Tag Archives: croc horror

Movie Review: Black Water: Abyss

08 Saturday Aug 2020

Posted by in Movie review

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Self-confessed old-style thriller fan, Andrew Traucki has carved out a career telling stories of survival on screen since his debut feature, Black Water released in 2007.
He’s no stranger to the harsh environments that humanity must endure with his follow up features, The Reef, and Jungle, so it comes as no surprise that when offered the chance to revisit the subject that launched his directing pilgrimage.

Billed as a sequel to his croc attack movie, upon review Black Water: Abyss serves more of an anthological piece as none of its original stars nor its cranky chompster return to continue the storyline.
Instead we are introduced to a quintet of extreme sport enthusiasts (Jessica McNamee – The Meg, Luke Mitchell, Amali Golden, Benjamin Hoetjes, and Anthony J.Sharpe), who go in search of their latest thrill, some wilfully, others begrudgingly as they find an unexplored cave system, which just so happens to have a snappy predator lurking in the watery caves. 

Traucki shows his experience behind the camera, pairing back the action to allow the suspense to rise to the surface and draw out the group’s plight which takes them through the bold, ignorant, panic-stricken, heartache.
On show are two couples on the verge of destruction as the film serves as a metaphor for the physical weathering of their relationships.
If they are to survive this ordeal, what will become of them at the end of it all.
Is there life worth salvaging or are they better off as croc fodder?

The prognosis:

The cast showcase their acting chops grounding their situation in reality, moulded by a talented director. 

Try not to judge the film from its opening 15 minutes or so with admittedly a bit of a shaky script.
It takes a while for the mechanisms to take a hold, but once it has its grip it takes you on a death roll towards its conclusion that leaves you asking just exactly how they will escape, if at all.

It may not be ground-breaking and doesn’t quite match its predecessor in raw appeal, but it’s an enjoyable flick that again uses real crocs in real situations to amp up the thrills.

  • Saul Muerte

Movie review: Crawl

17 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by in Movie review

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

I have to say that I honestly don’t think I’ve had this much fun watching a movie at the cinemas for quite some time. Sure, this little movie does a lot to stretch the realms of believability, especially bearing in mind that there is supposed to be a category 5 hurricane bearing down on our father-daughter duo battling for survival, and some of the actions of the killer crocs also fall into question, but by the time this all unfolds I’m willing to forgo these discrepancies and this has a lot to do with the time and care taken into building character and history, so that your focus is on backing them against the odds. 

The strength of the actors portraying the afore-mentioned father (Barry Pepper) and daughter (Kaya Scodelario) should also be acknowledged as they share the brunt of the on-screen time to portray the broken family dynamic that has formed between the two of them. Once inseparable as Hayley has been pursuing a swimming career, backed by her one-time coach, and father, Dave. Time and circumstances have allowed them to drift apart, but when crisis hits (in the form of that hurricane) Hayley ventures to find her father, who is failing to answer his phone. She soon discovers that he has had some kind of accident in the crawl space of the old family home, but that is the least of her worries, as Dave isn’t the only occupant lying under the house. Cue, giant croc. 

The screenplay allows the usual pitfalls and obstacles that stand in their way to fight for survival to appear believable, and the bond between the two leads strengthens as they literally find themselves in the foundations of their relationship, to not only find common ground, but also build/fight their way out to the top come hell or highwater. 

Hats off too to Alexandre Aja, who back in 2003 entered the horror genre with his hands firmly on the jugular with High Tension and then backed it up with the insane and gloriously over the top The Hills Have Eyes remake, before falling on the wayside with his outings since. Whether, it was working alongside Sam Raimi’s production team, Aja hits his stride once again in Crawl and positions himself as a director who can inject so much pain and torture in his characters that it’s a wonder that anyone can survive such an ordeal. The tension at times is intense and Aja, does enough to crank it to the max when it’s called for and dial it back to allow the characters and his audience to breathe.

The Diagnosis:

For its short running time of just under the 90 minute mark, Aja packs in enough grit, and determination, in this intense, blood-riddled battle for survival, that we can only enjoy the ride. 

Retrospective: Lake Placid (20 years on)

16 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by in retrospective

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

There’s a lot to be said about the stellar work produced by director Steve Miner, having rubbed shoulders with the likes of Wes Craven and Sean Cunningham (on set of their respective experimental directorial debut features, Last House On The Left, and Friday the 13th) before giving charge to oversee the birth of Jason Vorhees in Friday the 13th Part 2. Despite its gimmicks, Miner’s sophomore feature would project Jason out of the screen in all its 3D glory, but more importantly witness the now infamous hockey mask for the first time. By the time he rolled out his third feature, House, Miner appeared to have hit his stride with an off-beat blend of comedy and horror. That is until the diabolically awful Soul Man was released and then Miner went through the wringer serving up mediocre comedy drama movies that seemed to leave him trailing in the dust of his glory years in the directors chair. Fast track to 1998, and Miner finds himself thrust in the limelight once again and in charge of resurrecting another slasher villain Michael Myers in Halloween: H20. It looked like Miner had found his niche once more and showed that he was more than able to slide into the slasher world with relative ease.

The following year, Miner would step into fairly new territory, the creature feature and look to subject horror onto the screen in the form of a 30-foot-long man-eating saltwater crocodile. It’s been 20 years since Lake Placid graced the celluloid art and my only memories of the film was of Bridget Fonda (who had already captured this young man’s heart in 1993’s The Assassin), Oliver Platt (who at the time was only known to me as the guy with the camera in Flatliners, and playing Porthos alongside Kiefer Sutherland in The Three Musketeers. So, does this film still stand the test of time today? I went into my most recent viewing with pretty low expectations, but I was surprised to find out that it’s not too shabby.

Before, you raise your quizzical eyebrows at me, let me present a few interesting points about the movie that lift it out of the quagmire of cheesy dialogue and one-note characters. 

Firstly, the cast are strong enough to mould some shape into their characters, starting with the afore-mentioned Fonda as a paleontologist called in to investigate the owner of a prehistoric tooth found embedded in a victim of an underwater attack. To begin with her frosty, cool demeanour is a little off-putting admittedly, but by the time she warms up, so does our reception of her, which helps with her flirtatious relationship with the charming Bill Pullman (playing the local Fish and Game officer). To round out our quartet of intrepid explorers, there’s Platt as mythology expert Hector (a sure thing to become croc fodder, but somehow survives the odds) and his own heated relationship with the often underrated Brendan Gleeson as the Local Sheriff. And let’s not forget Betty White as the batty old lady who’s been hand-rearing reptiles from a lakeside abode. 

The effects are actually pretty gnarly too with a man ripped in two, and a nasty decapitation scene, there’s enough to whet the appetite of your average movie-watcher, but the real hero is in the croc, which could so easily fall prey of poor results, but thankfully this beast still looks remarkable solid, and that has a lot to do with the late, great Stan Winston who oversaw the creature effects. Even the climax of the movie, despite its faults does enough to step up and deliver. 

Sure, Lake Placid plays it fairly safe, but it wins you over with charm and a bit of grit, a hallmark of Miner at his best. There have been other croc movies since that arguably have pushed the boat out and delivered a stronger film, but if you wanna just kick back, take it easy, and still be entertained, this croc movie more than holds itself above water.

As for Miner, he drifted away from the feature scene after this following a forgotten western starring James Van Der Beek (Texas Rangers) and a Day of the Dead remake, and has since been cruising the odd tv show instead. Who knows, he may well wash ashore again to resurrect a whole new franchise. Until then, we’re left with a few classics to measure him by.

  • Saul Muerte