Methgator

SOMEBODY has to stand up for this wonderful studio, and I'm delighted to accept the assignment. Does no one watch a movie to be ENTERTAINED, with a big goofy grin on their face? If being The Ripoff Kings Of The Cinema is a crime, why was Roger Corman (the former King) handed a career Oscar?? This 89m of trashy dee-light may be a naked ripoff of Cocaine Bear, but that film left me needing MORE of a delicious new "drugged beasties" genre that The Asylum was primed and ready to deliver! You folks who are locked & loaded to give any Asylum film an automatic 2-star rating (without even seeing it, I suspect) have no place in my life. Let the trash cinema congregation say AMEN!!

Of course I wasn't harboring much of any expectations to a movie titled "Methgator", but ever since I heard about it, I wanted to sit down and watch it. Of course this was something that was spawned in the wake of the "Cocaine Bear" movie. And with this movie being made by The Asylum, you know it is a mockbuster of aforementioned movie.

The storyline in the movie was adequate for a movie of this type and caliber. You pretty much know what you're in for here, and writers Lauren Pritchard and Joe Roche do deliver all the campy cheese that you can eat. And that actually makes "Methgator" a movie proved to be watchable, despite all odds.

The whole part with the cheek slapping thing was just laughable. Even when you stumble upon it on the Internet, you can't help but laugh at the stupidity behind that "sport", and I use the word sport mockingly here, because slapping someone on the cheek until then are knocked out is not a sport, it is just downright stupidity. And why the writers opted to put that in the movie is just beyond my comprehension, but I suppose one or both of them enjoy watching that on the Internet.

Needless to say that I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress in the movie. And that is usually something I do enjoy when I sit down to watch a movie. I will say that the acting performances in "Methgator" were adequate, at least they were better than what I had expected.

Visually then "Methgator" was not a good movie. And even for a movie by The Asylum, it was pretty terrible CGI effects. And when you have a movie relying on a creature that is entirely CGI animated, you might want to throw a larger chunk of the budget at the CGI developers. The Asylum hadn't done that, and as such, the CGI animated gator in the movie was pretty terrible to look at most of the times.

"Methgator" is a movie that is suitable for a single viewing, then it will just quietly fade into oblivion.

My rating of director Christopher Ray's 2023 movie "Methgator" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

Hamlet it is not. Don't look for deep character studies or powerful storylines here. If you like great special effects, such as Terminator 2, Matrix, this is not it. The special effects are of a lumbering alligator that can swim nearly as fast as a speed boat, jump car lengths, and resist bullets to fit the storyline as needed while at other times is hurt by them. There is no consistency to the creature's abilities, strengths or weaknesses. "If it gets more meth, it will become unkillable" The writers did not consult with scientists or toxicologists.

That said, while the actors aren't Hollywood's best, they are engaging and likable. The Mayor (Patrick Labyorteaux) fits his image well, and does a good job as a gentrified Louisianian. LaRonn Marzett as the scientist does as well as can be expected given the thin writing of the thinner script. Ray Acevedo is underused, he is the skilled and experienced trapper/hunter. Unintendedly Barny Fife-like Sheriff Williams ( Bruce Peoples ) likewise has poorly written lines.

The film suffers from anemic directing, third-rate writing, and dismal special effects. Meaning the only thing that can gel it together are the actors who given this mess manage to be an enjoyable bunch albeit all too often becoming gator-food in bad special effects scenes.

So If you want some background mindless entertainment while you're doing something else and not focusing on the film -this can work for you.

Oh well, what can you do... : )

Actually, even though I FF through the obvious Asylum filler, the action scenes were pretty 'good', using the term EXTREMELY loosely. The Redneck slapping contest was too much.

The only thing I can say honestly is that yes, this movie was actually much better than 'COCAINE BEAR' which I couldn't even finish. And, even at that, I can only truly give it a '4'...

I mean, what else can I possibly say. You frigg'n KNOW what you are getting into here, but I guess if you find this kind of thing funny you might get a tiny bit of entertainment out of it.

Oh, I'm gonna be a 'Guy' here for a moment... The main girl was quite shapely and kind of cute... until she opened her mouth... Okay... Guy stuff done, sorry... :D

You know... I downloaded 'SHARKS OF THE CORN' like 2 years ago or whenever it came out. I just could NOT pass up a name like that. But, to be honest, I haven't gotten up the courage actually to watch it yet...

***EDIT (2024-12-29)

Don't know if it's the season (it isn't...) but, I'm feeling generous and raising this one to a '5' (and thus, my reputation continues to spiral downward...)

"Wanted Man" with Dolph Lumpen and Kelsey Jammer. At least x3 better. The gator is more believable than the entire cast of the aforementioned stinker. And like another user reviewer stated, it deserves a sequel and I dare say even a prequel should be considers as these low-budget extravaganzas seem to have no problem getting financial backing.

And another telling point is that the plot is quite believable. So much meth in circulation these days, you know it's just a matter of time before some gator enclaves get in on the trend. More meth-loaded gator stories, puhleez.

Starz might consider a series as well. "Bayou Vice".