Crocodile (2000 film)

Crocodile is a 2000 American direct-to-video horror film directed by Tobe Hooper. The film involves a group of college students on a houseboat for spring break who stumble across a nest of eggs, and unknowingly enrage a large female Nile crocodile that stalks and kills them one by one. It was followed by Crocodile 2: Death Swamp, a film with no relation to the plot of the original beyond featuring a giant crocodile.

Crocodile
VHS cover
Directed byTobe Hooper
Produced by
Screenplay by
Starring
  • Mark McLachlan
  • Caitlin Martin
  • Chris Solari
CinematographyAdam Santelli[1]
Edited byAndy Horovich[1]
Production
companies
Distributed byLions Gate[1]
Release date
  • 26 December 2000 (2000-12-26)
Running time
120 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States[1]

Plot

Eight teenagers, including Brady (Mark McLachlan), Claire (Caitlin Martin), Duncan (Chris Solari), Kit (D. W. Reiser), Annabelle (Julie Mintz), Sunny (Summer Knight), Foster (Rhett Jordan), and Hubs (Greg Wayne) are going on a weekend boat trip on a remote lake in Southern California for spring break. As the group is about to depart on their boat, they are warned by Sheriff Bowman (Harrison Young) to be sensible and keep out of danger. After a day of partying, the group have a bonfire, where Kit tells them a local story about how in the early 1900s, ninety-six years ago, a hotel owner named Harlan featured a crocodile named Flat Dog at his hotel. Harlan eventually sets up a shrine to Flat Dog, believing her to be an avatar to the ancient Egyptian crocodile god (Sobek), creating a cult that worshiped the crocodile. The town eventually ran Harlan away because of his heathenism and torched his hotel years later when Kit was a kid. Close by, two local fishermen destroy a crocodile nest, only for them both to be attacked by Flat Dog, who devours them both.

The following day the teenagers continue to party. Annabelle's dog, Princess, runs away, leading the group to the crocodile's nest, where Duncan breaks an egg and Hubs hides one in Claire's bag. At night, Sunny becomes incredibly drunk and reveals Brady cheated on Claire with her, resulting in Claire breaking up with Brady. Hubs, who is also heavily intoxicated falls asleep at the bonfire while the rest of the group returns to the boat. Sometime later, Hubs attempts to return to the boat but is eaten by Flat Dog, while the boat becomes untied and begins to drift in the lake. In the morning, the friends find their boat has become stuck, leaving them stranded. While the rest of the group attempt to fix the boat, Brady and Sunny go to try to find Hubs. Sunny attempts to get Brady to go swimming, but she narrowly escapes an attack by Flat Dog. The pair rush back to the boat to warn the others. However, Flat Dog arrives and sinks the boat, killing Foster in the process.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Bowman finds the fishermen and Hubs remains before visiting Shurkin (Terrence Evans) and Lester (Adam Gierasch), two locals who take care of alligators. Shurkin sets out with the Sheriff to find Flat Dog—and kill her to avenge the deaths of his grandfather and father—while Lester is seen to be feeding the crocodile, but is eventually devoured himself. As night falls, the teenagers are still stranded in the woods searching for a road. Flat Dog returns, and ultimately Sunny is eaten. The rest of the group reach a small shop, where Brady attempts to phone the Sheriff, but Flat Dog breaks through a wall and devours Annabelle. As Kit escapes to start the truck outside, Brady, Claire, and Duncan fight off Flat Dog. In the chaos, a fire starts which causes the truck to explode, killing Kit and scaring away Flat Dog.

The next day, the Sheriff and Shurkin find Brady, Claire, and Duncan and pick them up on their boat. Soon after, Shurkin is knocked into the water and eaten, before the Sheriff is also killed. With the boat's engine broken, the survivors swim to land. Claire finally discovers the crocodile's egg in her bag, and the group uses it as bait to lure the crocodile to them so they can kill it. As Flat Dog arrives, Duncan attempts to kill her. However, he is quickly swallowed whole, only to be regurgitated moments later. Claire gives the crocodile the egg, which hatches into a baby crocodile, before it returns to its nest, leaving Claire, Princess, Brady, and Duncan free to escape.

