When Jaws smashed box office records on its release in 1975, heralding a new blockbuster era, it was swiftly followed by a slew of imitators. Killer animal movies became all the craze, particularly those set in or near water, with some of the titles including Orca and Piranha, as well as more direct rip-offs like The Last Shark.
Most were dismissed as bandwagon-jumping garbage but a couple have gone on to become favourites among genre enthusiasts. As well as the aforementioned Piranha, which gave director Joe Dante’s career a boost, another popular Jaws imitator was Alligator, directed by Lewis Teague in 1980.
Written by John Sayles, one of Piranha’s screenwriters, Alligator wasn’t a huge success in cinemas but rated very highly on the ABC TV station in the US. So, around a decade later, they put up the money for a sequel. This became Alligator II: The Mutation, which did get a small theatrical release, despite the TV backing behind it.
101 Films are releasing both films together in a Limited Edition set as part of their Black Label range, with the first film being presented on both 4K UHD and Blu-ray. I put on my waders and hesitantly dipped my toes into the water.
Alligator
Director: Lewis Teague
Screenplay: John Sayles, Frank Ray Perilli (story)
Starring: Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo, Dean Jagger, Sydney Lassick, Jack Carter, Henry Silva, Perry Lang
Country: USA
Running Time: 91 min
Year: 1980
Alligator opens with a teenage girl, Marisa Kendall, witnessing a brutal accident at an alligator attraction. For whatever reason, this prompts her to talk her parents into buying her a baby ‘gator as a pet.
However, her father soon tires of the creature and, whilst Marisa is at school, he flushes it down the toilet.
Fast forward 12 years and the alligator is still living in the Chicago sewers, where he has grown enormous due to feeding on the corpses of lab animals who have been the subjects of experiments in breeding larger livestock.
Now he’s fully grown, however, the alligator develops a taste for larger prey and begins hunting people.
Keen to stop the reptile is Detective David Madison (Robert Forster), a cop with a bad reputation for getting his partners killed. Helping him stop the gator is his latest partner, the rookie Jim Kelly (Perry Lang), and a now grown-up Marisa (Robin Riker), who is a leading expert in herpetology.
The concept for Alligator is pure B-movie hokum but Lewis Teague and his team craft it into a film that works like gangbusters. Aiding things greatly is John Sayles’ script. He was brought on fairly late in proceedings and, by all accounts, stripped out most of the original script and started pretty much from scratch. Whilst the plot is nothing special, Sayles loads the script with sharp dialogue and throws in some themes of political corruption that would become common in his more critically acclaimed later films.
This dialogue would be wasted if the cast were no good but, thankfully, Alligator is loaded with great character actors, like Michael V. Gazzo, Dean Jagger, Sydney Lassick and Henry Silva. The latter is loads of fun, hamming it up wonderfully as a big game hunter brought in to eliminate the gator. Robert Forster is the star though and he is as calmly charismatic as ever. No one nails the tough but amiable every-man quite like Forster and this is one of his strongest roles. Robin Riker makes a decent co-star too and her character is given enough to do that she doesn’t feel like mere eye candy.
Yes, the effects don’t hold up and it’s not the scariest creature-feature I’ve seen but Teague keeps things sharp and entertaining. It’s atmospherically lit too and there’s some blood and gore thrown in to keep horror fans satiated, particularly in the final act.
Overall, Alligator is a potentially naff knock-off that is made with enough class and good humour to work a treat. A masterclass in B-movie production.
Film: 
Alligator II: The Mutation
Director: Jon Hess
Screenplay: Curt Allen
Starring: Joseph Bologna, Dee Wallace, Richard Lynch, Woody Brown, Holly Gagnier, Bill Daily, Steve Railsback, Brock Peters
Country: USA
Running Time: 91 min
Year: 1991
The story for Alligator II: The Mutation is remarkably similar to the first one. In the city of Regent Park, local tycoon Vincent Brown (Steve Railsback) is dumping chemicals into the sewers. As you might have guessed, these cause an alligator living there to mutate into a giant, killer beast.
This time, it’s lone wolf Detective David Hodges (Joseph Bologna) who’s hot on the alligator’s trail. He’s assisted by rookie Rich Harmon (Woody Brown) and his wife Christine (Dee Wallace), who also happens to be an expert on reptiles. Also thrown into the mix is professional hunter “Hawk” Hawkins (Richard Lynch), whose team is hired by Brown to get rid of the gator.
