Crocodile
USA 2000. Director: Tobe Hooper
Cast: Mark McLauchlin, Caitlin Martin, Chris Solari
On the
edition I saw there was no information on the video-jacket whatsoever
that the film is from Tobe Hooper - "the director of Texas Chainsaw
Massacre". No wonder. I guess Mr. Hooper has disappointed us
so many times in recent years that the mere mention of his name now
has the opposite effect. Instead of drawing attention it now makes people
stay well clear from any movie bearing his signature. Which is almost
too bad, since with Crocodile he has at last managed to make
a movie that's not embarrasing. In fact, taken for what it is, it's
even a little fun.
A bunch of goodlooking school-kids are on vacation in the swamp, gets drunk, laid and eaten by a big ugly crocodile owned by two funny rednecks with tousled haircuts and loaded guns under their pillows. Lots of screaming half-naked babes running through the woods (an awfully lot, actually) and plenty of blood, guts and gore. Some guy is swallowed whole and spitten out alive and well. Hooper has clearly been on a roll and I assume the film is a throwback to his roots in some strange (and if so not very convincing) way. A trip back home to the deep southern swamps, with some small nods to his first two movies. Especially, I imagine, Death Trap (aka Eaten Alive), which was about some deranged hotel-owner who fed his crocodile with his guests. Crocodile is equally filled with those scary characters, hillbilly freaks, narrow-minded sheriffs and morbid humour. It may all be routine stuff (and done much better recently in the similar Lake Placid), but for a Tobe Hooper film that's a step up. A little step, but a step nevertheless. And there's a sequel too.
© The Inzomniac's Movie Madness Review.