Customer Reviews

Crocodile

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

There are films that stay with you long after you've seen them because they touch something deep inside you, lift your spirit, or relate to you in a way few films can...and then there are films that are a blight on the collective consciousness, ones that define a new, previously unheard of level of total cinematic rottenness...Crocodile (1981), originally titled Chorake, most definitely falls into the latter category. Directed by someone named Sompote Sands, whose previous credit includes an obscure Thai made Ultraman film titled The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army (1979), the film features a cast of nobodies whom I hesitate to call actors only because they obviously had little or no skills, this movie generally being their only credit. The only named I recognize attached to this feature is that of Herman Cohen, the man behind such features as I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957), Horrors of the Black Museum (1959), Konga (1961), whose only apparent involvement seemed to be in the form of the distributor of this little Asiatic produced nugget of joy.

At the outset of the movie a booming voice pours forth, stating "From the very beginning man has been trying to destroy nature...perhaps one day he will succeed...but, then again, on that day nature may rebel, and this could happen", `this' referring to following scenes of a cataclysmic storm destroying a miniature representation of a tropical, southeastern Asian coastal village. Oh man, those phony natives are getting it good...and from the carnage something nasty (and bitey) this way comes...the next twenty or so minutes of the film are hard to discern, but basically focus on two couples, one with a young daughter, leaving the bustling city to take a vacation at a tropical resort. Once arriving, there's much frolicking, and eventually the two women and the young girl are eaten by a giant crocodile (I guess the vacation's over), or so we're led to believe as we don't actually see them getting attacked or anything, only a bit of thrashing about in the water. Anyway, once it's learned what actually killed the women, that of a colossal croc, the grieving men set out on a quest to destroy the creature what ruined their lives. Oh, by the way, I almost forgot to mention this wasn't just any, run of the mill mammoth crocodile, but a ginormous, voracious reptile embiggened by atomic radiation...geez, I thought that plot device died out in the 1950s. All right, so the two men hook up with a sweaty, shirtless, very muscled sea captain with a giant tattoo of an eagle on his back, and head out into the open water in search of the large beast, whose since wiped out numerous miniature fishing villages. They're soon joined by an overly effeminate news photographer, who provides some unexpected, but much needed comic relief, along with giving us more potential crocodile fodder. Eventually the S.S. Funboy and her crew run across the fearsome, humungaloid, beast, highlighted by a sequence involving a plastic crocodile attacking a toy ship, setting up for the climatic final confrontation of grievous proportions...

This movie's a huge, tedious mess...the first twenty minutes are so disjointed I would challenge anyone to properly put the pieces together and come up with some sort of cohesive storyline. The scenes, many of them too dark to see much of anything, are tacked together with little or no thought towards continuity, indicating perhaps a retarded orangutan was hired for the editing process. Eventually some semblance of a plot does become evident, but guess what? It's one I saw in a much better film by Steven Spielberg called Jaws (1975)...perhaps you've heard of it? Given the immense popularity of Spielberg's film, the knock offs following were abundant, and of all the ones I've seen (which is to say I've seen a great many), few failed as miserably as this one, in my opinion. And that's pretty pathetic given the makers of this film are not only following an established formula, but actually lifting scenes directly from that other film. The most vivid example is near the end when the ship is sinking, and one of the men, in a Chief Brody-like maneuver, props himself on the now angled crow's nest of half submerged ship in an effort to take pot shots at the approaching beast, whose size ranged from big (about twenty feet) to ginormous (one hundred feet), given which part of the movie you were watching. There's a particularly stoopid occurrence of self sacrifice soon after this which I'm hesitant to go into further if only because it provided me with so much laughter in its complete ridiculousness, and I'd not want to spoil that rare opportunity of enjoyment for anyone else. Perhaps this was included in an effort to outdo Jaws, but, if so, it fell short of its intended mark. The movie is brimming with pointless filler including stock footage of monkeys, sea coral, numerous close ups of crocodile eyes, etc., my favorite possibly being a mondo scene where an actual crocodile is butchered by a skinny Asian man with a large knife...lovely...there's very few scenes where we actually see the crocodile attacking anyone, as much of it was inferred by people splashing around in the water, biting on blood capsules or such indicating something was attacking them in the water...there was one pointless sequence in the middle where the creature eats a water buffalo, finally giving us some sort of frame of reference of the beast, and then a couple of scenes near the end when various individuals find themselves in the jaws of the creature, allowing the audience some much needed visceral thrills. I did like some of the mass destruction sequences, especially the scenes involving small, Asian people being tossed around and such, but I despised the often out of sync musical score...ouch...it's a mixture between cacophonous, insipid, absolutely horrid disco pieces and goofy, monotonous, psuedo classical thematic music during the more serious sequences, none of which did much to help the overall end result any. The film did feature a grand, explosive finale, for what it's worth...

The picture, presented in widescreen (1.85:1), on this VCI Entertainment DVD release is just plain awful. I can deal with the minor wear elements present, but there was a consistent, irritating jitter throughout the film, indicating a poor transfer. If the hideous material in the film doesn't induce a headache, this aspect surely will...the audio, presented in Dolby Digital stereo, is decent enough, but given the rotten scoring and lousy dubbed dialog, it's not doing anyone any favors. As far as extras, there are two radio spots, along with trailers for other films like Kiss of the Tarantula (1976), Don't Open the Door! (1975), The Twilight People (1973), and Gorgo (1961). Overall this film, the material and the presentation, deserves one star, but I'm throwing in an extra due to the unintentional humor.

Cookieman108

If I learned anything from this film it's that not only can enormous, irradiated reptiles live in the sea, but they can also fly...