Alligator II is so similar to its predecessor that it’s hard not to compare them at every turn and, unfortunately, the sequel consistently falls short. Worst of all, for a B-movie, it’s a little dull. The pace is quite slow and the set-pieces are all pretty lackluster.
The cast aren’t as strong either. Bologna and Wallace are OK, but lack the spark and charm of Forster and Riker. Much of the supporting cast is poor, though Lynch is a joy to watch once he enters the fray.
Also, whilst still throwing in some jokey comments here and there, the script to Alligator II is nowhere near as witty as its predecessor.
So, overall Alligator II is a disappointment. Treading such similar ground to the film it followed up, it serves best as a reminder of how well made the first one was and how such material can easily fall flat in the wrong hands.
Film:
Alligator & Alligator II: The Mutation are released together in a Limited Edition set on 12th February on 4K UHD & Blu-Ray in the UK, released by 101 Films as part of their Black Label range. You can order it here. I watched both films on Blu-ray and they look fantastic. Colours pop, details are crisp and grain is natural. There’s a green tint in a couple of scenes in the first film but they’re scenes shot under fluorescent light, so that’s likely as intended. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review to give you an idea of how it looks. Audio is strong on both discs too.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Alligator
– Theatrical cut (4K & Blu-ray)
– Alternate TV cut (Blu-ray)
– Everybody In The Pool – An interview with actress Robin Riker
– Wild In The Streets – An interview with Director Lewis Teague
– It Walks Among Us – An interview with screenwriter John Sayles
– Luck Of The Gator – An interview with special makeup effects artist Robert Short
– Gator Guts, The Great River, and Bob – An Interview With Bryan Cranston
– Additional Scenes From The TV Version
– Teaser Trailer
– Theatrical Trailer
– TV Spots
Alligator II: The Mutation
– From The Echo Lake Lagoon – An Interview With Director Jon Hess
– Dead In The Water – An Interview With Special Effects Coordinator John Eggett
– Cutting With Teeth – An Interview With Editor Marshall Harvey
– Becoming The Hunted – An Interview With Actor Kane Hodder
– Blood Brothers – An Interview With Second Unit Director Eugene Hess
– Theatrical Trailer
In his interview, Lewis Teague talks fondly about how the film “catapulted [his career] into another dimension”. He talks in detail about the production and his relationship with some of those involved.
The interview with Bryan Cranston is amazing. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s one of the best interviews I’ve seen in a long time. He was only a lowly production assistant on the film but has some wonderful stories to tell about his experiences. He ends on a sweetly touching note too, describing a life-changing experience meeting Robert Forster.
Robin Riker talks with good humour about the film and her experiences on it. It’s a fun interview. Robert Short, who was the special effects makeup artist, is also entertaining, talking about his role and working with a real alligator in one sequence.
John Sayles talks about how he came on to the project at the last minute and the inspirations behind the changes he made to the script.
On Alligator II, Jon Eggett talks about his work on the film’s special effects. He was brought on fairly late in the day to help make the alligator puppet work, so talks a lot about what was wrong and how he fixed it.
Director John Hess has plenty of fun anecdotes to tell about his experiences making the film too. His brother, Eugene, is also interviewed. He was the second unit director. They both talk fairly candidly and have some fun stories to share.
Editor Marshall Harvey talks about how he was promoted from editing the trailer and TV spots for the first film to being lead editor on the second. He has some illuminating answers.
Kane Hodder talks about his experiences making both films too. He helped control the giant alligator puppet in the first film and had an acting role in the second. He also talks about how, like Lynch, he had suffered from burns in the past.
There’s also an extra which shows the additional material included in the TV cut, which is useful for someone like me without the time or patience to sit through another version of the film.
And, as listed, the whole TV cut is included in the Limited Edition set, should you prefer to watch that. I went with the theatrical cut as, though the TV version is longer, it’s also been cut in places for blood and gore.
So, whilst a commentary or longer documentary might have been nice, the large array of interviews included here are all of great value and the Cranston interview alone makes the disc worth recommending. Get it bought.
Disc/Features:
Leave a Reply