The Bayou

No pun intended - I still am not sure what the differences are when talking crocodiles and alligators. Does not matter for this movie of course. If you like horror movies ... well this may float your boat! Well it would be better if it did float their plane ... but then we wouldn't have the movie, now would we? More rhetorical question.

Cliches and CG (deaths) galore ... climb on board with this ride or let it be ... early on you should be able to tell if you want to watch it through ... the added scene at the end is a bit confusing ... not sure if this was done to hint a sequel or a legacy or whatever ... anyway, do not care too much about it. Characters are mostly forgettable too. Looks good overall though (especially for low budget)

The release year of The Bayou (2025) states that it was 2025. Ok, but why on earth is such a movie like this produced in this day-and-age? With an estimated budget of $5 million (unconfirmed) I doubt that they saw a return out of this move.

Madalena Aragão (Alice) reminded me of Kaya Scodelario in her looks, I had to do some searching on that, as it happens, Kaya was in the movie Crawl - Intrappolati (2019) which was about gators. Crawl was a better movie.

Anyway, overall The Bayou was just ok, but below average for a 2025 movie. Athena Strates (Kyle) didn't quiet convince me that she was a gator expert. Elisha Applebaum (Malika) worked her magic and totally convinced me to dislike her character, so well done there, Elisha.

Other actors trying to do their bit were Mohammed Mansaray (Sam) seemed to be confused whether he had to be the comedic relief or a wanna be hero. The crazed pilot, Frank (Andonis Anthony), was not convincing at being a leader. Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong (Dom) was probably the hero, or close to one.

Overall, the effects were not too bad, the story and acting are what you would expect from the B movie. Would I recommend this? A few beers or wine and it is a yes.

After suffering through Skinamarink, one of the most boring horror films I have ever seen, I needed to cleanse my palate, so to speak. The Bayou fits the bill perfectly - it's a cheap and cheerful creature feature with absolutely no pretensions. It does exactly what it says on the tin and is actually better than I expected, with above average CGI for this kind of thing, a smattering of gore and reasonable performances.

Athena Strates plays Kyle, who flies to the everglades with her friends to scatter the ashes of her older brother Jamie (Flynn Barnard). Disaster strikes when the plane experiences engine trouble and ditches in the middle of a swamp, where the alligator population has turned super-aggressive due to the powerful narcotic that was dumped in the water during a raid on an illegal drug factory.

The film obviously won't win any awards for originality, but it's not trying to - it knows exactly what is required of it, moving swiftly along, delivering a few jump scares and a fair bit of suspense. And it doesn't scrimp on the gator action: there's numerous ravenous reptiles, both practical and computer generated, and they put quite a few similarly themed films to shame.

6/10. Worth a go if it's a brainless, no-nonsense bit of fun you're after.

It's a shame, really, because the acting, cinematography, and score are all fine for a Horror movie. But the script and the directing are terrible. The best actors on the planet couldn't make these character interactions make sense. They wouldn't be able to make the dialog work either.

There's nothing original in the script. It literally sounds like it was cobbled together by AI, from other movies.

I feel bad for the actors... they clearly were invested in doing their best.

Maybe it was made to be a tax write-off. I'm just rambling now because a certain number of characters (letters) is required.

I put this movie on last night not expecting much but it is so much better than I expected.

I thought it would be on par with a lot of Asylum films but this is way better.

The CGI is pretty good, the acting is also pretty good. Sure there's the expected a'hole characters and silly sacrifices but all in all it's a fun movie.

What's not to like? People and alligators in the bayou.

I don't know why other people have given it such rubbish reviews, glad I didn't read them before I watched it.

I went in expecting rubbish and was pleasantly surprised.

Why not give it a go.

If you like creature features, this is the movie for you.