“Alligator” (1980) [Pigeon Shrine FrightFest]

by Joseph Perry and Mike Imboden

In our “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict” film reviews, Joseph and Mike give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. For this installment, it’s the 1980 “Animals Gone Bad” classic, Alligator from Lewis Teague and courtesy of the 2023 FrightFest Film Festival.

Synopsis

A pet baby alligator is flushed down a toilet and survives in the city sewers. Twelve years later, it grows to an enormous size thanks to a diet of discarded laboratory dogs injected with growth hormones. Now, humans have entered the menu.

The Good

Joseph: John Sayles has written great screenplays for many movies, and although Alligator might not be considered highbrow cinema, it is a blast, oftentimes for its sheer absurdity and audacity. Sure, there’s a message about not fooling with Mother Nature — especially if you are on the corporate criminal side of things — but there’s also plenty of gator chompin’ action to be had. Obviously a post-Jaws cash-in along the lines of the equally wild Grizzly, this feature had some names in its cast, including Robert Forster, Michael V. Gazzo, Dean Jagger, Jack Carter, and Henry Silva, so we get plenty of macho bravado from faces familiar to kids who grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Better yet, we get a creature feature with cool-looking practical effects done with a budget in mind — the titular reptile’s back shown during a chase scene in the water is a hoot, and recalls classic lake monster sighting photos — that isn’t afraid to skimp on the red stuff and gore effects.

Mike: The 1980s were a golden era for creature features, and Alligator fit right in. It tapped into that primal fear of things lurking in the dark, the unknown, and it did it with a healthy dose of B-movie charm.

Robert Forster, the skeptical cop who is the first to piece together the whole "giant gator in the sewer" puzzle, brings a level of gravitas to his role as our hero, helping to elevate the film beyond its schlocky (but entertaining) premise. Of course, the real stars of the show are the practical effects. In an age before CGI, Alligator had to rely on good old-fashioned animatronics and puppetry, and it worked like a charm. The scenes featuring the colossal gator were surprisingly convincing, and it gave the movie a genuine sense of menace. You can't help but admire the craftsmanship that went into bringing this monstrous creature to life.

However, it wasn’t all just terror and tension - Alligator had a wicked sense of humor and it didn't take itself too seriously, which made it all the more enjoyable.

The Bad

Joseph: Some folks may have issues with plot holes — I mentioned absurdity above; how about a young girl having her new pet alligator flushed down the toilet in St. Louis, only to see her grow up to become a herpetologist who helps track down, unbeknownst to her, that very same gator (affectionately known as Ramon) . . . in New York City?!?! — so I’ll list that here, but charming issues such as that only further endear Alligator to me. Some of the dialogue is a bit dated, but that is the case with most movies as they age, and Robin Riker’s character of herpetologist — and naturally, love interest of our flawed hero — Marisa Kendall (in a solid debut performance) could have been been treated in a less condescending manner, especially by that very hero.

Mike: Forster might have been entertaining in his role, but he somehow simultaneously seems to be in a perpetual state of disbelief, like he can't quite grasp the fact that he's facing off against a mutant sewer gator. Can you blame him, though?

The plot is a pretty basic "mad scientist experiments on animals, things go terribly wrong" storyline. We've seen it a hundred times before, and Alligator doesn't bring much of anything fresh to the table aside from the titular beast being awfully large and being seriously hangry.

Let's not forget the dialogue. It's cheesy enough to make even the most die-hard fans of '80s cinema cringe. Lines like "There's a 36-foot alligator living in the sewers, and it's not flushed with success!" are delivered with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

The Verdict

Joseph: Alligator is a great time, and a super little celluloid time capsule, and I recommend it to any and all creature feature fans. As a lifelong monster kid, I don’t know how I missed it on its original release, but I’m glad that I made up for lost time thanks to its playing as part of this year’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest.

Mike: Alligator might not be high art and it’s certainly got its weak points, but it's a fun, nostalgic trip down memory lane that captures the spirit of '80s creature features. It's got a solid cast, impressive practical effects, and a healthy dose of humor that makes it worth revisiting, especially if you're a fan of classic monster movies.

Alligator, from UK distributor 101 Films, screened as part of the 2023 Pigeon Shrine FrightFest, which ran August 24–28 in London. For more information, visit https://frightfest.co.uk/.

Alligator