Crocodile

This ultra-cheap Thai export, borrows wholesale from the last third of "Jaws", and yet despite the carbon copy approach, manages to end without the audience even knowing if the title beast has been overcome, or whether the hero has survived. There's an almighty commotion, then, the film abruptly ends.

While enjoying a weekend getaway with their wives and offspring, Dr. Tony and his budding medic friend soon become widows of an oceanic behemoth, that proceeds to devour everything in its path. Not content to grieve in silence, the pair gesticulate for about three-quarters of an hour on how they'll avenge their family's deaths; meanwhile, the beast is causing mayhem in the local village. After much soul-searching, reflection and the occasional bizarre chemistry experiment, the two eventually enlist the services of a rugged fisherman Tanaka (Kirk Warren) and set off by boat to end the creature's path of chaos and destruction.

Frequent use of miniature sets and paltry special effects afford this film a corny quality the antithesis of the otherwise intense and heavy-handedness of the characterisations. Disjointed editing, unintelligible dubbing, droning monotone synthesisers, and annoying cinematography (from extreme darkness to blinding sunlight pans) don't assist the flailing storyline. Must surely be considered a curiosity, and will more than likely compel a second look, even if just to try and decipher what happened (or didn't happen, but should have). An interesting insight into late 70's Thai cinema, and the techniques that were unemployed when making movies.

My review was written in November 1981 after a Times Square screening:

The ongoing cycle of horror pictures hits bottom with "Crocodile", an almost unwatchable "Jaws" ripoff shot in Thailand. Picked up for domestic use by Herman Cohen's new Cobra Media distribbery, film has a marketable title and little else.

Atomic testing in the atmosphere has created a huge mutant crocodile, destroying whole villages (its tail causing tidal wave effects) as it heads for Bangkok. A scientist Dr. Akom, his friend John and a ship captain named Tanaka set out by boat to destroy it, aided by a comic relief photographer.

Amidst the sloppily assembled footage of silly model shots, bloody killings and an unconvincing set of various-scale crocodiles, picture's only diversion is its risible dubbed dialog. "If it kills every three days it must be following a pattern", John announces at one point. Film is so inept that when they finally blow up the monster, we never see whether the heroes survive. Technical credits are poor.

It's been a long while since I've seen it, but all through this "Chorakhe" I had the impression that it's the exact same movie as "Agowa Gongpo". And not just bit and pieces of footage that were edited into one another, but really one and the same film. IMDb lists them as two films, and they have different casts & crew listed, so I reckon they are two separate films indeed; - regardless of featuring the same film posters and very similar storylines.

And, of course, what does it matter anyways? They are both shameless and 200% uninspired "Jaws" rip-offs, only this time coming from the oriental part of the planet. Everything about "Crocodile" is copied from Steven Spielberg's blockbuster classic, including the music, the characters' personalities, the beach sequences, the POV-camerawork, etc. From the croc itself, we mainly see its evil eye in close-up and its rear end whenever the animal strolls back into the high grass after another lousily accomplished attack sequence. I love crocodile movies, in fact I love creature-features in general, but this one is practically unwatchable.

I recently watched the Thai film 🇹🇭 Crocodile (1979) on YouTube. The story follows a small river town plagued by a massive crocodile that emerges and begins killing townspeople. Two fathers of recent victims team up to hunt it down before it claims more lives.

The film is directed by Sompote Sands (Hanuman vs. 7 Ultraman) and stars Nard Poowanai (I Remember), Ni Tien (Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold), Angela Wells (Beyond Suspicion), and Min Oo (Blissfully Yours).

It's clear this movie was made to cash in on the success of Jaws, but it lacks originality, creativity, and effective special effects. The story is lazy and straightforward, the cinematography is low-budget, and while some shots of the crocodile in the water are decent, the attack scenes are painfully bad. There's even a scene of a crocodile eating a wildebeest that's more fun than impressive. The final showdown plays like a direct Jaws knockoff.

In conclusion, Crocodile is a weak entry in the "when animals attack" genre that isn't worth your time. I'd score it 3/10 and recommend skipping it.

This Thai entry into the "Nature Strikes Back" genre concerns a rampaging reptile that predictably became an enormous mutant because of atomic testing. When the entire families of two dedicated doctors become snacks for the beast, these two hopeless dummies launch a campaign to find and destroy their nemesis.

I wanted to like this movie more than I did, but as it is, it's a pretty incompetent time-waster, one that wears its "Jaws" influences right on its sleeve. (The final third takes place on the open water with our various "heroes" trying to bait the crocodile and then pump it full of lead.) Most everything about it is lousy: the acting, the dubbing, and the English dialogue is cheesy as Hell, the special effects largely underwhelming (the filmmakers alternate between live footage of a real crocodile and their own dubious animatronic), the music completely ineffective.

Granted, I got *some* enjoyment out of this on a "so bad it's good" - or, at least, "so bad it's amusing" - level, but practically the only worthy component is the gorgeous widescreen photography of the exotic locations.

This is the kind of thing where you root for the monster; it *does* build up quite a good body count, and cause a lot of destruction, before this is over.

Animal lovers will NOT like the moment, however, where a real croc is cut up with a knife.

The American release was "presented" by Herman Cohen ("I Was a Teenage Werewolf") and co-produced by Dick Randall ("Pieces").

Four out of 10.