This film was origionaly shot in Korean.It takes awhile to get into it but turns out good.As a result of a hurricane and chemical testing a giant crocodile swims to Korea and feeds off islanders.Can a doctor,his friend,and a local fisherman kill the savage beast after it killed their wives and children?From the depths of the ocean nature explodes with savage fury!

This movie offers nothing but a cheap killing crocodile. The effects are awful. When the plastic looking crocodile eats the deer it looks completely fake. The croc is always attacking villages and every scene has people [throwing up] up blood. The characters are awful and the writing is terrible. The plot is about a giant crocodile ( your told its big, even though you never see its whole body ) who starts killing people. Know a scientiste and some other guy must go on a boat and kill it. ...It is enjoyable at times though. If you like these kinds of movies than this is for you.

Been hunting for this title for quite a few years now. Previous purchase attempts from 2 other sites ended in frustration as the film is now OOP (Out Of Print). I should have known to check Amazon. They have practically everything. Anyhow, I finally got myself a copy, and it was a new DVD, not a second-hand used one.

Well imagine my surprise when I finally watched this turkey. What the... ?? I had mistakenly thought this was the film with Barbara Bach in it. Noooooo! This is a horrid Asian (Thai or Hong Kong) made stinker. And I do mean STINK! It pathetically attempts to copy JAWS in several ways. (Admittedly, if you're going to steal, steal from the best.) However, all attempts to clone that classic film fail miserably. It does have a few decent F/X shots, but most of the croc footage is of actual crocs enlarged and slowed down, including the old "small croc wandering around a miniature village" trick. That may have been acceptable in the 1950's & 60's, but this was made in '78/'79. At least a rubber crocodile would have made it more enjoyable on the "unintentional humor" scale.

In addition to generally lame F/X, the film also features a largely incoherent storyline, which gets more confusing as the film plods along. In all fairness this may be largely due the adaption from its native language into English, and the subsequent Hong Kong-based dubbing job. I'll never know. And that ending? What a bummer! I've seen worse films, to be sure... but this thing still reeks. The one thing it does have going for it is just about the coolest poster artwork EVER. Almost worth it just for that... almost.

Not bad kinda reminded me of godzilla but in crocodile form as it was a japanese movie. All in all good special effects and a bit creepy. Pretty good creature-feature.

Note: This is a movie review because the DVD is a basic DVD. Impressive, No. Nice because I don't have to rewind and because the quality of my VHS is lacking, yes.)

Despite the previously sited objections to this movie's stature (reviewed as a VHS tape), I would have to say that its not a 1 star movie, but is instead a middle ground film with elements that entertain and flaws that do sometimes hurt its delivery. It has a horribly plastic looking crocodile (stiff movements, kills that leave you with a lackluster feeling, not to mention the hissing sound it makes) feeding on sometimes plastic seeming actor/esses while floating through an atypical plot (we decided to party, floated down river in our houseboat and got drunk, then were sent off-course by a killing that screwed up our mooring and are now being picked off, one by one, by something horrid). Still, I expected something like this when I first saw it and was duly entertained because of that.

Lately, this has become one of my late night favorites, entertaining me with humor that capitalizes off of the same type of cheesy reptilian humor as Alligator, Alligator 2, and, to some degree, Lake Placid. I personally enjoy the rural flavor some of the "crocodile experts" add, calling the beast Flat Dog and saying the darnedest things, plus I like watching the foolish moves that lead down the roads to certain demise. There are other characters on the menu that add some spice as well, from the disposable sheriff to a rarer gem, a deliciously white poodle. Combine these facets with the entertaining plastic/cgi beast's movements and the explanation of where it came from, and you can see how it would be a nighttime classic.

To the "serious" movie pallet, I would say move on. To people who like to have fun with their movies and can take budget constraints in stride, I would say go for it. It does have some portions that are very enjoyable and a drove of people to make boots for the Crocodile out of, so, if you're bored, its a funny way to pass some time. Besides, you never know when being prepared for an aquatically inclined plastic predator assault will come in handy.

Take my advice, do not watch this movie!!!!!!!!! It is dubbed, pretty poorly I might add, the death scenes suck, the gore effects are just plain bad. Maybe if they had better people to film it, better directors, and at least a decent looking crocodile, the movie may have been better. The story to it was not bad, the act of putting it together on film is what sucked. I am beating myself up for buying it(I did not pay much!!!!) If you want to see a decent crocodile or alligator movie, see either the original alligator or Blood Surf. Much better then this one.

Our family stumbled on this movie on television one rainy day at the beach in June, and we were completely captivated from the beginning. Why? Because this is one of the silliest, most cliche-ridden Grade B horror flicks we've ever seen.

It's got it all -promiscuous teenagers (and guess what happens to *them*), hapless law enforcement officials, a reasonably large body of water (metaphor alert), a cute little defenseless dog, and one big mothah of a -you guessed it - Crocodile who is pretty mechanical but who energetically plays her part, both in the water and in the most unlikely landlocked places. (I won't tell.)

My favorite characters were the local crocodile hunters (they made the locals in Deliverance look like Harvard grads). The elder of the two spat most creatively every time he spoke and after about two minutes of creative spitting the assembled viewing audience was howling with laughter with each new release of spittle.

I loved the ending, which was a fitting finale to the man vs. nature theme. Campy as the resolution was, it worked for me!

If Amazon.com had a 0-5 rating this movie would definitly be a 0. It is the worst movie I have ever seen. Nat Puvanai and the whole cast can't act and the director can't direct at all. The special effects SUCK, the acting SUCKS, the directing SUCKS. IT ALL SUCKS. I reccommend instead of this movie Alligator. Alligator is a terrific creature feature with grrrrrrreat special effects!