For an Italian film about a killer crocodile, KILLER CROCODILE is about as much fun as you could want it to be. Sure, all of the clichés are there and its as indebted to JAWS as one might expect, but a fun cast, good effects, and not-bad direction from prolific Italian producer and former Fulci cohort Fabrizio De Angelis make for one enjoyable viewing experience. The only downside I can see to this film - aside from the unoriginality of the plot, which in turn appears to have been swiped by Hollywood for ANACONDA - is that some scenes involving people journeying to and fro on a boat seem to have been included merely as padding, and thus do drag a little.
The film begins in classic fashion with two old guys in a boat at night being attacked by a sudden cheesy crocodile head. The film begins for real with a point-of-view shot of SOMETHING swimming through the Amazonian rivers on the look out for prey, whilst music which sounds VERY similar to the suspenseful music in JAWS plays in the background. Hilariously, the crocodile is played as a slasher in this movie, a Michael Myers imitation with lots of P.O.V. shots, appearances of claws, and heavy BREATHING sounding when its around! How can a crocodile be heard to breathe in air when it's underwater? I guess nobody thought of that.
A typical bunch of attractive but bland Italian teenagers/twentysomethings are investigating somebody dumping radioactive waste into the river which leads to a conspiracy angle in the film, as the only authority in charge (played by Van Johnson of all people) is in on the scheme and wants everything hushed up. When one of the party goes missing, one guy says "This swamp's no amusement park". From this point on, extras get killed in gory fashions, people hunt the crocodile, attempt to kill it and fail, and finally there's a big battle between man and beast which ends as one might expect. The B-movie casting is adequate, with a majority of unknown faces with one or two older, familiar faces in supporting roles, in this case they are Van Johnson (one time Hollywood star relegated to supporting roles in Italian B-movies like so many) and Thomas Moore, aka Ennio Girolami, or Enzo G. Castellari's brother. Moore has a fun part as an old-fashioned game hunter and genuinely seems to be enjoying himself in the role, so the viewer can too.
KILLER CROCODILE doesn't skimp on the gore effects either, thanks to the presence of ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS veteran Giannetto De Rossi in the crew. Highlights include a mouldering corpse popping out of the water and later being examined in detail, a man chewed in the jaws of the croc, another man being torn through a pier and a graphic arm-ripping which will delight gorehounds everywhere. De Rossi also created the cumbersome crocodile itself; it may not be much of an improvement on the dragons in peplum epics like THE LOVES OF HERCULES made thirty years earlier, but ignore the lack of realism and instead admire the artistry gone into creating the menace.
Being a cheap Italian production made in the late '80s, when the industry had pretty much disappeared, there is certain unintentional humour to be had from the film. One such scene has Moore "riding" the back of the crocodile, only to disappear presumed dead as blood bubbles up in the water! Later on, a slow-mo flying hat signals that Moore has returned, covered in blood, to watch the finale and lend support from the sideline! Speaking of which, the cheesily over-the-top death for the crocodile involves a boat's propeller being thrown into its mouth, which causes it to explode (?), but not after spraying tons of blood everywhere very graphically! You'll also get leech attacks, explosions, and a twist ending which rips off CONTAMINATION for your money's worth. KILLER CROCODILE: only a moderately successful horror film, but one with a high entertainment value.
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