Killer Crocodile Blu-ray Review

I love creature feature movies. Love them. Big monsters I am in. Doesn’t matter if its some hokey sci-fi schlock or a masterpiece like Jaws, if a big creature is on the rampage I want to watch it. No I mention Jaws because it really is just a creature on the rampage movie, it just had a great cast of actors in it. At the end of the day it was still giant shark on the lose eating people at a beach resort. Now another reason I bring up Jaws is because it was such a hit it inspired a nice amount of rip off films. Alligator, Bloody Beach, Orca, Piranha, and the Italian masterpiece Killer Crocodile

Killer Crocodile is simply put a movie about a killer crocodile. The film actually opens hot with a couple guys fishing and complaining about the lack of bites they are getting when a giant crocodile jumps up to their boat and kills them. It pans into a very slick POV shot of the crocs mouth while some smooth Jaws rip off music plays over the credits. We then cut to a group of hippie kids taking samples of the water to try and figure out what keeps polluting it. They figure out pretty quick its man made pollution and that someone is dumping chemical waste in the water. They find traces of it and determine that its also radioactive. They take camp for the night, and that’s when the Killer Crocodile takes out on of the girls, and her little dog.

Yes this crocodile is not only a killer, but the radioactive waste he has been living in has caused him to mutate and grow to about 30 feet. Not only is it big, but its also really mean and about every 10 min or so it kills someone. At first when the group discovers it they don’t want to kill it, but after it essentially eats a dock with people on it they change their tune and bring in a local crocodile hunter to kill it. Yes, this is Jaws plot most of the way. The only thing, it’s much more entertaining.

See, bad acting, and bad score aside this is a really fun film. The crocodile, is clearly mechanical, but it doesn’t look bad at all. In fact I think it looks rather cool. The other great thing is the Croc is always on the hunt. This is not a slow burn film like a lot of these types of movie are, no this is fast pace all the way through. This thing kills someone, sometimes more than one every 10min or so ang the effects look really well.

Now, this film is clearly on the lower end of the budget but I’m willing to bet the majority went into the croc itself and the special effect, which of course are all practical. People being chewed up, bitten in half, swallowed, limbs eaten, you name it. Very bloody and more than enough to please all the gore fans out there. The POV shots of the croc coming after people as he stalks them before the killing is really slick as well and actually helps add to the suspense. Throw in that cool score and its really fun.

Out of print for years, and a popular title back in the old VHS tape trading days this classic has been picked up by the great folks over at Severin. Severin has been doing an amazing job on their transfers and this is no exception as the give it a nice collector treatment on Blu-ray. I have to say the transfer is both audio and video is amazing to the past version I have seen of this film. Everything is crisp and clear, yet because of how well they transfer the colors is loses none of its grindhouse look and appeal. It’s even loaded up with special features

The Fearless Crocodile Hunter: Interview with Actor Pietro Genuardi
It Crawls: Interview with Cinematographer Federico Del Zoppo
In the Jaws of the Crocodile: Interview with Special Makeup FX Artist Giannetto De Rossi
Of Crocodiles and Men: Interview with Actor Richard Anthony Crenna
Trailer
English with Closed Captioning

Another great release by Severin that’s sure to please all the horror and exploitation fans out there. Killer Crocodile is a fun bloody time from beginning to end and needs to be seen to be believed. Pick yours up today.

Overall 3.5 out of 5 Stars!