises the demon the second summons the human slave. And the only way the human slave can be free of the demon is if they kill themselves, or if they trick someone else into replacing them by forcing them to do something truly evil. Tira, who gave her the amulet meets Chloe and is immediately anxious  and wants to leave.  "Be Careful Jess. You can't help her. She belongs to someone else, there is a darkness around her. Trust me Jess I know about these things. She's marked by something terrible."  Again the exposition to get to this place is really long and a bit tedious.
  Danny is missing so detective Boardman (Nick Moran) comes around to see if Chloe is okay.  Danny and Chloe were at the children's home with another boy Michael Flowers who went missing. They got it into there then 9 yr old heads that it was the red headed old lady Mary Aminov and went to her house night after night knocking on her door. The old lady couldn't take it anymore and killed herself. He does not believe it and thinks Danny and Chloe had something to do with that. Now he does not believe her about Danny.  The way he interacts with the women it sheds doubt on the sanity of Chloe making it harder for Jess to buy into the supernatural aspects of her story.
The detective is outside staring at the old house by the highway where Mary once lived so it the slave the detective or Jess. Jess could be the red herring in this one. They back this red herring up with scenes that make Jess doubt Chloe and her story before the two women start having shared eerie experiences. This certainly changes the tone of the film.
 Scary scene where lights go out, Jess outside at the time and Chloe is alone in the house. after locking the door behind her she finds it open but when she goes to enter some force pushes the door against her. Chloe looking around the house while Jess with a large knife is stalking the house for strangers. "Run" Chloe hears the whisper. Mary passes in the background. Neither Mom or daughter hear each other. Lights on and off let us know ghosts are about. Hiding in the bedroom the demon leaves the clothes cabinet to get Chloe. Jess saves her at the last minute pushing through the door. Lights suddenly On. Jess says there is no one in there. They take all the doors out of the house and burn them which seem a reasonable response to an actual haunting where the being knocks on the door.
As the supernatural events expand and the women share them they go to Tira for help about it and she suggests  Mary was accused of a crime she did not commit, and was driven to suicide. Chloe helped spread that lie and now Mary wants revenge. Clear Mary's name and the curse may end. Chloe runs from this encounter. Jess calls the cop for info, With Mother's intuition to guide her she seeks the truth. At her studio she finds a box inside is Michael Flowers posters a profile of Mary and the interrogation of Mary on a memory stick. The cop is being super hard on her accusing her of the disappearance. So is he the bad guy?
  The film is a bit of a twisty twist and so not to give away the ending we should stop talking about the rest of the plot in detail. The women seek a way to save Chloe from the demon but there is a big and strange climax that leaves the viewer scratching his head. When all is said and done we have a resolution but it is not what the film seemed to be moving towards. Now I would normally really like that but in this case it was so exposition heavy to get to that point that I don't think it worked as well for me as it should. The ending which leaves more questions than answers was not as satisfying as I wished.  Then there were the weird things like Jess oddly appearing before the board of people at the group home to discuss what happens next as far as her daughter staying with her. The odds were already against that but the interpersonal dynamics are driven repeatedly home by Writers Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler. Director Caradog W. James does a decent job with a complicated script. He manages the shot well and the scares have some tension in them.  I wish I liked the film more but it is not bad. More it is one of those films that just hits on some cylinders but not all.

