5.0 out of 5 stars "Crocodile": Yeah Its Cheesy, But It Aint That Bad

s. · February 27, 2012

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } "Crocodile" (1981):I recently watched this film this weekend. As a scuba diver, fisherman, and developing marine biologist, I would say this has to be the best killer croc movie I've ever seen. And I've had my fair share of them: Lake Placid, Blood Surf, Alligator (1&2), Crocodile (2000), and now I have this. Now, I've read past reviews about this film and it seems that 9 out of 10 bash this film and label it as garbage with bad acting, weak plot, etc. But as someone who has watched many "evil animal movies", I disagree with those reviews, I love this one above all the other killer croc films, and here's why:Now, "Crocodile" (1981), sure it looks cheesy and cheap, but it did not have anything in it that made me regret buying it. And yes, it may have some parts in it that many would consider flaws, but it was straight forward and to the point. I liked how the croc's eye was shown whenever an attack took place. Plus I liked how the film protrays the croc as a giant capable of wiping out an entire village, which it does, twice. Now there is one scene where the croc "leaps out of the water", but it's not all that bad. The reviews I've read on this film say that you don't get to really see the croc. You'll be surprised just how much of the croc you DO SEE.Another thing I like about this film is that there were not any scenes or subplots that were completely useless, like Blood Surf, which had: A.) a sex scene which bored the crap out of me, especially since the guy involved was dumber than a stray dog, and the lady involved was underage and equally ridiculous, B.) a gang of island rebels who also were irritating and useless, especially their leader, who never goes away until he's finally brought down in a somewhat comedic way, and C.) the boat captain, who had a score to settle with his croc, got ripped in half and didn't get a fighting chance, and that's a damn shame, cause he was badass, like a cross of Ahab from Moby-Dick and Quint from Jaws. If there's any croc film with flaws, it's Blood Surf.The main characters in "Crocodile" (1981), although they are dubbed by American voices (it was made in Thailand and Korea), were more interesting than I thought they would be. They seem to play it cool until they set out to sea to confront their croc. Now the fisherman may seem silly at some points, but not too bad. The main character, Dr. Akom, also has some intelligence and maturity to bring to the table and doesn't cry like a baby whenever the croc has struck, he keeps studying crocs and tries to develop a way to bring the croc down until he is able to pinpoint where the croc will strike next and he and his associate and the fisherman head off to do battle. That's a hell of alot more than I can ever say about the drunken dumbasses in "Crocodile" (2000). Now I'll admit it, every now and then I myself drop an F-bomb, but it's only if Im in a bad mood. But the sheep in "Crocodile" (2000) would drop 10-20 no matter what their mindset was, and they all screamed like children and ran like rabbits whenever the croc appears, plus the ending disappointed me the worst: all it took to end their croc's reign of terror was to just simply give it back it's offspring. Sorry, but I want to see a fight and "Crocodile" (1981) has that. The two doctors and the fisherman use a machine gun, a harpoon cannon, and sticks of dynamite to slay their croc. And the fight takes the lives of all invloved, the croc and the three men.Now all that being said, this is just my view on it. Don't just take my word for it or the reviews of others. Watch it for yourself and make your own verdict. It can be a fun film to watch and if you are someone who loves marine life, especially dangerous marine life, as I do, this one shouldn't disappoint that much. I'd give it a try. And afterwards, if u like it, great, if not, whatever. Ur choice.

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the best

G. · April 13, 2025

This is a 70s era low budget giant crocodile movie from Taiwan that feels more like an outrageous "Jaws" rip-off than anything else. Of course, this movie shouldn't be confused with the 80s Italian movie "Killer Crocodile" which is a completely different low budget giant crocodile film that just so happens to use almost the exact same poster art. Anyway, this film does have some enjoyable cheesy moments here & there, but in terms of "cheesy giant crocodile films" this movie isn't really one of the best. Don't get me wrong, there are some enjoyable aspects to this movie, that mainly being the cheesy 70s special effects. There's some pretty bad effects like where the filmmakers just used a real crocodile walking around some rather unconvincing miniature buildings and even eating people who are clearly just little ragdolls, but there's also some kind of impressive effects like certain scenes where it looks like they built a full scale replica of the crocodile with a fully moveable mouth & everything. There's this one scene half way through the film where the crocodile attacks and eats a water buffalo that is particularly entertaining. Other great scenes include a sequence where the crocodile attacks a whole village and we are treated to all sorts of fun miniature special effects with the crocodile using it's tail to bulldoze entire buildings. The crocodile can also inexplicably cause giant whirlwinds that suck people down to their death which is never really explained. So yeah, there are a lot of fun little moments scattered throughout this film. What really hurts this movie though & almost ruins it for me is just how badly everything is edited. All the moments in between the crocodile action are really boring and hard to follow with how badly dialog is scripted & arranged. The story is basically the same as in "Jaws" but your really not going to care that much with how badly it's all put together. None of the characters have any depth & scenes start and end with little to no transition making it almost disorienting to follow. All the sequences with the crocodile are even worse. While the special effects are enjoyably cheesy, the way in which it's all put together borders on incomprehensible. None of it looks like it was story boarded at all. In fact it honestly looks like the filmmakers just shot a whole lot of B-roll footage without knowing how any of it would actually fit into the story. This makes a lot of the "crocodile action" feel more like disconnected montage footage rather than like any actual scripted sequence. It doesn't help the fact that the size of the crocodile is extremely inconsistent all throughout the film. Sometimes the crocodile is only slightly bigger than a regular sized crocodile, but then in other scenes it's as big as an entire building. It feels like footage from several different films awkwardly stapled together with not much thought or reasoning. I don't know what the production of this movie was like; it's possible that this is footage salvaged from several different films. Either that or there was a serious communication issue between special effects departments on this movie. Regardless though, the end result is just an unenjoyable mess. While I do normally enjoy a good "so bad it's good" type of film, I just couldn't handle the bad editing. It was just too much for me. The only enjoyable thing going for this movie is it's cheesy special effects but there's so many better cheesy giant crocodile films out there. "Killer Crocodile" from 1989 & "Alligator" from 1980 are much better made alternatives while also still being enjoyably campy and low budget. And of course you also have the 90s American made classic "Lake Placid" which feels like a masterpiece compared to this film; so between all of those movies, there really isn't much incentive to blow your money on this mess unless your just really into bad giant monster movies.

4.0 out of 5 stars Ridiculous fun

B.R.S. · October 1, 2024

Crocodile isn't a perfect film but it's really fun. A good amount of gore, an interesting main character and even a little humor. Don't expect a movie as good or well done as Alligator or Jaws. Go in knowing this is low budget and has some bad editing. It is really entertaining though and I recommend to horror fans that like fun cheesy animal attack movies. The movie looks great too.

2.0 out of 5 stars All teeth, no jaws

G.S. · August 31, 2024

Well it was a cat-in-the-bag that did not work out. There are some cool moments, but there are slow moments. The end is quite the scence. Expectations were high for this... they were not met. If one is interested in crocodillian (Alligator, Alligator II, Killer Crocodile, Killer Crocodile II, Eaten Alive) movies... it should be seen.