Review of Alligator (1980) by J.d. N — 09 Apr 2010

Jaws remains still the grandest of the rogue-animal-eats-half-the-cast movies, but its legacy is present in a number of ways. Not only did it create the trend for big-budget blockbusters in the summer, but it spawned a wave of movies with the same premise: giant/mutated/pissed-off animals attack people with often gory results. Most were ridiculous aquatic knockoffs (Orca, Piranha) and some were terrestrial knockoffs (Grizzly, Day of the Animals); the trend continues even today (Deep Blue Sea, Anaconda, Lake Placid). But out of all of these imitations, one stands above the others because it is a serious movie that does not take itself too seriously (okay, Lake Placid is a dark comedy rather than a horror). Alligator, appropriately named, plays off the superstition that baby alligators flushed down the toilet grow and manifest into behemoths in the sewers, feasting on giant rats or, in this case, mutant dog corpses. Soon, human body parts begin to turn up and Detective Madison (Robert Forster, ably channeling Roy Scheider's chief in Jaws) investigates. He soon learns firsthand that the culprit is a 36-foot-long gator (named Ramon). He tries to kill the gator, but is undermined by the mayor, the head of the company responsible for the dogs, and a 'great white hunter' (Henry Silva in a sleazy role). Madison teams up with Marisa Kendall (Robin Riker), the leading herpetologist (and ironically enough, the young girl whose gator would become Ramon) to stop the gator's killing spree. The reason Alligator prevails where others fail? It is full of tongue-in-cheek camp that is just as humorous as it is suspenseful. The gator itself is a mix between prop and live gator, and just like Jaws, it adds to the feel. All-in-all, a good flick to watch if you are in the mood for a dark comedy/animal chomp-'em-up flick.

My rating: B+ / 4 stars.