The Banana Splits Movie (2019) Horror Evil Robots

The Banana Splits Movie (2019) - Being a child in the late sixties, early seventies I remember the Banana Splits variety show fondly. Fleegle the beagle dog, Bingo the ape, Drooper the Lion, and Snorky the elephant were a regular part of my childhood viewing. It was a variety show based a bit in structure like the show Rowan and Martin's Laugh In. The guys in animal suits who were musicians in a pop band by the same name also introduced different cartoon and live action segments. My favorite as I remember it was Danger Island. It was all good childhood fun as far as I was concerned. Designed by the famous Sid and Marty Krofft the costumes were similar to those I saw on another kids show, H.R. PufnStuf. The Banana Splits was fast paced and filled with commercials, the primary sponsor was Kelloggs cereal I am sure it did not muddle my brain too much. When I heard there was going to be a movie based on the show and that it was a horror movie I was thrilled. The Banana Splits costumes could be seen as a bit creepy, in fact a lot of what the Kroffts did was a bit "far out" (as we said in the 70s). So the idea of a horror movie featuring the quartet is not so unbelievable.
  In the film set in modern time is a world where the Banana Splits is still a show being aired on television, since 1969 and is still a popular show with kids. Harley (Finlay Wojtak-Hissong) is a kids who loves them and loves Snorky the best of all. He may be a bit old for the show but has yet to grow out of it. An isolated kid who is fatherless after a death he does not have many friends. The show seems to be his life. His family is dysfunctional, with his Mom Beth (Dani Kind) who has had a 11 year relationship with Mitch (Steve Lund) he is a bit of an ass if you ask me. Not really bought into the idea of somebody else's children as his even after more than a decade. She chose a safe route after her husband died and will regret it soon enough. The nineteen year old Austin (Romero Carere) is her other child who has a good heart but sees right through Mitch. For Harley's birthday the family goes to see a Banana Splits live taping and that is the setup to where things go horribly wrong.
  Unlike the real show in this reality the Banana Splits characters are not men in suits but instead complex robots who perform the show. We see early on that a failed software update in Drooper leads to him having little red lights in his eyes. This can only mean evil right?  The software command when they turned that color was "The Show Must Go On!" which also gives an indication as what it to follow. Added to the mix is the character Stevie a human adult who sort of plays the foil for the robots. He hates his job and when he learns that the show is being cancelled he seems elated. After setting up some stuff about getting backstage to meet the robots and introducing the peripheral characters, um victims we move into what is essentially a slasher film. 
  When the computer virus spreads to all the robots it is just a bit of time before the show ends and it is time for the meet and greet you start to get the idea that those in that group are going to be in some trouble. The slashing and smashing starts behind the scenes with isolated characters getting offed by the robots. The character driven story features Harley and his family it is shaped just enough to get you through the slasher movie. It all works for what it is, but possible it could have been possible to get a bit more humor into the script. Its a tough line though between the tension of a slasher and trying to hit the comedic notes that the show would bring into play. There is some pretty decent special effects including decapitation, characters being run over, cut in half etc. It all culminates with the defective robot making the show go on in the most deadly way. Beth works hard to protect her children and end the killing learning that although she can't save everyone she can use her agency in the time of crisis.
  I don't want to say to much more since this is sort of a fun feature especially for anyone one who loved the original show. It is amazing how creepy those big suits are when they are just a little bit aggressive. Writers Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas hit a lot of great notes balancing the slasher aspects of the film with the family melodrama. Both writers have an imdb pages full of children's and preteen writing gigs and I love the idea that they had these dark thoughts about what was a wholesome, cereal selling cartoonish characters. The Director Darnishka Esterhazy really gets the tension in a slasher and keeps the pacing solid throughout the film. So viewers young and old will probably enjoy this film and I certainly recommend it.

