Killer Crocodile

80s Italian horror knock-offs can usually be relied upon to provide a decent amount of gore and a fair smattering of gratuitous nudity in an effort to draw in the crowds, but Fabrizio De Angelis's Killer Crocodile, yet another belated Jaws rip-off, fails on both counts. Perhaps the effects budget didn't stretch far enough for both Gianetto Di Rossi's giant fibreglass croc AND bucket-loads of juicy splatter, but surely some aspiring starlets desperate for some screen-time could have been talked into getting their tops off for next to nothing...

Without much in the way of exploitative goodness on display, the gore limited to one mutilated corpse, a chewed off arm, and clouds of blood in the water whenever someone gets chomped, and the nudity non-existent, there's very little worthy of praise in this highly unoriginal and totally inept film. Bee Gee-alike Richard Anthony Crenna (son of Rambo's Col. Trautman) heads a miserable cast of virtual unknowns whose acting skill are so bad that they can't even fall in the water convincingly. Even Riz Ortalani, an accomplished composer usually capable of a decent tune, fails to impress, his score being a pale imitation of John Williams' theme from Jaws.

I rate Killer Crocodile 3.5 out of 10, rounded up to 4 for the croc's impressive demise: swallowing an outboard motor that liquefies its throat and causes its head to explode.

This Italian "Jaws" knock-off really only has one redeeming feature, so I might as well open with it: the croc is real! Well, not real real, but I mean that it isn't a cheap CGI effect like in "Blood Surf" or God forbid "Crocodile". The puppet they use can't really move well, but at least it's actually freakin' there. It even looks pretty scary from time to time, they really did an excellent job with such a limited budget. It's just too bad they couldn't use the model in a better movie, because all other aspects of "Killer Crocodile" are well below average. The characters are annoying, the dialogues are uninspired and the story developments are all lifted directly from "Jaws". They even bring in a blatant Quint rip-off just for those who don't catch on quickly. Hell, even the music is just John Williams' theme with one or two different notes to avoid a lawsuit. In the end there are no scares, no real memorable scenes and a pretty boring finale but like I said, the puppet's damn cool. It might be worth a watch just because of that, and also for the rare "so bad it's good" moment.

The Great Alligator (1979) was already done so Italy decided to give us Killer Crocodile. A massive crocodile is munching on everybody in the swamp that has been used to dump radioactive waste.

They rearrange a few notes to the Jaw's theme for the opening credits and then use the exact music later on. They duplicate a few classic scenes as well. Campy as hell. The crocodile they use looks alright until the mouth moves and the back of his mouth looks like its made of paper. Not very gory as the crocodile use takes his food to go.

Over acting is prominent in this one but stick it out for the end. The way they kill the creature is priceless. I'm not really giving away the ending because their is Killer Crocodile 2 which now I have watch. On a side note the guy who directs this was a producer for most of Fulci's films. I still have to see his Breakfast With Dracula (1993).

Like silly films about giant animals? Then Killer Crocodile is probably for you, it may not be a good film but it does better than it should. Environmentalists head into the swamp to investigate toxic waste dumping, but as well as waste they find a big green killing machine and he (or maybe she, its never specified) means business. A sizable chunk of the budget appears to have gone into the croc, which is a big, gnarly creation with massive jaws full of sharp teeth, its impressive enough that it almost excuses its overuse during earlier scenes. Suspense is sadly sapped in the first half by the fact that the croc rears its ugly head a bunch of times so it never accrues much sense of fear, but at least it looks cool. Still, we got great settings and committed acting to mull over as the film moves up through the gears, one great scene in the first half and a second half of solidly bumptious if occasionally inept cheeseball entertainment, with a few moments sure to give joy to daft movie lovers. As well as our environmentalist heroes, we have a shifty corporate waste dumper, a judge with something to hide and best of all, a Quint clone geared up to take down the nefarious beast. Also, the Riz Ortolani score is an amusingly blatant rip of the Jaws theme tune, never a bad thing in my book. Fabrizio de Angelis directs without much flair and there's at least one notable continuity screw up as well as the expected illogicality, but he at least handles some decent dashes of suspense and fun and nothing about the film takes itself too seriously. Anthony Crenna has the right kind of slightly naive youthful authority as the leader of the environmentalists, Wohrman Williams is slimy enough as the token evil corporate guy, while Van Johnson brings a dignified authenticity to the conflicted judge. Italian cult regular Ennio Girolami does best as Quint clone Joe though, a wryly amused, knowing sort of performance that comes off both hard-ass and self aware. Gianetto di Rossi's special effects work is less gory than his outings with Fulci and others, but there are one or two grisly bits and as mentioned, the croc is grand (and gets an awesome send off). There's not much more to say about this one really, its not great but has ample potential to amuse the more forgiving of dopey trash enthusiasts, and when it shines, it really shines. Taken for giggles, this is fairly worthwhile, but only if you groove to this sort of thing.

When a team of environmentalists go to a remote swamp somewhere in Central America they find that it has been polluted with radioactive chemicals. They also discover a huge crocodile which has been exposed to it as well as a corrupt politician who has allowed this pollution to happen. Anyway, so much for the plot which, while certainly not Academy Award winning material, has a couple of good things going for it all the same. First, it has some nice scenery-for a swamp at least. Likewise, I thought Sherrie Rose (as "Pamela") didn't hurt the scenery much either. To a lesser degree it featured an interesting crocodile which nobody would mistake for the real thing. On that note, although some might find this to be a liability I believe that if a person uses their imagination and has a sense of humor then they might actually appreciate the time and effort that went into it. Of course, that may be more difficult for some and I certainly wouldn't blame anybody who couldn't make allowances. Even so, to me the worst part of this movie was the clumsy dialogue. While I realize that it was filmed in Italian and dubbed in English it was still pretty awful all the same. And it really affected the overall quality of this movie. Anyway, to sum it all up this was clearly a grade-B movie which probably won't appeal to anybody other than those who enjoy cheesy rip-offs of films in this particular genre. That said, I rate it as slightly below average.