release year: 1980
genre: horror/comedy
viewing setting: home VHS, 11/29/98
what I expected: a fun monster movie
what I got: just that!
synopsis: An enormous alligator is living in the sewers, eating anyone unfortunate enough to come near it.
impressions: This was a top-notch not-entirely-serious monster movie. I mean, how could it go wrong? It had many great elements: evil scientists, an evil businessman, an evil mayor in cahoots with the evil businessman, a nosy and stupid reporter, a burned-out cop, a nubile female lead, an evil dog-catcher, a Great White Hunter, and of course, a gigantic alligator that no one believes exists until it crawls out of the sewers and into the streets. Did I mention that all of the bad guys meet well-deserved ends? Hah. The pacing was dead-on: we don't have to wait long for the first death (12 minutes) and in fact, after that there's a death at least every 10 minutes. What more could you ask for? Well, there's the alligator in the kids' birthday pool-party...the alligator breaking out of the sewers...the alligator wreaking havoc in the lake...and my all-time favorite, the alligator crashing a wedding. Oh, yes.
acting: Passable. Robert Forster knows that this isn't an ultra-serious horror movie he's leading, and that makes it okay. Henry Silva is irritating as the Great White Hunter, but thankfully, he goes after the alligator in a dark alley and then we don't have to listen to him any more.
final word: Well-done and funny monster movie that amounts to much more than you'd expect.
rating: C+