Bad CGI Gator

The makers of this movie clearly didn't have enough of a budget to make a convincing monster. But when it's a monster movie, that's kind of a problem. Even if they might have successfully hidden the bad special effects or pooh-poohed it away once or twice, that still wouldn't have been enough. So the film makers just embraced it and wrote the plot of the entire movie around it. You see, this isn't just a poorly constructed monster, it's a tiny alligator that experienced a bunch of short-circuiting school laptops and becomes... Bad CGI Gator. So the CGI is bad, the plot is winking at you bad, and the characters are bad and irredeemably stupid. That's not to say that the acting is bad. The actors do a good job of making characters who are over the top idiots, even for a horror movie, seem realistic. There's a guy who calls himself an alpha male who is just a weak bully, a woman who makes the most bland social media content (and tahini dip) ever, a couple that is sex crazed but not in a healthy way, a stereotypical nerd who acts like a creep and kind of wants to see most everyone die, and the sort-of good girl who thinks that a guy being creepy is flattering and could have saved someone from the gator but is so self-absorbed that she keeps forgetting that the other person even exists. Face it, all of these characters are bad people. There are just a few who are less bad than the others. And that -- and the ridiculousness of a gator who defies reality -- is what makes the film entertaining.

12th opus in Danny Draven´s directing career, filled with naive irony and parody/self-parody as the typically misguided B-movie spoof is, but instead of falling face first into the routinary trappings of "self-aware" comedies (that are everything but that) this one creates a schizophrenic and bland pseudo-satire of the genre with more formal considerations than usual, less malicious than Brett Kelly with his sardonic sharks, but still delivering blows to every stereotype, convention and trope of the genre. In the end, this is still a satire that lacks focus and a concrete objective that can give it a sense.

Featuring goofy and telegraphed comedy that comes out of a decidedly malnourished and elemental script done with intentional simplicity, with the nauseatingly stereotypical characters that parody the ones from the industrial horror movie formula. You can trace back the evolution of the subgenre as far back as the italian Jaws rip off Killer Crocodile (1989) with it´s lethargic anti-adventure, going through Lake Placid (1999) with winks that demolished the fourth wall and a comedic tone, but perhaps the heaviest influence is Tobe Hooper´s schlock flick Crocodile (2000), taking the concept of giving the main killer animal a richer personality than it´s human leads, while expanding upon the genre game Hooper played with by exaggerating the defects of the way of representing the animal on screen, stretching it's inverisimilitude to cartoonish levels. If Tobe made his Crocodile crash through walls then Draven made his Gator ring the doorbell. The film is filled with touches like these, such as when the Gator levitates via his special effects superpowers and eats a jock. Images that undoubtedly tickled the fancy of a master of surreal fantasy like Charles Band.

Speaking of Band, this movie finally goes after the overabundance of CGI in mainstream cinema (and why not, in productions by competing low budget companies too) he often complains about. However, it comes off as half baked, every solid attempt at creativity is dulled by a wonky pace and an off beat tone. It only slightly uses irony to satirize the state of popular cinema but one could argue that Asylum and other companies with their outlandish mockbusters are already Hollywood's biggest parody makers, making Bad CGI Gator a graceless deviation in the Full Moon catalog.

I like to consider myself a connoisseur of low budget horror. It's a fine line to walk-- there are films that know their premise is bad, so the cast and crew don't try; there are others that try too hard to be more than what they're capable of being and end up being boring. There are very few "bad" horror movies where you can tell that everyone involved is truly enjoying themselves-- and that enjoyment elevates the film to something that you truly, unironically enjoy as well.

I've been anxiously awaiting Bad CGI Gator for a month, as it was coming out on my birthday, and it did not disappoint. The low budget did not stop the camera crew from doing a very professional job, and the acting was superb for a comic horror film; although I doubt we'll see any of these actors in the future, I'd be very happy if we did see their careers advance.

The script is charmingly mocking of Gen Z culture, in a way that makes it clear that actual Gen Z people were involved in writing it.

And the gator, oh, the gator! If you came to this review to hear about the eponymous gator, I promise it won't disappoint. There's an in-universe reason the gator is bad CGI, and I promise that the creature's descent from the roof will fulfill every promise the film's name offers.

If none of this compels you, the short run time at worst means it's worth giving it a try, and if you're like me, you'll be left wanting more.

I am a massive fan of a 'B' movie and love finding 'Gems' within the masses released every week.

The acting is on par with most other movies of this kind but the short run time kinda made it feel like the movie ended as it just got started.

Couple of scenes give you a few laughs and the 30+ cast playing teenagers made this have a true 'B' movie feel.

Do I regret watching it? No

Would I watch it again? No

Was the CGI Bad? So bad it was amazing!

Would I watch a sequel? Definitely

Unfortunately this wasn't the 'Gem' I was looking for and only gets the 4 stars, with an extra 20 minutes run time I would have pushed to 5 stars.

Overall it's crap - but in a good way.

It's only an hour so what have you got to loose by giving it a go.

Thanks for reading... Bandit.

Of course with a title such as "Bad CGI Gator", then this movie was without a doubt a movie that I just had to sit down and watch. And when I saw that it was Full Moon Features that made the movie, my expectations went from none to some. Needless to say that I had never heard about the movie, prior to stumbling upon it by random chance.

The storyline is pretty straightforward, if not actually rather generic, for a movie about young people at a lakeside resort where a killer alligator is prowling. The movie never does take itself overly serious, so writer Zalman Band did actually put together a script and storyline that proved to be making fun of itself and being super cheesy, and that made it all the more fun to watch.

I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, and that is something I enjoy when I sit down to watch a movie. And I will say that they had a good cast ensemble, despite the fact that I didn't like most of the characters at all. But they performed quite well in bringing the characters to life on the screen.

The majority of the character gallery in "Bad CGI Gator" is really horrible, but I mean that in a good way. I am sure that writer Zalman Band did that on purpose; making the characters into caricatures of today's youth, with their pathetic addiction to social media and mobile phones, and the way they talk and act. The only two non-annoying characters in the movie was Sam (played by Michael Bonini) and Hope (played by Maddie Lane). So thumbs up to Zalman Band for that accomplishment.

Just as the majority of the characters were insanely annoying, as was their dialogue. No surprise there. But again, thumbs up to writer Zalman Band for that accomplishment.

You get to see a lot of things that you never have seen before, nor thought you would ever get to see, such as an alligator instantaneously grow in size because it gets electrocuted, a flying alligator, an alligator swallowing a grown adult in on gulp, an alligator burping.

The title of the movie delivers exactly what it promises, because the CGI animated alligator looks bad. But it is so bad that it is campy, fun and goofy to look at. And you can't help but laugh at how bad it actually looks.

"Bad CGI Gator" is a movie that is campy and cheesy enough to actually make for a fun viewing. However, you're not in for anything grand here. Nor is it a movie that warrants more than just a single viewing.

My rating of director Danny Draven's 2023 movie "Bad CGI Gator" lands on a five out of ten stars.