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by Thomas M. Sipos,
managing editor [May 12, 2022]
[HollywoodInvestigator.com]Sewer Gators might be
described as
trash horror comedy. A film that doesn't take itself seriously. A
bad film.
I'm sure writer/director Paul Dale, and all his cast and crew, know
it. They're likely hoping that Sewer
Gators is
so bad it's good. That's always a risk. Some intentionally bad
films turn out so bad as to be unwatchable.
Like many "when animals attack" films,
Sewer Gators slavishly borrows the
Jaws template. We have a small town. And an upcoming event that is
vital to the town's financial well-being. After a series of fatal
alligator attacks, the sheriff insists the event be canceled. The
mayor (with support from local businesses) overrules the sheriff.
Profits before people! A beautiful, big city scientist arrives to
assist the sheriff with her alligator expertise (and serve as his love
interest). They even enlist the requisite crude, macho hunter to help
them destroy the creatures.
The story is unoriginal. Acting is hammy. A sense of amateurism
pervades the film. Make-up and visual effects are ... well, most of
the time Sewer Gators isn't even
trying. It's as if Dale thought, I can't create great special effects,
so I'll go to the other extreme and use really bad effects, just for
laughs.
Truly, I've never seen a horror film with such poor "effects." We see
plastic alligators of varying sizes move from behind toilets and
faucets, and we're supposed to believe they're emerging from those
faucets. One must engage in heroic
suspension of disbelief to buy it. Or, more likely, Dale is hoping
you'll laugh at his shamelessly bad effects.
Consider these examples.
After an alligator emerges from a toilet and eats a man (we don't see
it, we only hear his screams), Sheriff Mitch (Kenny Bellau) arrives to
find the victim's foot floating in the toilet water. The "foot" is
obviously made of yellow plastic. Just to make sure we see that, Mitch
pokes the "foot" with his pen, causing the "foot" to bob in the water.
Dale can easily have found a more realistic prop foot, but instead, he
went for an especially bad "effect."
Some alligators are obviously tiny, toy alligators. When one "emerges"
from the faucet, we see the special effects person's hand in the
background, holding the alligator.
When the hunter Shane (Austin Naulty) finds one in his sink, he slams
it several times with a mallet. The plastic toy bounces about, sliding
upon its "blood" (obviously ketchup).
A swarm of toy alligators "hop" out of the sink and cover Gladyis's
(Sophia Brazda) face. (I hope they didn't use Super Glue.)
Not all the "effects" are this bad. There is some CGI. Not the best
CGI, but still better than the plastic toys.
From the opening joke credits, Dale signals us that he's playing this
for laughs. Many more joke credits at the end. "Liberace's Dog" is the
credited Script Supervisor. Rocky Balboa, Bill Clinton, Willem Defoe,
Martin Scorsese, and Lee Harvey Oswald are among the credited crew
positions.
And to make sure we know it's joke, one credit reads "These
are made up we didn't have a crew."
My favorite credit (for Set Costumer, Hair & Makeup) reads: "We had to
get it over an hour so I made up credits." Well, that's honest. (Sewer
Gators runs at under 62 minutes.) And risky. If the jokes aren't
funny, if the film's not entertaining, joke credits elicit audience
contempt rather than mirth.
Sewer Gators is not a hilarious film, but it's watchable. Barely. I've seen worse. The jokes are heavy-handed. The characters broadly
drawn. The cast seems to be enjoying themselves, which is not a good
sign, not if you're striving to create great art. But, well,
Sewer
Gators.
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