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!!

After the success of the surprising smash hit cocaine bear, syfy decided to put their own spin on things and I enjoyed this venture. Deep in the floridan swamp two men are smuggling methanphedimen when the sheriff and another man arrive, one of the bags gets into the water only for a hungry alligator to get it and this is when we meet methgater. Not as bad as cgi as it always is, not great but still good. The mayor tries to cover it up by sending his own men until the sheriffs son dante gets a team together to destroy them. Theres some fun action in this and I enjoyed the acting in places. A pretty good attempt by them and a film that was pretty entertaining.

I'm a meth addict that has live my whole life in Florida. This is a bad movie in so many ways.

Seriously, I really wanted to like this movie. There were a few lines that made me laugh out loud, but overall the dialogue was flat and the acting is what you would expect from a movie like this. The aerial drone shots are great, as Florida is a beautiful state. But the CGI of a galloping gator is terrible, and the gator looks more like a crocodile (maybe nitpicking, but as a Floridian, one should know the difference).

If you love this type of exploitation film (which I do) give it a watch. But don't have high expectations.

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.

Another day, another Asylum movie, this time their rip-off of COCAINE BEAR. This one sees an alligator consuming a shipment of drugs and going on the rampage, but otherwise it's business as usual and no different from any other of these cheesy B-movies made in the last couple of decades. For an Asylum flick, the CGI isn't quite the worst you'll see; it's not impressive but it's not diabolical either. The worst thing about this is the cast, full of no-names giving shady performances. At least in the glory days of The Asylum they used to bring in some former Hollywood greats in cameos to liven things up, but that's fallen by the wayside these days.