Killer Crocodile 2

source: Killer Crocodile 2

Shot at the same time as Killer Crocodile and directed by Giannetto De Rossi (who also directed Cy Warrior but is mainly known for special effects on films like Zombi, The Humanoid, Dune, High Tension and more than sixty other movies. He co-wrote the film with the producer - and director of the original - Fabrizio De Angelis and Dardano Sacchetti. Ennio Girolami is back as the hunter known as Joe and Richard Anthony Crenna is on hand again as Kevin, the environmentalist turned croc killer, as a second mutated reptile starts eating everyone it can get its jaws on. They've come to the swamps of the Caribbean with reporter Liza (Debra Karr) as she investigates bad businessman Mr. Baxter, who doesn't see why radioactive waste is a detriment to the holiday resort he's just opened. This one is filled with padding - lots of flashbacks to the first movie - but it makes up for that by having the titular monster go through the wall of a house to get at people, then eat a nun and top that by snacking on a whole bunch of kids. Nobody is safe and the body count comes in at 21, which is pretty respectable.

The 1990 follow up to the 1989 "Killer Crocodile" movie wasn't really a step in the right direction. Not unless you count a cheesier and campier storyline as better, or having an even more inanimate crocodile as being better. The storyline in "Killer Crocodile 2" was a direct continuation of the events and story in the 1989 movie, for better or worse. But then it gets weird, because apparently one crocodile survived from part I and it emerged from the egg as a hatchling. But wait, within mere minutes apparently, it had grown bigger than the crocodile in the first movie. There was no time lapse to the storyline, which was a total slap in the face of the audience that have sat through the 1989 "Killer Crocodile" movie. The events were less interesting in this sequel, and there were far less deaths throughout the movie in comparison to the first movie. And that was something that made the movie suffer. As for the acting in "Killer Crocodile 2", well it was equal to the level of acting in the 1989 "Killer Crocodile" movie, so you know what you are or aren't getting here, depending on how you look at it. I found this 1990 sequel to be less adequate in terms of entertainment and enjoyment in comparison to the predecessor. I managed to get through the movie, but it was an uphill battle because the storyline was essentially pointless and non-existing.

Although the gigantic killer crocodile was killed at the end of the previous film, she managed to leave behind an egg that hatches in the same swamp at the beginning of this movie. Meanwhile, a newspaper reporter for the New York Chronicle named "Liza Post" (Debra Karr) has been assigned the case involving the illegal dumping in that swamp which has yet to be cleaned up. Sent to help her is the swamp expert by the name of "Kevin Jones" (Anthony Crenna) who killed the killer crocodile in the first movie. Now, as far as this film is concerned it certainly could have been much better. The dialogue was substandard and some of the scenes were pretty bad as well. But to be fair the movie was filmed in Italian and dubbed into English so I suppose some allowances should be made. Also on the plus side was the presence of Debra Karr who was absolutely stunning. Still, as I stated earlier, this movie could have used some improvement and even though I enjoyed it, in all fairness I have to rate it as slightly below average.

I was a bit bored. There isn't nearly enough crocodile carnage but the practical FX are so charming and it's quite in line with the first, which was also a bit tedious. Alligator just blows this film out of the water of course. But this might be better than Alligator 2 at least although that isn't saying much. I like Liza and the scene where a guy tries to have his way with her but it does feel like there is quite a bit of padding in this. Quite a spoiler here but Joe's death is super weak. You can't understand what happened at all... he seems to have some scratch on his head or something and who knows I guess it tore up his back but it's a pretty poor death to a memorable character from the first.

Attempting to cover a big story, a reporter sent to investigate a conspiracy involving illegal toxic waste dumping in the Caribbean finds that the waste has created a monstrous crocodile stalking the grounds of a new hotel and tries to stop the creature. For the most part this one here was a rather decent creature feature. What really tends to work well for this one is once again putting the creature on display and instigating attacks, as there's quite a few incredibly enjoyable action-packed scenes here. The opening ambush on the parasailors is a nice opening mark, the big attack on the children's boat going through the river attacking the children in the water after being capsized and the fun encounter where it attacks the hut with the workers inside all manage to give this a rather nice amount of action scenes. As well, the swamp attack on the guide and his traversing through the swamp after her provide some more fun with the creature, and being able to set-up the finale makes for some rather nice hunting-style action scenes out in the swamp which is where the film really scores. Introducing the white-whale style climax allows for the rather enjoyable fun here of the creature attacking the salvage crew and turning to the family fun on the water nearby in a pretty thrilling cheesy action set-piece and letting the rather explosive finish come off pretty well. Again, the fact that this one has the real prop croc on-camera for a large majority of the scenes here gives this one more to like by having the physical presence on-screen, and along with the great gore makes for some fun times. These here make this one quite fun, though there's some problems featured throughout this one. Once again, a great deal of time is wasted throughout here on completely banal tangents and side-plots that really don't do much of anything interesting here, with the main part here once again being the conspiracy angle. This isn't in the slightest bit interesting as once again it's a rehash from the first film which did the same angle from pretty similar authority figures for the same exact reason which becomes quite distracting. Playing it out once again doesn't really make the scenes all that interesting just watching them go into meetings about what's happening and really makes this feel like a repeat of the same thing from last time. The other flaw to this one is the fact that there's just no reason for the extended flashbacks of the first one beyond simply padding out the running time here and it's quite obvious where it's done for that effect which makes this rather troubling. Otherwise, there's not a whole lot really wrong with this one. Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity and children-in-jeopardy.

