Director – Sompote Sands (Space Warriors 2000, Hanuman vs. 7 Ultraman)
Starring – Nard Poowanai (Hands of Death, Ghost Hotel), Ni Tien (Human Lanterns, Corpse Mania), Angela Wells (Beyond Suspicion)
Release Date – 1979
Rating – 2.5/5
Blu Release – 2.5/5
I’ve been a huge fan of the when nature attacks sub-genre for as long as I can remember. I remember sitting with my grandma and watching Night of the Lepus with her. From then on I remember watching countless movies featuring killer animals or common animals mutated by mad science or the like. These campy, drive-in era films may not be perfect but very few people will deny how entertaining they are.
A few weeks back my friends over at Synapse Films sent over the blu release of the 1979 Thai horror film Crocodile from director Sompote Sands. Like always, I want to thank Synapse for sending this one my way.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows two doctors who are constantly working much to their wife’s dismay. However, they convince their dedicated men to go on vacation that would inadvertently turn into their last. While at the beach both women are brutally attacked in the ocean and they suspect it was something other than a shark that did the heinous act. When local fisherman start reporting large crocodile’s in the ocean they soon realize they are dealing with something extremely unusual and deadly. They quickly jump into action to catch or kill it when a small riverside village is attacked. **Spoiler Alert**
Crocodile is one I had heard about for years but never had the opportunity to check it out. It wasn’t until Synapse sent over the blu release that I had actually seen the film in physical form. This made me dig a little deeper into the release history on this one. Honestly, I’m glad I waited until now because Synapse did a fantastic job and I’m glad it was their release that I watched for the first time. However, I didn’t really care for the film. While I loved the giant croc carnage, the film was painfully dull.
The acting in this one was fairly well done. The film is extremely campy and while the acting is a bit cheesy, some of the more action packed scenes does feature some solid acting. The characters are a bit flat but the cast does their best to make them stand out and not blend in with the background.
The story for this one is pretty cliched by this point. We’ve all seen movies where an animal, in this case it’s a croc, that is mutated to bigger than normal sizes and terrorizes a small town. It’s textbook by this point. However, most of these films are able to pull together scenes that are watchable. Crocodile does not do this. Instead, we get long, drawn out scenes full of the most pointless dialogue I’ve seen to date. A lot of editing and trimming down of scenes would have help the pacing in this one tremendously.
Finally, the film has some blood and some fun camera tricks to make the croc look bigger than it actually is. The miniatures are fun as well which adds to the appeal of the effects. Overall, Crocodile has some fun effects and some solid acting but the story and editing makes it difficult to finish. Sadly, this is one I would recommend skipping.
Special Features:
Original theatrical trailer
Audio commentary with writer and film historian Lee Gambin
Video interview with original Crocodile Fangs director, Won-se Lee
Deleted and alternate scenes
“Nude” slipcover (limited to only 1500 units)
