Crocodile (1978)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

A Major Disappointment

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This is the best Korean movie ever made about a giant killer crocodile--and also the worst. I suspect that if they ever DO make another Korean giant crocodile though, this will no longer be the best, but it should remain the worst for a LONG time. This movie obviously is a rip-off of "Jaws", but so was the Italian "Great White" (which actually received a court injunction against it in the US), so was "Grizzly", so was "Tentacles", so was "Big Alligator River". All of these films are much better "Jaws" rip-offs than this one. The problem here is that they obviously didn't have the budget to make a cheap SOV slasher flick, let alone a much more expensive giant beastie movie, so the movie doesn't even achieve a basic suspension of disbelief. They show a crocodile and they show people who kind of look like they're being eaten, but never in the same shot. Frankly, the only thing this movie even semi-successfully rips-off from "Jaws" is John William's score (which they play a legally-actionable synthesizer variation of).The plot involves a workaholic Korean doctor on vacation who loses his wife and young daughter to the title monster and makes it his life's work to hunt it down. He is aided by a scientist and a boat owner (whose names in Korean probably mean "Hooper" and "Quint"). You get the idea--it's "Jaws" basically but made with the amount of money you might find beneath the cushions of your couch.Due no doubt to its criminally low budget, this movie relies A LOT on close-ups--of the crocodile, of course, which was obviously real but I suspect not all that gigantic, but also in a lot of other strange places. There is a sex scene, for instance, that consists of only a single shot of the woman's face (at least, I think it was a sex scene--it's possible she was just having a REALLY good shower). Which brings us to the sorry lack of female nudity (and, no, the eight-year-old girl doesn't count). This is never a problem in a good movie like "Jaws", or even a decent one like "Big Alligator River", but it renders this one even more worthless. If you see only one Korean giant crocodile movie this year, you have no choice but to see this one I guess, but god knows I wouldn't advise it!

Everything to make this film belong to the Z connection: The red lights -eyes of the crocodile are great. They had so little budget that we can see the same people drowning several times.The scene where the crocodile cut palm trees with its tail is wonderful.Moreover on the video I possess, the film is not entire and cut just after the ship explosion so there is no end (a wonderful open end) which adds 20% of quality to this movie. Dialogues are incredible as well. 10/10.

Totally stupid--in fact laughably inept-- remake of JAWS with a less than menacing looking crocodile, who can destroy whole villages with his tail--eating people in small villages, until a group of locals hunt the thing down a la the JAWS finale. Incredibly cheap effects are totally ludicrous, making this whole movie hilarious. The scenes with the croc destroying whole villages are just too funny for description. There always seems to be someone vomiting blood in these scenes as well. Try to find a frame where someone ISN'T. For camp lovers only...others will be totally put off by the total ineptness of this production.

Rating No stars out of 5Tiny Tim is sent to destroy a man-eating crocodile loose on a harbor killing beachers in this animal killer Jaws rip-off complete with animal attacks, gory violence and of course the crocodile which looks more like the shark in Jaws. Universal even took legal action over the film. Terrible direction and poor location-shooting. If you want better Jaws rip-offs go see Orca, Grizzly or Alligator instead of Crocodile.Followed by the inept Crocodile II.