‘Sewer Gators’ Review
Stars: Manon Pages, Kenny Bellau, Sophia Brazda, Paul Dale, Charles Early, Austin Frosch, Austin Naulty, Sean Phelan, Carter Simoneaux | Written and Directed by Paul Dale
It’s probably not a good thing but any ridiculously titled film will not only get my attention but also get me watching the film. It’s why I end up watching all the Sharknado films or 3-Headed Shark Attack or Big Ass Spider and any other similarly-titled film. Luckily, I do usually enjoy these films, so it’s not a bad thing but there are plenty of very very poor movies in there too. So it was always going to be 50/50 with Sewer Gators (not the most imaginative of titles, to be honest).
It was almost immediately clear with Sewer Gators that this wasn’t only a low budget affair but very much an amateur production. It looks like that. There’s no hiding it with expensive cameras or anything like that. But, this can work for plenty of movies and Sewer Gators tries to do that. It definitely does not take itself seriously. First and foremost, it’s a comedy. There’s not even over-the-top gore or brutal death scenes to steer this in the horror direction. It’s all about the jokes and the one-liners. It does manage to be funny too, not all the time but most viewers will get a few laughs out of it. There are also awful wigs and outfits and of course the alligators themselves. At first, the film does the ‘let’s not show it all immediately’ thing, in what you would think is a tension-building exercise for the big reveal. Only the big reveal is a very plastic and very small alligator. Whether this is clever and funny or just a bit rubbish, I’ll leave up to you.
The alligators are all over the place after that reveal too. We get more of the small plastic ones but also even smaller ones – I’m talking mouse size – and also a ridiculous but not too dodgy-looking CGI gator as well. They all do the job intended. The initial joke, I think, Is how a giant alligator is coming up through the toilet or the drain of a bathtub but then we just get tiny alligators. This ‘joke’ though, that the gators can come from anywhere there is water is done much better in Ghost Shark.
The acting was surprisingly decent. I thought the comedy timing from much of the cast was good, they all knew exactly what kind of movie they were making and it showed. Sometimes when they had to do a slightly more serious moment or scene, the acting wasn’t quite as good but you can get away with it with a film like this. The actor playing the Police Chief’s assistant was probably the highlight. She was the funniest of the cast and even made poor lines seem amusing.
The other big issue is that the film is about 52 minutes long but lasts for 60 minutes. Now, shorter movies are not a problem, the recent horror movie Host proved this, but this is a 45-minute movie at most. They stretch things out with start and end credits, as well as extra end credits with completely made-up names just so they get the movie past the hour mark (it literally says this as the credits roll).
As it is, Sewer Gators is okay enough viewing if you like this sort of thing. If not, steer clear.
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Sewer Gators will be available on VOD, DVD, Blu-Ray, and collectable VHS on June 3rd, from the official By The Horns website.
