Bad CGI Gator

I like to consider myself a connoisseur of low budget horror. It's a fine line to walk-- there are films that know their premise is bad, so the cast and crew don't try; there are others that try too hard to be more than what they're capable of being and end up being boring. There are very few "bad" horror movies where you can tell that everyone involved is truly enjoying themselves-- and that enjoyment elevates the film to something that you truly, unironically enjoy as well.

I've been anxiously awaiting Bad CGI Gator for a month, as it was coming out on my birthday, and it did not disappoint. The low budget did not stop the camera crew from doing a very professional job, and the acting was superb for a comic horror film; although I doubt we'll see any of these actors in the future, I'd be very happy if we did see their careers advance.

The script is charmingly mocking of Gen Z culture, in a way that makes it clear that actual Gen Z people were involved in writing it.

And the gator, oh, the gator! If you came to this review to hear about the eponymous gator, I promise it won't disappoint. There's an in-universe reason the gator is bad CGI, and I promise that the creature's descent from the roof will fulfill every promise the film's name offers.

If none of this compels you, the short run time at worst means it's worth giving it a try, and if you're like me, you'll be left wanting more.

This was a movie that I got the chance to see thanks to Laura from Scandal Coactive. This was a Full Moon film that when I saw the title, I knew this was going to be outrageous. Without watching this, I had a feeling this would be in line with the modern Full Moon films, which I'm not always the biggest fan of. I'm still shocked that I got the chance to review movies from this company so I jumped on the chance.

Synopsis: six college students get a cabin in the swamplands of Georgia. They decide to throw their school laptops in a nearby lake in an act of youthful defiance, which unknowingly turns an alligator into a dreaded and insatiable CGI creature.

We start this off with Jim (Lee Fealy) seeing a sign about not fishing in this lake. He ignores it, pulling it out of the ground and dropping it in the water. The reason is that there is an alligator living here. He sees the animal and it's not big. He makes a comment about it needing to get bigger.

It is then that we meet our group of characters. They are coming to Chad's (Ben VanderMey) uncle's cabin. With him is his best friend, Pearce (Cooper Drippe) and his stepsister Hope (Maddie Lane). Chad and she do not get along. It was Hope's mother wanting them to be friends so she was pushed to come. Chad also brings his girlfriend, Sarah (Rebecca Stoughton). She is best friends with Pearce's girlfriend of Paisley (Sarah Buchanan). Also with them is Sam (Michael Bonini). He is bullied by the group, but he has a crush on Hope.

Paisley and Sarah want to be influencers. They don't bring much to the table in sticking out with their content. It is generic. Them along with Chad and Pearce are 'typical Gen-Z' and annoying. Sam wants to fit in, but he's a nice guy. Hope is also different from the rest of the group.

As the synopsis said, Sarah comes up with an idea of tossing all their laptops in the lake for a TikTok. Sam doesn't want to do this as he has short stories he's written on his, but he succumbs to peer pressure. Hope refuses. The batteries from the computers create an electrical current that changes this alligator into a large monster. It can also now float. It traps our group in the cabin and picks them off one by one.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I'll start is that runs under an hour long. We don't get much in the way of character development, but we also don't need this. This gives us enough set up until the alligator gets changed. It is from there that our characters are then killed off until the climax.

Now that I've given that, this is a comedy first. This is also a movie that we are meant to dislike all the characters except for Hope and Sam. She is the most 'normal' woman of the group and thinks for herself. Sam wants to fit in with the jocks, but the more we see how he is treated, that might not be the case. This feels like a throwback to the 1980s, just using modern slang for Pearce, Chad, Paisley and Sarah. They feel like stereotypical jerks. It makes sense why we're rooting for the monster.

I did want to then pull in the acting here. Despite my not liking most of the cast, they do what they're supposed to for their characters. Buchanan, Stoughton, VanderMey and Drippe are all good looking. They fit the characters they're supposed to be. They also get a response out of me which is what I ask for when it comes to acting so this is well done. If I was going to blame anything, it would be the writing to not give them any depth. This is supposed to be a popcorn movie so it is fine. I thought that Lane and Bonini are solid though as our heroes. Fealy is also fine in his minor role. If anything, I wish they would have brought him back in the end. Not a major issue though, it would just be a fitting way to end it.

