Supergator is set in Hawaii where a group of vulcanologist's are studying a volcano near a holiday resort, they think it might be about to blow. Professor Scott Kinney (Brad Johnson), one of his senior graduates Ryan Houston (Josn Kelly) are sent in to liaise with resident volcano watchers Max (Dave Ruskjer) & his assistant Alexandra Stevens (Mary Alexander Stiefvater) & compare notes, the sort of things vulcanologist's do. They decide to set some seismograph's up near the base of the volcano to measure it's activity, the group set off but hadn't counted on there being a 30 foot genetically created 'supergator' that kills & eats anyone it comes across & it's heading straight for the holiday resort where it has plenty of tasty humans to pick from...
King of the rip-off cheapies Roger Corman strikes again, this straight-to-video Sci Fi Channel creature feature was executive produced by Corman while it was co-written & directed by Brian Clyde & isn't anything particularly special although it passes the time harmlessly enough if you don't expect too much. The script by Clyde, Frances Doel & Jeffrey Sturges is pretty clichéd & very standard for this type of film, basically there's some form of huge man eating monster/creature running around eating the less important members of the cast & when all said & done that's all there is to Supergator really. The film moves along at a reasonable pace, I certainly wouldn't call it slow or boring & there are a few unintentionally funny moments. I must also congratulate the makers for such a high body count & surprisingly a lot of the cast die even some I was expecting to make it. The reason behind the supergator itself is your standard 'genetic experiment gone horribly wrong' type scenario, you know I was sitting there watching this & I was thinking to myself why would a bunch of scientists create a huge prehistoric alligator? It just doesn't make any sense to me, what were they hoping to prove or find out that they couldn't achieve by genetically creating a docile, plant eating dinosaur that could have been easily controlled & relied on not to eat every person it came across? I don't know, then again maybe I'm just thinking about this too much. If you like cheesy creature features then Supergator isn't all that bad but it's nothing new or special.
Director Clyde doesn't do much to liven things up, some of the scenery is quite nice but the direction & the set-ups aren't that great. It seems just about every tourist on Hawaii is traipsing through this particularly patch of forest where the supergator lives, there are random people like models, dope heads, fishermen, lovers, waterfall watchers, random guy's driving jeeps & vulcanologist's walking around. The gore is disappointing, there is one severed body part, someone is decapitated otherwise there are just quick shots of people covered in fake blood. The CGI computer effects are poor, the supergator itself looks OK but it isn't animated that well & every time it attacks someone a fake puppet head & jaws are used & there are close-ups of it's blood stained mouth & teeth yet when the film switches back to the CGI supergator it's mouth & teeth are perfectly clean. What does it do? Whip out a handkerchief & wipe itself? There is also a fair amount of CGI blood which looks pretty fake, almost like a solid red cloud.
With a supposed budget of about $250,000 this was pretty damned low budget & in a way they did OK with the meagre amount they had but it's still not a very good film. Actually shot on location in Hawaii apparently. The acting isn't anything particularly memorable. Kelly McGillis of Top Gun (1986) fame plays a scientist & gets eaten.
Supergator is an OK time waster & that's being kind to it, it didn't impress me that much but it kept me relatively quiet for 100 odd minutes. I've definitely seen better but then again I've definitely seen worse.
King of the rip-off cheapies Roger Corman strikes again, this straight-to-video Sci Fi Channel creature feature was executive produced by Corman while it was co-written & directed by Brian Clyde & isn't anything particularly special although it passes the time harmlessly enough if you don't expect too much. The script by Clyde, Frances Doel & Jeffrey Sturges is pretty clichéd & very standard for this type of film, basically there's some form of huge man eating monster/creature running around eating the less important members of the cast & when all said & done that's all there is to Supergator really. The film moves along at a reasonable pace, I certainly wouldn't call it slow or boring & there are a few unintentionally funny moments. I must also congratulate the makers for such a high body count & surprisingly a lot of the cast die even some I was expecting to make it. The reason behind the supergator itself is your standard 'genetic experiment gone horribly wrong' type scenario, you know I was sitting there watching this & I was thinking to myself why would a bunch of scientists create a huge prehistoric alligator? It just doesn't make any sense to me, what were they hoping to prove or find out that they couldn't achieve by genetically creating a docile, plant eating dinosaur that could have been easily controlled & relied on not to eat every person it came across? I don't know, then again maybe I'm just thinking about this too much. If you like cheesy creature features then Supergator isn't all that bad but it's nothing new or special.
Director Clyde doesn't do much to liven things up, some of the scenery is quite nice but the direction & the set-ups aren't that great. It seems just about every tourist on Hawaii is traipsing through this particularly patch of forest where the supergator lives, there are random people like models, dope heads, fishermen, lovers, waterfall watchers, random guy's driving jeeps & vulcanologist's walking around. The gore is disappointing, there is one severed body part, someone is decapitated otherwise there are just quick shots of people covered in fake blood. The CGI computer effects are poor, the supergator itself looks OK but it isn't animated that well & every time it attacks someone a fake puppet head & jaws are used & there are close-ups of it's blood stained mouth & teeth yet when the film switches back to the CGI supergator it's mouth & teeth are perfectly clean. What does it do? Whip out a handkerchief & wipe itself? There is also a fair amount of CGI blood which looks pretty fake, almost like a solid red cloud.
With a supposed budget of about $250,000 this was pretty damned low budget & in a way they did OK with the meagre amount they had but it's still not a very good film. Actually shot on location in Hawaii apparently. The acting isn't anything particularly memorable. Kelly McGillis of Top Gun (1986) fame plays a scientist & gets eaten.
Supergator is an OK time waster & that's being kind to it, it didn't impress me that much but it kept me relatively quiet for 100 odd minutes. I've definitely seen better but then again I've definitely seen worse.