Movie of the day...ALLIGATOR (1980)
Movie of the day...Alligator (1980). Once upon a time, a little girl had a pet alligator but her father flushed it down the toilet. Years later, the alligator has survived, grown up, and has started to kill people. At this point, even the police realize they have to do something. Meanwhile, the little girl has grown up to be a lovely lady herpetologist and she will end up helping a rough-and-ready police detective as he hunts for her former pet.
This may be a controversial review because I know this is a cult favorite for a lot of people, and I understand why, but it’s got some serious problems I think I need to address. The biggest issue is the script. While the movie starts off being stupid-but-fun, the script is so bad that much of the fun is eventually spoiled. This movie isn’t simply cheesy or trope-heavy, it’s dumb to the point where it becomes hard to keep rooting for the two leads. It does not help that most of the acting is not very good, either. (In fairness, given the script the cast was handed, there was not much they could have done to improve things.)
There are a couple of positive points. The practical effects are pretty good and the movie makes an attempt to explain why the alligator is unusually large and aggressive (…wait for it…it has been eating the corpses of experimental animals pumped full of hormones that have then been illegally dumped in the sewer by a big company that only cares about cutting costs even if it puts the public in danger…this is probably the most believable part of the movie). And the alligator itself seems almost supernaturally drawn to attack people who are annoying in one way or another, which is not very believable, but is somewhat satisfying.
Rating: C-
Posted Oct 30, 2025, 4:05 PM UTC