There isn't more to say about the story or acting so let's finish with filmmaking. If you couldn't tell from the title, the alligator is all CGI. It adds to the comedy, I'll give it that. My problem though is that this is trying to intentionally be a bad movie. I'm not a fan of that. I know there are those that are. I'm not the target audience. I did think that the practical aftereffects of attacks was solid. The cinematography was fine. I did love the setting. It is also funny that the cabin is owned by the type of person that it is. That adds comedy there and makes sense with the weapons they find. Other than that, the soundtrack was fine. It did fit with the vibe of the movie.

In conclusion, this is a fun, low budget shut off your brain type movie. This leans into being absurd. I did think that this was fine in the sense that we have a group of mostly unlikable characters to kill off. The CGI here is intentionally bad. The bright spot would be the setting and the cinematography there. I'm not the target audience though. If you want a movie that is bad on purpose, I'd recommend this especially with friends and drinks. This also feels in line with today's Full Moon films.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 10.

It lives up to its title with the absolutely worst CGI, I have ever seen in my lifey, progressively worsening in each scene. The deliberate horridness of the effects becomes a bizarre delight.

The characters are intentionally unlikable, ensuring a guilt-free thrill as they fall prey to the PS1 Lara Croft's worst nightmare.

Dark humor is top notch and sticks around to the very last moments.

However, the anticlimactic ending left me disappointed. While the whole movie is built upon cheese, taking "so bad it's good" to its ultimate form, the boring conclusion feels like "so bad it's just bad".

The makers of this movie clearly didn't have enough of a budget to make a convincing monster. But when it's a monster movie, that's kind of a problem. Even if they might have successfully hidden the bad special effects or pooh-poohed it away once or twice, that still wouldn't have been enough. So the film makers just embraced it and wrote the plot of the entire movie around it. You see, this isn't just a poorly constructed monster, it's a tiny alligator that experienced a bunch of short-circuiting school laptops and becomes... Bad CGI Gator. So the CGI is bad, the plot is winking at you bad, and the characters are bad and irredeemably stupid. That's not to say that the acting is bad. The actors do a good job of making characters who are over the top idiots, even for a horror movie, seem realistic. There's a guy who calls himself an alpha male who is just a weak bully, a woman who makes the most bland social media content (and tahini dip) ever, a couple that is sex crazed but not in a healthy way, a stereotypical nerd who acts like a creep and kind of wants to see most everyone die, and the sort-of good girl who thinks that a guy being creepy is flattering and could have saved someone from the gator but is so self-absorbed that she keeps forgetting that the other person even exists. Face it, all of these characters are bad people. There are just a few who are less bad than the others. And that -- and the ridiculousness of a gator who defies reality -- is what makes the film entertaining.

I had to watch this because of the title. I do amateur CGI. It's almost all bad. There's little sign of improvement. If I were smarter, I'd pick a new hobby.

So, here's the plot: three sorority sisters (one decent) and three frat bros (one decent) go to a Cabin in the Woods to get drunk. I can get drunk in my bedroom, but hey, kids these days. The cabin's by a lake. It's a horror movie. There's "Gator" in the title. What do you think happens next? The gator rips the limbs off of the unlikable ones. I don't even consider this a spoiler.

Does anything else happen? No. What else would you want to see happen? It's a horror movie about a poorly animated CGI alligator.

First thing first: is the CGI, in actuality, bad? It *is* bad. But it's not as bad as a lot of CGI in days past. The gator isn't animated very well. Its limbs don't seem to touch the ground. Eventually, the filmmakers give up on pretending that the gator should interact with the ground at all. The electrical effects are also bad. But, hey, it's a lot better than the crap I've made. When you ignore the whole animation and electricity things, it looks pretty good. And who cares? It's not about whether the gator's legs touch the ground. It's about the fact that they don't. And also, it's about how people that use internet acronyms in everyday speech are ripped into small pieces.

Really, this is as B-movie as you'd expect, but Gator never pretends to be anything else. And thanks to the wonder of modern tools, the production quality is still great (well, minus the skating gator legs.) Plus, the acting is certainly good enough. Maddie Lane does an especially good job. Probably the weakest point is the writing, where they earn a few chuckles out of this horror-comedy, but never any guffaws. But, that's not a major criticism for a film that aims as low as Gator.

Don't expect Sophie's Choice, and I think you'll enjoy yourself. It's only like sixty minutes long. What do you have to lose?