Alligator – Review

Alligator wrestling shows how dangerous the animals can be as a dude gets obliterated in front of a crowd in Florida. Who needs legs anyway? In gator wrasslin', sometimes gators win. Come back next week folks.

This event does not dissuade a young girl tourist Marisa Kendall from wanting one as a pet, and naming him Ramon. She plans to give it to a zoo when it gets larger. For some fucking reason, her parents buy it for her and then they take it back to Chicago with them after their vacation. She is smitten with the tiny reptile. Her parents are less so, and her Pa flushes it down the toilet.

Does the alligator perish during its ‘burial at sea?’ Well, if it did then they would have stopped the movie here. 12 years later and Marissa (Riker) is grown, and unbeknownst to anyone on the streets above, there is a massive man-eating beast in the sewer tunnels below.

Cop David Madison (Forster) goes into a pet store and gets a tiny dog. He then hits up a crime scene of some kind as city workers have found an arm. Also, nearby a woman’s dog Taffy appears to have died, but it is much larger than when it went missing just weeks ago. Odd.

This leads to the film’s actual plot reveals how Ramon got mutated into such a large and hungry alligator boy. As he encounters unfortunate humans in his path, sometimes gators win. As body parts continue to surface, Madison does all he can to figure out what is going on, but how many options are there for overgrown mega mutant alligators?

Being produced in the early 80s, it definitely has that era’s atmosphere and pacing, as well as plenty of ridiculousness. Having the presence of Robert Forster honestly bumps this whole film up a notch for me, but if you want a goofy time with a few fun moments this film has all of that and some creative alligator action.

Alligator may not be Oscar worthy, but it’s a decent low budget Jaws wanna-be in the sewers. While its plot is a bit silly, it’s also just good enough for a B-movie with dismembered bodies and gigantic terrors of the dark. It is played straight by the acting crew, but it still is a bit of fun when things get fast and loose. Yeah, it’s a bit cheesy, but like what did you expect when you read this plot description??

Cops seek sewer psycho!!

I have not seen Alligator II: The Mutation, but based on its reviews one would think it’s a few steps down at best case scenario.