Rock Out With Your Croc Out! Nature Runs Amok in February! (RANTS)

Okay, so we’ll be honest: it's not all crocodiles; we also snuck in an alligator too. Each month, Macabre Daily will concentrate on a specific sub-genre of horror, curating solid representations and suggesting them for your next fright watch. January’s theme was “Giallo,” and it was a blast to go over some classics from Mario Bava and Dario Argento, as well as an incredible article on Giallo's influence through the decades. We ended the month with a raucous round table discussion with Writer/Director Marc Gottlieb, Editor-in-Chief Matt Orozco, and Contributor Sean O’Connor (You can watch that here). February’s theme is “Nature Run Amok.” We’ll present some of the lesser-known, more obscure movies in this sub-genre, but rest assured, all the movies we present will be worth your time. What is it about these films that terrifies us to our core? Oh yeah, getting eaten alive, that’s it; that’s it entirely. We can all agree that sharks, true to form, are the apex when it comes to this terrifying concept, but being tenderized in the jaws of what’s essentially a real-life dinosaur is pretty close to the “whoops, I just croc’d my pants-o-meter,” too.

Let’s take a look at our recommendations:

PRIMEVAL (2007) - Directed by Michael Katleman - Starring Dominic Purcell, Brooke Langton, and Orlando Jones

Is ‘Primeval” a good movie? It depends on how forgiving you are and how much the balance between croc action and a strong plot and story means to you. This isn’t us being cheeky. Like “Slashers,” “Nature Run Amok” movies can be forgiven for not being the strongest narratively as long as the kills deliver. To be fair,  when compared to the other two recommendations in this article, this one is the weakest of the trio. Still, it’s imminently watchable and, despite its best efforts, enjoyable. What’s intriguing about this film is twofold. First, this movie tries to incorporate some decidedly mature themes concerning genocide in Burundi. It’s debatable as to how effectively this is handled. Still, many of the killer animal movies released during this period consisted almost entirely of young, good-looking partygoers stumbling into the wrong (ocean, swamp, desert, lake, etc.) and landing on the menu. We appreciate the effort to up the stakes dramatically. “Primeval” has an adult cast looking to record and capture our antagonist, Gustave, a 20-foot-long, 2,000-pound Nile crocodile, which brings us to the second reason this film works: the crocodile scenes in this film are fantastic.

Based on an actual killer crocodile that has stalked the Ruzizi River and the northern shores of Lake Tanganyika in Burundi for the past three decades, the real Gustave is rumored to have killed 200-300 people; however, realistic estimates put this number closer to 60. For reference, that’s an entire bus full of people. Scientists believe the crocodile's massive size and weight impede it from hunting its typical agile prey of fish and antelope, having to sustain itself on slower prey. Unfortunately for us, that means we just made the menu. 

The crocodile action in “Primeval” differentiates it from similar films in this sub-genre. In Italian productions from the 70s and early 80s, these action scenes were hampered by the inability to showcase a realistic animal, with often unintentionally laughable results. The introduction of CGI in the late 80s through the 2000s swung wildly into screensaver territory, producing the same unintentional laughs for different reasons. It wasn’t until “Jurrasic Park” introduced the (almost) seamless marriage of practical and digital that audiences started seeing frighteningly realistic depictions of our collective nightmares. This film capitalizes on that, with visceral, brutal results. This should be a watch for anyone who just wants to see a massive crocodile wreak absolute havoc on anything that gets in its way.

“PRIMEVAL” is available to rent on YouTube, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime.

“CRAWL” (2019) - Directed by Alexandre Aja - Starring Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper

This entry has the most substantial script of all three. It should be taught in film school. An exercise in escalating tension, the film starts with a Category 5 hurricane. That’s the START of the movie. From there, we bounce between crawlspace alligator terror, rising floodwaters, a buffet of looters and cops, and a third-act escape from all the aforementioned chaos, only for the levee to break and send out protagonists right back into the hellhouse it all started from. They should have passed out paper bags for audiences to hyperventilate into when this was released in the summer of 2019. It’s a masterclass in edge-of-your-seat mayhem and heart-pounding escapes.

Produced by Sam Raimi (“Evil Dead” “Spider-Man”) and directed by Alexandre Aja (“Haute Tension,” “Piranha 3D”), the story revolves around Haley (Scodelario) trying to find her missing Father (Pepper) as a hurricane tears apart the Florida coastline. Turns out Pops is down in the crawlspace, along with some of the nastiest alligators outside the Everglades. The delight in this movie is that it’s a ticking clock set piece from start to finish, but there are multiple clocks. There’s Mother Nature in the form of the hurricane and Mother Nature in the form of the alligators. What’s great about our protagonists is that they do realistic things, things the audience can see themselves doing. When the alligators advance, they retreat to their only safe space; they act and behave like real people, not superheroes. They use their heads and tackle the most prevalent problem, then the next, then the next. It’s refreshing to see this onscreen. As much as we love Jason Statham, we don’t know anyone who does anything remotely Statham-y in real life. This helps ground an outlandish, if not altogether unrealistic, plot (it is Florida, after all) so that it never turns into parody. Shout out to Cinematographer Maxime Alexandre, whose work in genre films should be noted because it often elevates the material above what’s on the page, and Set Decorator Lucy Eyre, who does wonders with the crawlspace interior, giving it an almost Gothic feel. If you haven’t seen “Crawl,” get on it; a sequel has been greenlit and begins shooting this year.

“CRAWL” is available to rent on YouTube, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime.

“DARK AGE” - (1987) - Directed by Arch Nicholson - Starring John Jarratt, Nikki Coghill, Burnham Burnham

“Dark Age” is the true gem here. Overlooked for decades, this film is the crown jewel of Ozploitation action adventure. The story, acting, and overall vibe owe almost everything to “JAWS,” but on an homage level, not a fast cash rip-off. The story concerns Numunwari, a 25-foot-long crocodile hunting along the Northern Territory in Australia. After a run-in with some poachers, Ranger Steve Harris (Jarratt) has to sort the situation out. The local developers want the beast killed, but the Indigenous Aborigines view the croc as sacred and must be protected. This is an interesting take and one that, in 1987, was ahead of its time. One of the tragic effects of the success of “JAWS,” both the novel and film, was an explosion of sport fishing. The White Shark population along the West Coast of California was almost completely wiped out after that film’s release. The progressive environmental stance “Dark Age” takes is refreshingly welcome and certainly inspired Oliver Platt’s character in “Lake Placid.”

While the film takes a stance on conservation, at its heart, it’s a fun, incredibly well-filmed action-adventure romp through the backwaters of Australia. Nicholson knows how to stage action and get great performances from his actors. He shot 2nd Unit on “Razorback” (a perfect watch-along with this film) and keeps the pace brisk and the tension high, knowing how to ease back, only to dial it up impressively, especially in the third act.

An interesting side note, “Dark Age,” while considered an impressive entry into the “Nature Run Amok” sub-genre and a cult classic in Australian cinema, is not available in that country and was never shown there upon release back in 87.’ It’s taken decades for the movie to finally find an audience, and it’s a shame because it’s an incredibly well-made thriller.

“DARK AGE” is free to watch on YouTube.

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