Cast
  • Mark McLachlan as Brady Turner
  • Caitlin Martin as Claire
  • Chris Solari as Duncan McKay
  • Doug Reiser as Kit
  • Julie Mintz as Annabelle
  • Sommer Knight as Sunny
  • Rhett Jordan as Foster
  • Greg Wayne as Hubs
  • Harrison Young as Sheriff Bowman
  • Terrence Evans as Shurkin
  • Adam Gierasch as Lester

Production

Producer Frank DeMartini proclaimed that director Tobe Hooper was "trying to do with this movie is recapture the fright of [The Texas Chain Saw Massacre]".[2] Hooper reflected on this stating "It's the 25th anniversary of the first Chain Saw, and I really wanted to create an atmosphere that will wind you up like that."[3] Hooper also comparatively said the film was "Stylistically, I'm going for an entirely different look from anything I've ever done, or anything you'd expect me to do."[3]

To do this DeMartini explained that he had their casting director Cathy Henderson-Martin go through 2,000 people with Hooper and DeMartini meeting a few hundred.[4] Hooper compared the characters in the film to Deliverance as the film becomes about survival.[5]

The screenplay was written by Michael D. Weiss, Adam Gierasch, and Jace Anderson which Thomas Crow of Fangoria stated that Hooper had "tinkered with".[5] Hooper stated that "On paper, something may look good, but things change. Speaking in broad strokes, we've been reshaping some of the dialogue [to suit the actors]. The idea on the page will certainly get to the screen, but I'm aiming for spontaneity."[5] Hooper described doing a second film film about crocodiles after Eaten Alive, describing the film as a campfire film with a "mythological background. There's a legend connected with it. Every town in American seems to have some story of lake or woods with a monster in it."[5]

Release

Crocodile was released direct-to-video on DVD on December 26, 2000.[6][7] Crocodile was included on a DVD box set from Trimark in October 9, 2001 that included King Cobra, Octopus and Spiders.[8][7]

Crocodile was followed-up with Crocodile 2: Death Swamp also for Nu Image.[9] Director Gary Jones said the film was "not really a sequel. It doesn't follow the poltline, characters or anything. It's a totally new story, except that one of the characters happens to be a crocodile."[9]

Reception

From contemporary reviews, Joseph O'Brien of Rue Morgue declared that "There are occasional flashes of Hooper's brand of weirdness" noting a scene where a croc hunter attacks the beast that killed his father, but that the film was like an episode of "Dawson's Creek where most of the cast are munched by a big reptile; a not-unrewarding experience if viewed in this light." and that "Ultimately though, even the good bits are only good enough to make you wish you were watching Alligator or maybe even Lake Placid, instead."[10] Will Wilson of Deep Red gave the film a one out of four rating, stating that "the degree to which Tobe Hooper continues to mar his early cinematic legacy is alarming. His once imposing filmic reputation suffers another deadly blow with this stuff, an as by-the-numbers film as one can get."[11][12] Wilson declared that "arguing that Hooper has lost it is rather a redundant point. We all know he has. It is just how far he has plummeted that is shocking."[12]

From retrospective reviews, Matthew Chernov of Variety placed the film on their list of top ten alligator films at number 8, noting it was not as strong as Eaten Alive, but that it had a "cheesy charm that's undeniable." and was better than the "SyFy Channel movies it occasionally resembles [...] Despite some dodgy CGI effects, Hooper's talent behind the camera shines through."[13]

See also
  • List of killer crocodile films

References
  1. "Crocodile (2000)". British Film Institute. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  2. Crow 2000, p. 50.
  3. Crow 2000, p. 54.
  4. Crow 2000, p. 51.
  5. Crow 2000, p. 53.
  6. Muir 2015, p. 46.
  7. "Crocodile (2000)". AllMovie. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  8. "Video Chopping List". Fangoria. No. 208. November 2001. p. 12.
  9. Moore 2001, p. 43.
  10. O'Brien 2001, p. 30.
  11. Wilson 2002, p. 68.
  12. Wilson 2002, p. 69.
  13. Chernov 2019.

Sources
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