The Firelight Shocks DVD Review Section

Alligator Distributor: Digital Entertainment Region: 2 Ratio: 4.3 Sound: Mono

One of the greatest monster movies ever made, Alligator remains for me a real treat. I just love it - it might not be anywhere near as good as Jaws, and in the wake of such CGI-fests as Deep Rising and Jurassic Park its title critter looks rather dire, but all said and done this remains a far better film than the similarly plotted Lake Placid. Yup, as far as rampaging reptiles go, I'll vouch for mine to be of the hand made variety thank you very much (unless of course we are talking about that delightful Anaconda film which everyone seems to hate). Alligator features a great cast too. You've got Sidney Lassick from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest getting consumed in the sewer, you've got exploitation mainstay Henry Silva as a big game hunter and you've got Robert Forster in his second best role ever (after Jackie Brown naturally). Moreover, Robin Riker can be put on the list of memorable, one shot horror heroines on account of her role as the herpetologist inadvertently responsible for the enormous reptile. Like such other memorable past horror females as Candice Hilligoss, Judith O'Dea, Jessica Harper and Ellen Sandweiss, Riker never did lend her attractive and alluring presence to another fear flick. Alligator begins with a scene of alligator wrestling - something which - sadly - still takes place in Florida. We witness one of the alligator wrestlers being bitten and, soon after, we see a little girl buy a baby alligator. Once taken home, the baby alligator is ceased by an irate father and flushed down the toilet. Cut to a few years later and the little girl has grown up to become Robin Riker. Moreover the alligator has also matured. Having been feeding upon the dead animals that are dumped in a nearby sewer in New York by an inhumane (not to mention illegal) testing lab, the alligator (called Ramon) has now digested enough dodgy chemicals to grow to about twice the size of a limousine! It is indeed utterly enormous and it is left to Riker and Forster to slaughter the oversized carnivore once and for all. In the space of the film you also get more biting and digesting for your money than any other monster movie I can think of. The most tasteless scene is undeniably the cold hearted munching of a little boy, but suffice to say that you also get to see Silva, Lassick and a handful of upper class cretins chewed upon too. Alligator is lots of fun. The humour in the film is well balanced with the odd jump and the movie plays fantastically. This is one of the best horror films of the eighties and I really cannot speak any more highly of it. With a script by Lewis Teague (Piranha, Cujo), not to mention excellent performances and some delightful moments of carnage, this is a monster movie to cherish. If you haven't already seen it, then you honestly should...

EXTRAS: Typical budget fare. A picture gallery which is so slight as to be barely even worth mentioning... and that's your lot. The full frame picture looks correct, but the quality is never better than on a decent VHS tape and, typical for an older disc, those damn pixel problems are evident. The sound is also suitably unspectacular. When you consider the amount of shit that has been thrown out on disc in 'special editions' it is unbelievable that Anchor Bay or someone of that ilk has not considered putting a popular film like this through the bells and whistles treatment.