Killer Reptile Movies To See Before CRAWL Movie

By Movie Geeks | July 9, 2019

Anyone a fan of giant Crocodiles? Our watery friends have been making an appearance as of late in the news, as well as the upcoming film CRAWL.

In Florida, the state has averaged just under 10 alligator bites a year since 2010, marking a total of 85 bites in that time span up to 2018. Of the 85 bites, three were fatal but most were listed as “major” under FWC statistics. In May of this year, a woman was bitten while swimming in Fay Lake Wilderness Park in Port St. John, Florida.

In CRAWL, when a massive hurricane hits her Florida hometown, Haley (Kaya Scodelario) ignores evacuation orders to search for her missing father (Barry Pepper). Finding him gravely injured in the crawl space of their family home, the two become trapped by quickly encroaching floodwaters. As time runs out to escape the strengthening storm, Haley and her father discover that the rising water level is the least of their fears.

From director Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes) and producers Craig Flores (300), Sam Raimi (Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead) and Alexandre Aja, Crawl is a nail-biting horror thriller in theatres July 12, 2019.

If you’re heading out to your local cinemas this weekend, you may see these frightening stand-ups from the film.

Before heading out to catch the terrifying CRAWL, check out these films on water monsters of the lake, rivers, oceans… and yes, even your local swimming pool.

RAMPAGE

This mutant alligator traveled from the Everglades in Florida to Chicago in RAMPAGE starring Dwayne Johnson. In his review Tom Stockman wrote, “The final thirty minutes is an epic-scale WWE-style monster rally that destroys much of downtown Chicago and is directed with the same sort of panache and disaster-porn glee.” Director Brad Peyton’s over-the-top smack-down is a great matinee flick!

Read Tom Stockman’s review:
http://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2018/04/rampage-review/

ROGUE

This alligator movie is so fun to watch on a Saturday afternoon. Directed by Greg Lean who helmed WOLF CREEK and more recently THE BELKO EXPERIMENT, ROGUE is the story of a group of tourists who stumble into the remote Australian river territory of an enormous crocodile. When the deadly creature capsizes their boat – trapping them on a tiny island – the film becomes very caustrophobic as the beastie closes in.

A bit of trivia: The film was inspired by the true story of Sweetheart-a giant 5.1 Metre saltwater crocodile responsible for a series of attacks between 1974- 1979, Sweetheart attacked outboard motors,dinghies,and fishing boats but never killed anyone- in July 1979 Sweetheart was finally caught alive by a team from the Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission, but drowned while being transported when he became tangled with a log, his mounted body is on permanent display at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. (IMDB)

LAKE PLACID

Steve Miner’s 1999 monster croc flick was a surprise hit, better than your typical genre outing and boasted quite a reputable cast with Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt, Brendan Gleeson and, of course… Betty White. Who doesn’t love Betty White? However, the cast was equaled by the massive killer crocodile on which the story was centered. Steve Irwin would have never dared wrangle this bad boy, or would he? Perhaps one of the best scenes was when the star croc leaps out onto the lake shore and gobbles up a grizzly bear. yeah… that’s right. A full grown grizzly! Wicked!

THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE

Despite its crazy title, THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE from 1959 is much better than you might think. It’s a quirky fifties cult classic that’s a lot of fun thanks to a wonky pace, some really great vintage effects work and a strong cast including Beverly Garland who gets chased through the swamp while wearing high heels. Lon Chaney steals the show as a Cajun who hates “dirty, stinking gators”, probably since one bit off his hand. He spends the film getting drunk, shooting at them and trying to run them down with his jeep. The scaly makeup for Richard Crane, who’s turning into a gator, is effective in its early stages, but when he emerges in full alligator-headed form later on, the first instinct is usually to laugh. But this is a ’50s monster movie, after all, and many creatures of this era have been bizarre. Once you get past the initial sight of the Alligator Man, the result actually comes off not too bad at all. This is an enjoyable movie of its type for the period, and also comfortably short at only 75 minutes.

GAMERA

From out of the arctic comes a gigantic flying, fire-breathing turtle that sets its sights on destroying Tokyo. GAMERA (1965) is one of those classic Japanese horror films that contains awful English dubbing, and sometimes laughable special effects, but is still great fun to watch. A skirmish between American and Soviet jets over the arctic results in one of the Soviet bombers crashing and its nuclear bomb load detonating, which causes Gamera to be melted out of the ice and wreck havoc on the world (but mostly Japan). As usual, a little kid who is sympathetic to the monster is thrown in. Probably the funniest scene is at a dance for teenagers in Tokyo, where a band is singing the Gamera theme song and eventually the monster himself makes an appearance! All in all, GAMERA is not a film that takes itself too seriously, and if the viewer takes the same attitude it is a so much fun to watch, it spawned at least a dozen sequels.

THE GIANT GILA MONSTER

Somewhere out west, a Giant Gila Monster is annoying teenagers who like to drag race. The Sheriff is not getting Federal assistance, so it is up to the local community to solve the mystery of “The Gila Monster,” Our villain, the lizard monster, is more of a regular Gila set on a miniature play set. The cars are fake, the trees are little plants, and the trains the monster is nudging  off the tracks are toys. The creature isn’t frightening, doesn’t deliver tension, and makes the screaming 50s-styled greasers and bobby-soxers look like crazy people. Still, at just 74 minutes, THE GIANT GILA MONSTER is well-remembered by monster kids of a certain age as a late-night creature feature fave.

TENTACLES

During the course of the 1977 epic TENTACLES, a giant octopus eats a baby, chows down on a one-legged sailor, shoots ink at some scuba divers, swallows a chubby gal, gorges itself on a chick in a bikini, and threatens a bunch of kids during a boat race.  John Huston (reporter), Bo Hopkins (marine biologist), Shelley Winters (loudmouth granny), Claude Akins (sheriff), and Henry Fonda (shady industrialist) star. They all look thoroughly embarrassed, but TENTACLES is a lot of fun, climaxing with Bo Hopkins giving his two trained killer whales a pep talk before sending them out to slay the octopus.

ANNIHILATION

Alligator…crocodile. Okay, so the whole movie isn’t about a killer reptile, but this great scene with the mutant albino monster is not only terrific but terrifying!

BLACK WATER

“Get out of the water now!!” Think JAWS but instead set in the mangrove swamps of Northern Australia. This terrifying tale is one of the “greats” and is a realistic, nerve-racking crocodile film.

Did you know that the film used very little CGI. The crocodile was real and practical effects were used. (IMDB)

ALLIGATOR (1980)

“It lives 50 feet beneath the streets. It’s 36 feet long. It weighs over 2,000 pounds… And it’s about to break out!” and “Alligators in the sewers” Hoo-boy this so camp… and one that had to make our list!!

PRIMEVAL (2007)

This croc film has some intense CHOMP scenes making it a must-see!

Inspired by the true story of a legendary 25-foot man-eating crocodile comes the intense, terrifying horror movie PRIMEVAL. An American news crew, determined to capture this voracious monster and stop his demonic rampage, travel deep within the darkest reaches of Africa to hunt their prey. But Gustave, as the natives call him, is also on the hunt — always on the move, always elusive, always hungry for human flesh. Heart-pounding fear is nonstop in this edge-of-your-seat nail-biter about the cunning killer who continues to blaze his blood-soaked trail of terror.

Contributed by Michelle Hannett and Tom Stockman