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Released by: Anchor Bay
Released on: 7/12/2011
Director: Jim Wynorski (as Jay Andrews)
Cast: David Carradine, Corey Landis, Amy Rasimas, Rib Hillis, John Callahan
Year: 2010
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The Movie:
This was a painful movie to watch. Still with us? Ok, here's the details.
A secret and privately funded research facility in Hawaii manages to allow the escape of two genetically altered giant reptiles into the population. Of course the company running these experiments, led by David Carradine (his single day of shooting took place a mere two weeks before his death) doesn't want to do the right thing and alert the authorities, and the mutated animals run amuck, killing random people in a mostly bloodless fashion.
A game preserve officer, an FBI guy posing as an engineer, a Cajun tracker, and the local yokel police chief (father of the game preserve officer, so you know something “tragic†will happen with him) hunt down the monsters while more people get eaten. So it becomes a race to kill them which comes to a non-intense climax with less then ten minutes to go where the two scaled death dealers battle it out for all of a minute or so.
It's typical fare for made-for-television fodder that follows the same tired formula most giant monster movies follow, and it's generic stuff. You know what's going to happen, its simply a matter of waiting to see how they go about the kills, who dies, and how the big monster battle at the end goes. This one disappoints on all levels. No nudity, just chicks in bikinis (which seems to be a favorite food of the beasts), the one you want to die doesn't, with the exception of one kill halfway through there's nothing gore wise to speak of (and even then its cartoon blood), and the monster battle is lame. Really lame. The CGI creatures are low rent and not very inventive looking. The acting is fine, although nothing to call mom about, and the lush scenery on the Hawaiian island they filmed on looks really nice. Unfortunately the scenery is about the only thing worth looking at in this dreck. The film is obviously assembled by people who technically know what they are doing, and under the budgetary constraints they surely had, they do a nice job, look-wise. It's the content that stinks.
The Roger Corman produced movie was thrown together based on the success of two movies named for each of the creatures on the wonderful SyFy network, known for crappy CGI masturbatory original features, and it was made on a gamble that the network would pick it up. They did, aired it, and now the masses can be treated to watch this crap whenever they want to on DVD or Blu-ray. Hey, it's up your alley, go for it. It delivers what you would expect from a SyFy giant monster movie. Unfortunately, it is way below the bar for what Roger Corman has produced in the past, and it's sad to see this is what he's putting his name on now.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Dinocroc vs. Supergator with presented here in a 1080p AVC encoded picture, with a 1.78:1 widescreen image. It looks like a really nice DVD, rather than a really nice BD. The colors are very nice, and do a good job of displaying the beauty the jungles of Hawaii have to offer, but its not as stunning as it could be. The film was shot digitally, using a camera that makes it look like 35mm, so there is grain to be seen. The detail is good, but not outstanding, and the picture quality is just average for a Blu-ray. The audio chores are handled by a lossless 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track which does its job, just not as great a job as it could have. Most of the activity comes from the front with sporadic rear channel use. The subwoofer gets a decent workout, and the balance between the music (which sounds like cheesy 80s tv music) and the dialogue seems to be a good balance. The audio is certainly serviceable, but just not anything amazing.
Aside from a trailer for the movie, which makes it looks MUCH better than it actually is, there is a commentary. Moderated by Perry Martin, who is joined by the director Jim Wynorski and Mr. Corman himself, this track is actually a good listen. Far more entertaining than the feature is, with lots of info offered up concerning the filming of the movie, as well as tidbits from other Corman flicks like the 1950s She Gods of Shark Reef, and also gives some info about David Carradine. It's a good listen, despite the fact that the movie isn't a good watch.
The Final Word:
It should be obvious by now what the final word is on this picture. Unless you can't get enough of garbage SyFy puts out, this is one to forget about.
