Guilty Pleasure

The Crocodile-Horror sub-genre lurked in the background of horror film throughout the 'noughties'; much like the crocodile beasts they present their presence has either been ominous or gone perilously unnoticed.  Quite frankly it's about time the fear was faced.

Firstly and inevitably there is the Lake Placid franchise. Released in 1999, the original was the mother responsible (or guilty, depending on which way you look at it) for the genre.  The larger-than-life croc terrorized the simple minded folks in a Southern American town before being annihilated. You can't really blame Lake Placid for being so awful though, it was part of those cheesy nineties film accidents that people like to ignore

I haven’t seen it but the nasty afterbirth from so-bad-it-shouldn’t-exist Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (2009), Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus (2010) looks – although you may not believe it possible - even worse. But, I must admit, in a scopophilic way I am slightly intrigued to see who comes out tops in this epic scenario.

              
Moving on to more serious stuff, Rogue (2007) is a croc-flic with a more plausible storyline and characterisation. Set in Australia, this is no Crocodile Dundee. Like Placid, it’s a giant crocodile. Unlike Placid, it is well made and shot and focuses on themes of human conflict in the desperation to survive. Unfortunately Sam Worthington’s character has limited screen time.

Black Water is my favourite of this scaly genre. Unlike the demand for gigantic elaborate prehistoric fiends met by the aforementioned films, Black Water settles with a real-sized beast.  Also set in Australia, the film centres around three characters whose tour boat crashes and they find themselves trapped in a bayou inhabited by a ravenous crocodile. //                                                                                        The film capitalizes on terror with the monster rarely visible due to the murky, all-encompassing water and the doomed aussies have no option but to risk submerging. Shaky handheld and a naturalistic plot bring this film far too close to realism; I found myself getting extremely jumpy while watching. Much like the original Paranormal Activity, this film proves that you don’t need a Hollywood budget or elaborate special effects to instil terror into our souls.

 

What makes these films so awfully good? Why won't they dissappear? Why don't these psychotic crocs accept defeat and sink back into the dirty depths they emerged from? Whatever. I’m never swimming around in ‘placid’ lakes or getting in a boat to an Australian wilderness after witnessing these specimens. Even if Sam Worthington was aboard.

Special thanks to Sorcha Ingram for the crocodillian inspiration