KILLER CROCODILE Blu-ray Review – Spaghetti Jaws of the Jungle
Starring Richard Anthony Crenna, Sherrie Rose, Thomas Moore, Ennio Girolami
Directed by Fabrizio De Angelis (as Larry Ludman)
Distributed by Severin Films
God bless Italian filmmakers of the ‘70s and ‘80s, who rather than channel their own cinematic influences into original stories chose instead to blatantly steal from every American genre film that hit big. The resulting explosion of store brand-quality rip-offs led to dozens of unintentionally hilarious low-budget schlockfests, featuring dime store costumes, awful acting, and buckets of chunky blood. Jaws (1975) was an ideal picture to emulate, but shooting convincing shark action is tough – something nearly every shark movie has proven. A slightly easier aquatic threat is the crocodile, and longtime Lucio Fulci producer Fabrizio De Angelis hopped behind the camera to lens Killer Crocodile (1989), a Jaws wannabe that… isn’t actually so awful.
The story follows a group of fresh-faced, forgettable ecologists who take a trip downriver to investigate claims that local Big Evil Corporation is dumping radioactive waste illegally. Spoiler: they are. The eco-warriors learn this when they find a cache of dumped barrels, all opened and empty, all labeled “RADIOACTIVE” – yet one of the group still jumps into the water, in the most laughably inept radioactive protection suit committed to film, to confirm the barrels are toxic. What nobody yet knows is a crocodile has been feeding off the waste, growing to gargantuan size and eating whatever enters the waters. Don’t fret, soon everyone learns the water is both highly toxic and home to a mammoth eating machine… not that it stops anyone from continuing to go on the water.
Our eponymous crocodile is shown early and often, and while that’s usually not good for a creature feature the croc here looks kinda rad in an ‘80s metal album cover sort of way. The piercing neon eyes and dark hide look like a nightmarish rendition, and scenes when the beast is quietly stalking through the water are mildly effective. Of course, we all know this terror is gonna turn into a turkey as soon as it’s required to move swiftly – and it does, though the equally-poor execution of every attack scene manages to obscure the puppet’s limitations.
It truly is baffling how badly the attack scenes are staged; the filmmakers might as well have had the actors freely jump into the croc gaping maw. At one point, after a dock has been destroyed a young girl is clinging by her fingertips onto the remaining portion, snapping jaws of the croc just below her feet. Dad to the rescue! Only dad doesn’t walk down the dock, reach down, and pull his daughter to safety; instead, he jumps over the edge and joins her in peril, apparently intending to push her up to stable ground. Spoiler: he gets eaten. Later, a guy in a two-level boat falls from the safety of his perch when the croc scares him by leaping out – nearly 10 feet above the water. How? Who cares? Did it look cool? That’s all that matters.
Thankfully, the Jaws comparisons can be drawn only in the shooting style (so much POV) and Riz Ortolani’s score, which sounds like he was directed to copy John Williams’ legendary two-note motif for Bruce the Shark. The cast isn’t a terrific trio but a gaggle of idiots; the only hint of gravitas comes from Ennio Girolami as Joe, who is essentially Quint with a better hat – and, man, that hat gets the most epic shot in the entire film thanks to a perfect toss from Girolami. There’s a great Ahab/White Whale moment later in the film between Joe & the croc I admire for its bravado. And if you thought Roy Scheider was exuberant after blowing up Bruce then just wait until you hear the cries of joy when this aquatic adversary bites it. Don’t worry, they filmed a sequel back-to-back with this film so there’s more croc action to come; there’s always more with the Italians.
Severin Films puts Killer Crocodile on Blu-ray with a new 2K scan from the original negative and the resulting 1.85:1 1080p image is occasionally striking and consistent in its quality. Film grain is heavy but it moves organically, and since most of the film takes place during the day finer details and textures are able to be glimpsed without straining eyes. In contrast, night time scenes tend to be bathed in darkness – and it’s more of a hazy black than rich and deep. Again, most of the film is nicely lit by the sun and the tropical location allows for some nice color pops throughout.
Audio is available in either English or Italian DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono. I always go with a dub on these titles because, well, they’re ultimately all dubs anyway – plus, hearing movies this campy in their original language removes some of the camp factor that makes them fun. The dub track here is clean, nicely balanced, and features good levels across the front-end assembly of speakers. Riz Ortolani’s score isn’t one of his best, but it’s still a Riz Ortolani score and that’s enough for me. Subtitles are available in English.
Special Features:
- NEW 2K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
- Half A Croc: Interview with Makeup FX Artist Giannetto De Rossi
- Italian Crocodiles: Interview with Actor Pietro Genuardi
- An Italian in Santo Domingo: Interview with Cinematographer Federico Del Zoppo
- REGION-FREE
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Killer Crocodile
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Special Features
Summary
With a demonic croc and countless severed limbs, Killer Crocodile delivers by sheer force of will, packing as much insanity as possible into 94-minutes and hoping audiences will be too inundated with processing the craziness to notice there’s only a threadbare plot holding everything together. Fans of killer crocodile movies, yea, you’re gonna want this one.
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