During the late 80’s,
the guy who produced “Zombie Flesh Eaters”, Fabrizio DeAngelis (no doubt inspired by the 1980 film
“Alligator”), got together with Italian SFX maestro Gianetto De Rossi and directed this rather amusing
Jaws rip-off about a giant rubber crocodile, on the rampage in a South American Swamp.
A group of ecologists, lead by Anthony Crenna, discover that a nearby chemical plant has been dumping barrels of toxic waste into the swamplands and that the local law enforcement official, a fat lazy American known as “The Judge”, is being paid to look the other way.
Unfortunately, their efforts to try and prove where the waste is coming from are hampered, when they are attacked by a 30ft Crocodile, that’s grown to gigantic proportions after exposure to the waste.
Hooking up with a local hunter, played by Thomas Moore, they attempt to wipe out the crocodile before it wipes out everyone else. This provides the film with some of its more hilarious moments, as the distinctly rubber looking croc appears to be 12ft in length one minute, then 30ft the next. Then when the hunter is unable to kill it with his elephant gun, leaps onto it's backs and starts stabbing it with a boat hook, Captain Ahab style (yeah, like that’ll work).
A film that can only be recommended to lovers of cheesy Italian films. Be sure to checkout the score by Riz Ortalini, which sounds distinctly similar to Jaws (so similar I’m surprised they didn’t get sued). One thing’s for sure, this isn’t Lake Placid...
