Killer Crocodile

80s Italian horror knock-offs can usually be relied upon to provide a decent amount of gore and a fair smattering of gratuitous nudity in an effort to draw in the crowds, but Fabrizio De Angelis's Killer Crocodile, yet another belated Jaws rip-off, fails on both counts. Perhaps the effects budget didn't stretch far enough for both Gianetto Di Rossi's giant fibreglass croc AND bucket-loads of juicy splatter, but surely some aspiring starlets desperate for some screen-time could have been talked into getting their tops off for next to nothing...

Without much in the way of exploitative goodness on display, the gore limited to one mutilated corpse, a chewed off arm, and clouds of blood in the water whenever someone gets chomped, and the nudity non-existent, there's very little worthy of praise in this highly unoriginal and totally inept film. Bee Gee-alike Richard Anthony Crenna (son of Rambo's Col. Trautman) heads a miserable cast of virtual unknowns whose acting skill are so bad that they can't even fall in the water convincingly. Even Riz Ortalani, an accomplished composer usually capable of a decent tune, fails to impress, his score being a pale imitation of John Williams' theme from Jaws.

I rate Killer Crocodile 3.5 out of 10, rounded up to 4 for the croc's impressive demise: swallowing an outboard motor that liquefies its throat and causes its head to explode.

This film is the definition of comic badness. The croc changes sizes seemingly at random. In one scene it even looks about 20 feet tall. People fall in to the water for no particular reason and it's not even clear what country this is supposed to take place in. Fortunately the film is fun and fast paced so you can ignore some of the faults. The gore is plentiful and the animatronic crocodile by Gianetto De Rossi is pretty amazing for a movie with such a low budget (well at least we know where the money went). Thomas Moore's (Ennio Girolami) performance as Joe the grizzled croc hunter adds alot to the film also. Some imaginitive camerawork and a decent jaws ripoff score by Ortolani doesn't hurt things either.

Overall a decent fun flick, just don't expect JAWS.

Shot back-to-back with Killer Crocodile II

Rented this film for being a horror-moviefan and got me one of the most amusing comedies I've seen. It's very hard to give this film any horror categorizing, did they ever (the film-makers) thougt this would scare anybody? After one minute or so the croc appears and I realized that this can be 90 terrible minutes of my life, but ooh, one needs to laugh sometimes.

With the special effects, that already by others been clearified, which are stiffy to say the least, the musical score that is ripped from John Williams jaws (in particular the second track of the "jaws"-soundtrack) - it's already then amusing. Then comes the characters, boy o boy, the teenagers behaviour in Fr:13:s movies are deep thougt genious moves. The dialogue for ex: ....yeah.....maybe you're right about that.....(dramatic thinkingpause) ..or maybe you're wrong.... (and the camera starts pulling back after this refreshing turn of event). Interesting how this monstrous beast loses a big tooth on a very thin wall that just about stands for itself and how a propellermachine can explode - once, twice, three...four...I lost count of the explosions. Finally, for now, the experienced hunter that shoots the hero (the croc) with a elephant-rifle time after time with no effect to the beast whatsoever jumps overboard onto the crocs back and starts poking it with a boathook (yeah, THAT will do a wonders).

Tons of stuff like this and I can only recommend this for those who want to laugh at a bad (but amusing) movie, a little gore, but that is NOT what you remember after seeing "Killer Krokodile" (the spelling on the swedish cover).

(Got to see the sequel)

This movie has the charm of the old and cheap monster movies. Well, not that old (since it was filmed in 1989), but it definitely has a 80's feeling to it.

Let's start with the good points of this movie : "Killer crocodile" (and its sequel, filmed at the same time) is cheap, but most part of the budget went into the crocodile itself. No CGI, but a full (plastic) giant crocodile, which is a good starting point. There is a certain amount of gruesome deaths (with limbs cut off and everything), and, since there is an attack about every 10 minutes, you don't get bored watching the movie. Also, the music was made by the famous Riz Ortolani, who was already familiar with horror movies set in beautiful locations of south American forests, as he is also the composer of the theme for the infamous "Cannibal Holocaust".

But the gruesome deaths don't really make up for many other problems in the movie. The acting is definitely the worst part of it : it's just ridiculous (except for the late Ennio Girolami, playing the character of the mysterious Joe, a boor and lonely hunter out to kill the beast). The dialogues try to underline plot elements that don't really lead anywhere, when not being completely over-the-top.

And the crocodile might be giant, but still : its big yellow eyes and deep growls make him seem actually cute at times.

In conclusion? Don't watch it if you're looking for a masterpiece. But it definitely is pretty entertaining... Although not for the reasons the director wanted it to be.

The Great Alligator (1979) was already done so Italy decided to give us Killer Crocodile. A massive crocodile is munching on everybody in the swamp that has been used to dump radioactive waste.

They rearrange a few notes to the Jaw's theme for the opening credits and then use the exact music later on. They duplicate a few classic scenes as well. Campy as hell. The crocodile they use looks alright until the mouth moves and the back of his mouth looks like its made of paper. Not very gory as the crocodile use takes his food to go.

Over acting is prominent in this one but stick it out for the end. The way they kill the creature is priceless. I'm not really giving away the ending because their is Killer Crocodile 2 which now I have watch. On a side note the guy who directs this was a producer for most of Fulci's films. I still have to see his Breakfast With Dracula (1993).