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A baby alligator flushed down the toilet feeds on
dumped chemical waste which mutates the hungry
reptile into a huge monster and soon fishermen
and bums are served as main course. Tough cop Joseph
Bologna is on the case and with the aid of rookie cop
Woody Brown and crocodile hunter Richard Lynch he goes
after the alligator to stop it before the townsfolk
get eaten.
The first film, from 1980, was a clever, fun homage
to Jaws/The Birds-like horror flicks. This is a
typical exploitation sequel with none of the spark
that made the original a small cult classic. We have
long and talky episodes mixed with bad
action and horror sequences with zero suspense. It starts
out bad and it's soon clear it's not a good movie.
But we soon get some unintentionally funny giggles
along the way; this is the kind of movie where people
on a carnival hold on to their balloons and popcorn
while being chased by a giant alligator monster.
Compared to the ironic precursor this is a straight
horror-action piece with some typical lame jokes and
one-liners added to the crippled dialogue; favourite
line has a surviving, intended victim mourning "It
used Henry as a toothpick. Henry was a good man, he
didn't deserve to end up as a toothpick." We have
the typical buddy-movie premise with a lot of
desperate humour milked out of the pairing of "the
old, experienced bad-ass cop" and "the young, clumsy
rookie".
And the so-called giant title fiend changes size for
practically every shot and is rarely so gigantic as
it's described by the heroes. We have a real live
alligator (or crocodile, whatever, who can tell the
difference, right?) in some close-ups while the
mechanical special effect roaring in the waters
mostly looks like a inflatable plastic animal.
For worse, we have a crappy score not adding anything
good to the already hopeless action sequences. Too
much time is also wasted on pointless subplots
involving the rookie cop's love affair with the
annoyingly perky daughter of the town and the
corruption of evil businessman Steve Railsback. Add a
completely out-of-place anti-climax and a ridiculously
silly ending (with the heroes cheered on by the
townsfolk) and you've got yourself a turkey!
When it comes to acting veteran Bologna doesn't
exactly overstrain himself to deliver a good, or even
interesting performance. Railsback is quite amusing
(though miscast) as a typical campy villain, but his
character's story and purpose are so distracting and
over-done that it gets annoying. Underrated 80s
scream queen Dee Wallace Stone is second-billed,
playing Bologna's scientist wife but her role is
just a little more than a cameo and her likable
talent is shamelessly wasted.
The single actor really scoring in the film is
Richard Lynch, a small-parts villain actor, making an
entertaining spoof of Robert Shaw's old Jaws role,
the stereotypical wise monster-hunter. He even gets
to go the same way as Shaw, struggling with the knife
between the monster's death... But it's not worth the
watch and you might as well re-watch Jaws. Or Alligator.
Most deaths are barely seen or done off-screen but
if you manage to stay awake you get to see some blood,
especially in that mentioned Jaws rip-off moment
where Richard Lynch bites the big one. Though the
gore and special effects look very fake and the budget
seem very low budget and sometimes non-existent.
Typically cheap, 80s-like film music, that kind of
thing you can find as a melody on electric synths.
Absolutely dreadful, killing any chance of a little
suspense in the film.
Not unexpectedly a bad sequel, this isn't the worst
of its kind but that doesn't really say much, right?
Occasionally dull, occasionally laughable this hasn't
much to offer except for some bad effects, lame
acting and unintended laughs. Skip it!
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