Gutterballs (2008) Horror Rape Revenge Slasher

Gutterballs (2008)  Sometimes the writing and ideas of a film are so vile that the writer/ Director's attitude has to be questioned. When the direction is sadistic, voyeuristic, misogynistic and sexually violent you have to wonder about the creator's mindset. This is a nasty film with horribly foul ideas in it, great special effects and gore but is so mean spirited that it is hard to watch. Every conversation is presented as angry, confrontational and full of swearing making almost every character unlikable. The direction of the rape and then kill scenes are unflinching but also really the male gaze and shot from the point of view of the rapist and the killer, the victims after thoughts, things to be harmed but empathized with. Shots lingering on the rapists enjoyment of their vile acts as opposed to the horror of the victim. This film challenges the viewer not to shut it off without finishing it.  The film starts with two groups of young adults meeting at a bowling alley for an after hours competition. The two groups really don't like each other and are verbally hostel to each other.
  The Writer / Director Ryan Nicholson says in an extra features interview " ...I wanted people to hate these characters. I wanted the characters to be really over the top, cartoony characters. It's not a realistic portrayal of human interaction but Gutterballs is a cartoon for adults essentially."  He is correct in what he says he wanted to do with this script because it is exactly what the viewer gets. He goes on to say he is a big fan of slasher movies and tried to create a killer that appeared as a unique reusable icon. when talking about the rape scene he says it is "...very reminiscent of "I Spit on your Grave", "House (sic)at the Edge the Park", movies that generally be called and exploitation film rather than a horror movie but we set the rape in there as the catalyst for the violence that we have to create, and it is a lengthy scene.  It is a gang rape but some people accuse me of being a misogynist and that I like doing this and I get my jollies off on this sort of stuff, which is completely false. I don't want to candy coat the rape scene I wanted to shoot it as how an actual gang rape would occur and that is what Plotdigger films is known for, shooting some pretty extreme stuff and I certainly didn't want to back down from that subject matter. So you know for those who think that I like shooting this kind of stuff, it's not fun. It is very difficult to shoot rape scenes and scenes of sexual violence, but for me it is very important to have the audience react with disgust and be appalled..." So he is correct the rape and sexual violence is appalling and hard to watch. I definitively repulsed so he got the reaction that was intended.
Set in the 80s there are two distinct groups four young men, Steve (Alastair Gamble) a super angry person who shouts his swearing intimidation continuously at all around him leads the izod wearing, popped collar group he with AJ (Nathan Dashwood), Joey (Wade Gibb) and Patrick (Trever Gemma) are the antagonist group.. The other group more of a John Hughes collection of misfits with goofy hats and button filled coats look like the just got back from a New Wave club. When the groups get into a fight before bowling the old guy that let them use the bowling alley kicks them out. This second group having injured Steve's foot leave the place but Lisa (Candice Lewald) forgot her purse and has to sneak back in side to get it.  The four men still angry from the fight and the fact that somewhere in their past Lisa chose Jamie (Nathan Witte) over Steve for prom of something, he takes that rejection and the anger over his injury and decides to violently rape Lisa. Joey and AJ hold her while Steve rapes her, only Patrick seems horrified by their actions but even he ends up participating in a vile way leaving no like-ability for this group. Now although Nicholson explains what he was trying to do and was successful in getting the audience reaction there is still room for calling this misogynistic, just the rape by itself does the job in getting the reaction but adding in the bowling influence sexual violence seems to take it a step too far. Maybe a better approach would be to do the least amount of this kind of violence to get the reaction. Nicholson seems to think you have to do the most foul thing for that reaction even though the added violence is not necessary. Hiding behind  the film company and its reputation for extreme violence feels like an excuse to do the most shocking things possible and the audience interpreting them as anti women is justified whether or not the intent was to present it that way. The rape scene not only is horrifying but is shot to highlight the sadistic pleasure the rapist are experiencing and that is 100% a choice made by the director. Even after this the two groups who obviously hate each other but for some reason still want to bowl against each other meet the next day the film is setup for the slasher we have been promised.

  This is a rape revenge film disguised as a slasher so when the killer BBK (Bowling Bag Killer because he wears a bowling bag on his head) starts taking out the people in the bowling alley you wonder why Lisa's group are victims of the carnage. It is explained as the film climaxes if you can hang in that long. I found that the creativity of some of the kills was enough to keep me engaged although I had a hard time listening to these unlikable characters spew their antagonistic lines at each other. Again the director got what he wanted I hated these characters.
  The kills range from creatively cruel to nasty and over sexualized (considering the subject matter the revenge being sexualized makes sense on some level. Still there is a sexualization in characters interactions that is completely male gaze centered.) Death by 69 quite graphic almost in a porn kind of way, bowling pin violence, anti-transexual body mutation, kills using machinery, bowling ball and pin kills aplenty all gruesomely done with really gory special effects make that part something to see for you gore hounds out there. The logistics of people walking away from the bowling match do not make a ton of sense but it isolates people so the killer can do his deeds. When the turn comes we have Jamie and Sarah (Mihola Terzic) from the John Hughes group and Angry Steve still at the lanes, so this big bowling challenge really is secondary to the kills. Like is classic slasher form the survivors find all the gory remains of their friends and enemies in bits and pieces. The turn made a lot of killer logistics more feasible and the climax was twisty in its presentation making this film a bit more tolerable. Still the fact that Sarah as a character  had really little to do during the film and then is somewhat thrust into the role of final girl did not totally track for me.
  Overall I can't say this is a film I would revisit, that is true for a lot of exploitative horror, once is enough. It is particularly nasty and gruesome creative but in a really sadistic way. I can't say I would recommend this to a general audience, but if you are a depraved gore fiend who likes extreme kills and pretty amazing practical effects this might just be your groove. Although the Director states his intention in the making of  video and seems to execute that vision with a lot of success I found the meanness of the film and it's lack of any kind of humor to be a bit too much to want to see it again. So you have been warned.

Crocodile And Alligator Other Movies!

Hello, so many of these genre films were watched but did not get the full commentary, either because my interest waned ot they were so bad I did not want to think about them anymore. Some were just not all about the croc or gator like Eaten Alive, it is more about the PTSD of a Vietnam soldier in  East Texas losing his shit. So instead I will add them in this post to finish out the deep dive into  the Alligator / Crocodile subgenre.

