Alligator II: The Mutation

I had heard several stories that there was another Alligator to the first Alligator and at first I thought it was a sequel to the first. Boy was I so very wrong. I will admit the first one scared me to death but the second one I was laughing in the floor. At times you could see right through the model that it wasnt real. The one scene that gave it away was the scene where the Alligator went to the carnival and turned it out. While he was busy chomping away you know in Alligator Ramone got just plain down and dirty with his victims, with this Alligator you could just hear the noises that was not even corresponding in sequence with the chomping noises that was supposedly coming from this gator. As for the cajun hunter well he almost stole the show especially when the evil villian got eaten by the big bad gator he made a reference like, Damn I didnt even get my money I thought I was going to come to tears laughing at all the drama from this sequence of the first one. And to think its rumored that this goes all the way to Alligator 9-oh boy this just puts the first to shame.-Well anyway nice try but I will stick to Alligator thank you. Long live Sayle.

An alligator gets into a lake and eats people while a crooked land developer tries to evict people from their homes.

This movie is strictly B level, by the numbers stuff with nothing really to differentiate it from the million other creature features that exist. That said, its harmless and mindless enough that you can watch it and be pleasantly entertained for 90 minutes. You aren't going to remember it or care, but at least you won't feel like your life has been sucked out by a terrible piece of garbage that was only designed to steal your money and leave you an empty husk of humanity devoid of soul or purpose.

This serviceable follow-up to the original ALLIGATOR has absolutely nothing to do with that movie – other than featuring an alligator living in the sewers of a US city. I actually found this a fun, tongue-in-cheek little monster movie that works around the low budget to deliver a pacy, entertaining film with a strong script to recommend it. It's closer to PIRANHA than JAWS in tone, with the usual stock characters showing up: the rookie cop, the greedy property developer, the ignorant mayor and the dedicated law enforcer on the tail of the beast (literally in this case).

The worst thing about the film is the alligator itself. It's a combination of stock footage from the original film and an absolutely rubbishy pair of rubber jaws pushed at the intended victims. The poor FX and distant lack of bloodshed make the various attack sequences a real let-down, but that's okay because what happens when the alligator isn't on-screen is more interesting than it is.

The clichéd characters are brought to life by a wonderful ensemble cast of familiar faces. Joseph Bologna is well cast as the likable cop doing his best to catch the best; I also liked Woody Brown as the young, inexperienced, square-jawed hero. Dee Wallace Stone (THE HOWLING) finds herself wasted as the cop's wife with nothing to do, but the stunning Holly Gagnier has more fun playing the mayor's daughter. The scene chewing is left to a pair of dedicated B-movie veterans.

First up is Steve Railsback (TURKEY SHOOT), excellent as the utterly repulsive villain of the piece; second we have Richard Lynch playing one of those half-crazed redneck hunter types. Other familiar faces include Brock Peters as the black chief of police, Jason Voorhees himself, Kane Hodder, as an alligator hunter and Voyo Goric (a Russian villain in RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART 2) as a henchman. This isn't a great film by any means, but I found it a more than entertaining effort considering the budget.

...but I'm not saying they'll be worth it.

I had been on the lookout for ALLIGATOR II for some years now. I just had to see it. I mean, the first one is just so much fun - and really one of the few older killer-croc type of films done right - and this sequel carrying the MUTATION subtitle, plus starring both Steve Railsback and Richard Lynch, I mean... Can it honestly be that bad?

Straight up, I can't really call it a bad movie. It's not badly put together, and further more, it has all the necessary elements to even make it a B-movie "in the tradition of JAWS" type of flick. We got a killer alligator loose in some city pond, eating people left and right who are unknowingly invading its territory (which extends to the sewers again). There's the protagonist detective (Joseph Bologna, a rather forgettable actor) running around, aware of the problem but believed by no-one. Dee Wallace (yipii!) plays his wife, and even with her supporting role she proves again that she's the best actress in the whole film. We have Railsback playing a greedy, corrupt man with power who plans a carnival near the pond which he refuses to cancel. And when he's informed of the alligator problem, he tries to deal with it in a hush-hush way, calling in Richard Lynch as a bounty hunter, together with Kane Hodder as his brother, no less. And finally, our killer alligator, who sadly enough doesn't look "mutated" at all, but at least it kind of looks the same as the one in the first film.

So what went wrong with this film? All the ingredients really are present. The script even tries to inject some of the same type of black humor the first one had, so at least the filmmakers tried to make a sequel in the same spirit. It even has something that looks like a decent climax (involving the pond and a helicopter and all). But the problem is: None of it works. This film supposedly has everything, and even tries pretty hard, but it all just doesn't feel right. It just doesn't come together and click like the first film did. Hard to explain it, really. Plus, the alligator gets a fair amount of screen time, but it never does anything you want to see it do. People should be getting munched or at least ripped to shreds, but I can't recall any memorable death scenes. I remember Kane Hodder getting stuck in its mouth, but that's about it.

When compared to the first ALLIGATOR from 1980, this sequel really is "subpar", for reasons I can't even pinpoint exactly. But as a stand-alone (as it has little ties with the first one, aside some minor bits of alligator footage being re-used) killer-alligator flick (from the 90's - and we all know what that means), it's just about moderately entertaining. Watch it if you can't resist it, just like I did. Otherwise, skip it and save yourself the inevitable disappointment.

A giant, aquatic creature is swimming through the water, attacking and rendering unsuspecting human prey. Meanwhile, a cop tries to find the beast, while attempting to convince a greedy, spineless Mayor to cancel an upcoming celebration. Does this sound familiar? Well, it should. It's the plot of JAWS. In ALLIGATOR II: THE MUTATION, this obvious lift is just the beginning of the absurd fun. There's a slimy real estate magnate played by Steve Railsback, Joseph Bologna as the cop, and Dee Wallace as his beautiful scientist wife. Later, Richard Lynch arrives as the Quint-like alligator hunter.

It seems that someone has been pumping toxic waste into the waterways, causing the creation of the titular terror. Alas, there's a ton of meaningless exposition, including a budding romance, and a veteran cop / rookie cop "buddy film" that takes up far too much of the film's running time. However, if your taste tends toward the cheeeze-tacular, then this farcical fondue should satisfy. Mr. Lynch and his hillbilly crew are particularly rib-tickling!

On the upside, there are loads of sewer sequences, a very typically-Hollywood street gang, and a truly explosive finale. Yep, just like in that aforementioned shark movie...