Killer Crocodile (1989)

For an Italian film about a killer crocodile, KILLER CROCODILE is about as much fun as you could want it to be. Sure, all of the clichés are there and its as indebted to JAWS as one might expect, but a fun cast, good effects, and not-bad direction from prolific Italian producer and former Fulci cohort Fabrizio De Angelis make for one enjoyable viewing experience. The only downside I can see to this film - aside from the unoriginality of the plot, which in turn appears to have been swiped by Hollywood for ANACONDA - is that some scenes involving people journeying to and fro on a boat seem to have been included merely as padding, and thus do drag a little.The film begins in classic fashion with two old guys in a boat at night being attacked by a sudden cheesy crocodile head. The film begins for real with a point-of-view shot of SOMETHING swimming through the Amazonian rivers on the look out for prey, whilst music which sounds VERY similar to the suspenseful music in JAWS plays in the background. Hilariously, the crocodile is played as a slasher in this movie, a Michael Myers imitation with lots of P.O.V. shots, appearances of claws, and heavy BREATHING sounding when its around! How can a crocodile be heard to breathe in air when it's underwater? I guess nobody thought of that.A typical bunch of attractive but bland Italian teenagers/twentysomethings are investigating somebody dumping radioactive waste into the river which leads to a conspiracy angle in the film, as the only authority in charge (played by Van Johnson of all people) is in on the scheme and wants everything hushed up. When one of the party goes missing, one guy says "This swamp's no amusement park". From this point on, extras get killed in gory fashions, people hunt the crocodile, attempt to kill it and fail, and finally there's a big battle between man and beast which ends as one might expect. The B-movie casting is adequate, with a majority of unknown faces with one or two older, familiar faces in supporting roles, in this case they are Van Johnson (one time Hollywood star relegated to supporting roles in Italian B-movies like so many) and Thomas Moore, aka Ennio Girolami, or Enzo G. Castellari's brother. Moore has a fun part as an old-fashioned game hunter and genuinely seems to be enjoying himself in the role, so the viewer can too.KILLER CROCODILE doesn't skimp on the gore effects either, thanks to the presence of ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS veteran Giannetto De Rossi in the crew. Highlights include a mouldering corpse popping out of the water and later being examined in detail, a man chewed in the jaws of the croc, another man being torn through a pier and a graphic arm-ripping which will delight gorehounds everywhere. De Rossi also created the cumbersome crocodile itself; it may not be much of an improvement on the dragons in peplum epics like THE LOVES OF HERCULES made thirty years earlier, but ignore the lack of realism and instead admire the artistry gone into creating the menace.Being a cheap Italian production made in the late '80s, when the industry had pretty much disappeared, there is certain unintentional humour to be had from the film. One such scene has Moore "riding" the back of the crocodile, only to disappear presumed dead as blood bubbles up in the water! Later on, a slow-mo flying hat signals that Moore has returned, covered in blood, to watch the finale and lend support from the sideline! Speaking of which, the cheesily over-the-top death for the crocodile involves a boat's propeller being thrown into its mouth, which causes it to explode (?), but not after spraying tons of blood everywhere very graphically! You'll also get leech attacks, explosions, and a twist ending which rips off CONTAMINATION for your money's worth. KILLER CROCODILE: only a moderately successful horror film, but one with a high entertainment value.

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.

After sitting through not one, but TWO crappy recent killer-crocodile flicks ("Crocodile" and "Blood Surf"), where the digitized croc looked like a four-year-old kid had painted him onto the film, I was hoping that "Killer Crocodile" would be a refreshingly old-school monster pic, with a refreshingly old-school, well-made mechanical monster. Alas, the croc in this movie may be mechanical, but it's not well-made. It's lifeless and stodgy. And it growls. "Killer Crocodile" would like to be an Italian "Jaws" (there is even a character here who's a BLATANT knock-off of the Robert Shaw character), but there's none of that film's artistry on display here. The other characters are a bunch of nobodies, and it takes them about half the movie to decide that, yes, although this croc may be a rare species, they do have to kill it before they become its next meal. I mean, ecological conscience is a fine thing, but it has its limits. (*1/2)

The cast is unknown the director is unknown and the movie is unknown, but that dont keep it from being funny. I found this movie a couple of years ago in a shop with strange movies and other stuff in Sweden.The cover of the movie warned about strong scenes and much gore,so I bought it. I sat down to watch it,only to find out that this movie was so badly made that it was funny. Hahahahah