The Hatching (2016)   What to say about this odd bird? Played with a comic undertones it is the story of what happened to a couple crocodile eggs stolen from a zoo years before. Tim, Nick and Baghi are preteen when they break into the zoo and steel Nile Crocodile eggs. When the alarm goes off there is running and confusion. Nick unfortunately runs into the crocodile enclosure and is eaten. Traumatized Tim leaves the village of Somerset and does not come back until his father dies leaving him the stone quarry business. The crocodiles born from those eggs are secretly raised and the story picks up as they start attacking the locals. It is a really quirky film that does not want to settle in tone. Not scary with what looks like a big rubber crocodile and not funny enough when they play for a laugh. The short scenes interwoven to hide the big turn about who is caring for the crocodile and their dangerous nature (the humans not the crocodile) fall flat in that it flattens the pacing.

Freshwater (2016)  This came out the same year as The Hatching and takes a much more ridiculous approach to the Crocodile genre. Where a group of twenty somethings at a lake house are terrorized by a large albino crocodile. It plays poorly with such stereotypical roles for the victims and really stupid decision making. Sure I think it is going for Camp but it doesn't really ever hit it. Instead you end up with a bad guy aiding the crocodile, Like the Hatching the human are more dangerous than the animal. This one really did not do it for me the mix of serial killer and crocodile was just too much.

Eaten Alive (1976) Judd (Neville Brand) is just a redneck veteran with a pet crocodile trying to make a living with his run down East Texas motel. When things get a bit tense his PTSD kicks in and he begins making violent decisions that he can't come back from. With a great cast including Mel Ferrer, Robert Englund, Marilyn Burns and Carolyn Jones this is a really great film directed by Tobe Hooper just two years after "A Texas Chainsaw Massacre". This one is certainly worth a watch. It probably should have its own review but where the crocodile is secondary in the film and really it is Brand's Tour de Force perfomance that carries the film it will have to wait for another time.

The Alligator People (1959) - A story set in the bayous of Louisiana where a recently married pilot who after a crash has his injuries cured by a scientist by using alligator DNA. Sort of a mystery where he leaves his wife when something goes horribly wrong with his treatment. She seeks him out finding him at his LA mansion with his mother and the scientist. Throw in an over the top performance by Lon Chaney Jr. as a drunken swamp resident with a hate for alligators and you have a crazy little film. Definitely in the 50's schlock monster film genre this is a fun little change from a lot of the serious being hunted by... films I have been watching.

Dark Age (1987) Horror Crocodile

Dark Age (1987) - Stretching back into the ozploitation era we have this entry about a very large crocodile who gets a taste for human blood. The best and worst Australian stereotypes are on display with outback crocodile poachers who do everything possible to be unlikable.  John Besser (Max Phipps) has a strong dislike for crocodiles when not poaching them for cash he will likely be found by the river with his mates drinking beer and shooting things. He is a great bad guy in this film, a menace who doesn't like aboriginal people, crocodile lore or any government agency like a park ranger. The film could have been more interesting if they had spent more time on this angry, unruly and generally mean individual building him into an antagonist he deserves to be. Unfortunately he is a secondary character. This film is all about the Crocodile, a large but stealthy beast who appears and feasts on humans before they know it is coming.
  In contrast to them is Steve Harris (John Jarrett) an upstanding park ranger watching out for the crocodiles and more likely to trap and move a man eater than he is to kill it. So for the 80's the message of a eco-friendly park ranger is good work. Contrasting against the Besser character is genius and really make this film stand out as a eco-friendly film.  When this giant of a crocodile starts feeding on people in the river Steve patrols he is keen to try to capture it and move it to a sanctuary with the help of Oonadabund (Burnam Burnam) and Adjaral (David Gulpilil). The political ramifications abound where district managers just want the harm to stop. He does not care if the animal is killed or moved. Steve sees it different he knows if there is a crocodile hunt dozens of crocodiles will be killed in pursuit of the killer. He is a good guy who talks and takes advice from the local aboriginal tribe. Those tribes see the crocodile as a God and this gets expressed through their interaction with Steve. They see the giant crocodile as a sacred beast and he respects that. (Not a bad message, respecting the native people) One who protects them his people as long as the proper respect is observed.
  There is a lot to like in this film but mostly the very sudden attacks are frightening. There is a great building of suspense in the attacks and as I image a sudden ferocity. The Cinematography is very good with a wide variety of shots with differing angles and lighting that enhances the viewing. Overall this is a great entry and a lot of fun to watch.
  

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.

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.