One of the lowest-budgeted thrillers I've ever sat through, GATOR KING has deservedly been consigned to the forgotten corner of bargain-basement history. It's a would-be environmental thriller about a dastardly villain who imports alligators from China in order to slaughter them for their meat in the US, and the efforts of an environmental activist to bring him to book.
That plot has some potential as plots go, but unfortunately GATOR KING is so cheap as to be laughable. It looks like it has no more budget than a shot-on-video horror flick of the 1990s. The production values are laughable, and the direction consists of a static camera being dumped in the corner of the room while no second takes are ever made when the authors flub their lines.
The performances here are especially poor, particularly from the stock British henchman who really got on my nerves. Antonio Fargas (STARSKY & HUTCH) looks permanently peed off and who can blame him? Michael Berryman is probably the most fun but only has a couple of scenes as a mad scientist type. Joe Estevez remains the most obscure actor in his family. The would-be exciting climax is particularly incongruous given this film's aspirations; did nobody know they were making a dog when they shot this?
