Millennium Films released Crocodile in the United Kingdon on 13 November 2000. They only released it there — at least for a couple of years. It went directly to video in most countries.
This is despite Tobe Hooper directing it. But that’s why I’m writing about it now. I think the film is pretty good. I pretty much always hate teens and college students in horror films. This annoyance is wonderfully brief here. We get to the killing fast!
But the film’s biggest problem is the computer-generated crocodile. It looks terrible. These digital effects soiled a couple of decades of film. It is what the Yamaha DX7 did to pop music of the 1980s.
This reminds me of Jaws. The mechanical shark wasn’t great. And it didn’t work well. As a result, the film depended on the barrels. And that’s why it works so well. When a barrel pops up, you know the shark is there but you can’t see it. That’s terrifying! (I know, because I had nightmares for years when I was a kid!)
Hooper does his best to hide the crocodile until later in the film. But the tools to do it well just aren’t there. And ultimately, the audience has to see the monster in all its glory. And its glory is not glorious!
The film is still worth seeing. The story’s good and it’s fun. But you can’t look at it and think, “Wow! People were impressed by this?!” Because they clearly weren’t. It got a theatrical release in very few places. It’s best to think of this as a direct-to-video film.
As for Tobe Hooper, well, like all of us, he had to make a living. And I don’t blame him. I don’t blame anyone. Everyone did a good job. That includes the special effects people, who were just dealing with the technology and budget they had.
Crocodile (2000) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.