As with many monster movies, you may ask yourself: how hungry is a crocodile? Also is it a crocodile or an alligator? I read the distinction and explanation what is what, but I forgot it since I did. But that shouldn't matter - as it doesn't matter if you've seen the first one or not. Although it is the better "movie" of the two. So if you only watch one of these, watch the previous one. On the other hand this has the beautfiul Debra Karr undressing herself - so maybe it's a tie for some. That aside the monster is the highlight again. The hungry hippo ... I mean crocodile. Really great monster, because it was made and interacted with the actors instead of being rendered in later. Well done and a lot of gore and mayhem. But no story apart from being the ... spawn of the first one and having some ... leftovers from the previous movie to ... chew on. Enough jokes? Well don't expect the dialog in this to be better, the opposite is the case

"Killer Crocodile 2" isn't about to mess with a formula, as it proceeds to offer lovers of Euro-cheese more of the same things we got with the first "Killer Crocodile". The lovely Debra Karr (in one of only two feature film appearances) is an appreciably feisty leading lady as reporter Liza, sent to a Caribbean swamp to investigate nefarious doings by an evil developer named Baxter. Once again, the swamp is being polluted with illegal disposal of radioactive waste. And once again, an enormous, homicidal reptile shows up to munch on as many unlucky humans as it can. Richard Anthony Crenna, a handsome lad who is not particularly blessed with acting talent, returns as the hero Kevin, although he doesn't show up until the movie is almost half over. Italian effects master Giannetto De Rossi, who also designed our monster antagonist, proves to be at least somewhat capable in the directors' chair, delivering to us undemanding thrills for a little under an hour and a half. Granted, any parts of the plot devoted to the criminal goings-on, cover-ups, and Liza's un-P.C. bantering with her colleagues back in NYC are never as fun as when the croc makes its appearances and does what it does best. To further illustrate the fact that the screenwriters (including producer Fabrizio De Angelis and the prolific Dardano Sacchetti) don't really want to stray from what they felt made the first movie work, they bring back crusty, Crocodile Dundee wannabe Joe (Ennio Girolami) to be Crenna's cohort for a brief portion of the running time. The music by the great Riz Ortolani is fun, especially when he's riffing on John Williams' classic "Jaws" theme. The effects are sometimes dodgy, but at least this animatronic croc is still highly preferable to a digital one. De Rossi and company don't skimp when it comes to suggesting the creatures' size. The dialogue and the performances are extremely cheesy, with some genuine laugh out loud moments. (Such as Kevin's reaction to Liza's desire for sex late in the game.) For a sequel that was quickly banged out (it was actually filmed at the same time as the original), with not much thought put into the script, this does entertain solidly - in a purely tacky way, of course. Seven out of 10.

I have to disagree with many of the reviewers of this film and its prequel in that the animatronic Croc actually looks pretty good and it moves really well..... If only they had got the eyed and gums right and given it some murky lighting then it would have been quite impressive. Unfortunately director De Angelis makes, the mistake of showing off the Croc in full light at every opportunity.....and right from the very start of the film..... A bad mistake as any monster film lover will tell you.... Hold back the monster, keep the audience waiting. The story, acting, dialogue are really naff and the only plus is the monster and it would have been better to show us a bit of ankle here and there and make us wait right til the end til we see the beastie

I'm a fan of movie composer Riz Ortolani, but his music for the Killer Crocodile movies is uninspired and unoriginal, Ortolani shamelessly ripping off John Williams' score for Jaws. Still, I guess it's fitting in a way, because both Killer Croc films are far from groundbreaking, borrowing heavily from earlier examples of the 'killer animal' genre, including - of course - Spielberg's '75 classic. Italian special effects man Giannetto De Rossi dusts off his humongous reptile model from the original film (although I'm not sure if the word 'original' is really applicable) and also takes over the directorial reins (from Fabrizio De Angelis), but he is unable to bring anything new to the table, his sequel treading the same murky water as the first film, taking place in the same location - a Caribbean swamp - and featuring two of the same characters, croc expert Joe (Ennio Girolami) and (ex) environmentalist Kevin (Richard Anthony Crenna). Kevin is sent to the swamp to help feisty New York reporter Liza (Debra Karr) on her assignment to investigate unscrupulous property developer Mr. Baxter, who plans to open a swanky holiday resort despite having dumped barrels of radioactive material in the area. As it happens, nuclear waste is the least of their problems: there's another massive killer crocodile in the water, chomping on anyone who ventures into his stomping ground (including a couple of nuns and a load of school children!). Although it's far from a great film, if you enjoyed the first one, then there's a good chance you'll have fun with this sequel as well, De Rossi delivering lots of trashy croc action and a smidgen of gore, with more than a little silliness and even some gratuitous nudity (which was sorely lacking from De Angelis' film). The giant crocodile itself is a passable creation, but still shonky enough to provide a few giggles; however, the funniest moment comes at the end of the film, when the special effects 'genius' swaps his oversized toothy horror for a miniature, complete with 'action man figure' clinging to its back. It's so bad it's impossible not to love. 4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.