Trevor

These "2009 DVDTalk Horror Challenge Day #" threads are for the discussion of the films in the 31 Films in 31 Days subset.

General discussion on the 2009 DVDTalk Horror Challenge goes here, your list for the Challenge goes here.

The plan is for everyone to watch this film on the October day in the thread title, and to start discussing it the morning of the following day. You may start discussion early if you want, but the preferred plan is for this to be as much of a group exercise as possible, with all of us viewing it "together" and discussing after.

Of course, you are totally encouraged to participate in these threads even if you haven't watched the movie on the designated day. Even if you haven't watched it in years, or are not participating in the Horror Challenge, please feel free to chime in.

Spoiler tags will not be needed, as it will be expected that anyone here has seen the film.

Do not read this thread if you have not seen the film, unless you don't mind the ending being spoiled for you.

Dick Laurent

This was a lot of fun to watch. I thought I had seen it before, but only the opening bit was familiar. I will start off by stating how in awe I was over the transfer. I'm not sure what is available here now, but I bought this years ago as a two disc set that Anchor Bay UK put out. The anamorphic widescreen was beautiful, and the colors really popped. Almost looked like a HD broadcast. I'm not a professional DVD reviewer, but I liked what I saw. And the DTS sound was great.

Anyway, the movie was quite a treat. I forgot how much I enjoy Robert Forster. This was a great cop film for him, and the fact the horror element was mixed in made it that much better. Every detail about him was perfect, even down to how his apartment was.

As far as the alligator itself goes, I thought it was very effective. It looked like a beast of a creature, and that's what it was supposed to be. It played the fake card and real card equally well. Camera tracking shots were also used well, and some good angels even complimented the gator. The story wasn't anything too involved, but I wasn't looking for a deep plot in the first place. Over all great time, good choice.

Trevor

Similar points for me.

I'm sure I saw it as a kid, and the opening seemed familiar, but the more I watched it the more I wasn't positive if I've seen the whole thing. Still haven't, as sleep overtook me. Will finish tonight.

And yes, love Robert Forster.

llandros

I can't believe that I had never seen this one before. Robert Forster is great and it just looked very good for a movie from 1980 with this concept. Loved the little bits of humor that were in it. And some of the grafitti was really funny too.

clckworang

This was my first time seeing this movie. I had forgotten that John Sayles wrote the screenplay! Very funny. I've always avoided seeing this movie because I figured it would be a really lame Jaws rip-off. And I was partly right. It was definitely a blatant Jaws rip-off, but it was a pretty fun movie. I'm happy I got a chance to see it. Didn't realize Robert Forster was in it, so that was a pleasant surprise. He's a pretty dependable actor.

Oh, and the beginning seemed very familiar to me, too, despite the fact I knew I had never seen this movie before. Maybe there's another film from around this time with a very similar opening.

SanityRemoved

Hometown boy battles alligator! This film is a great viewer revenge film. Every character you despise gets eaten.

clckworang

That's just what I was thinking when I was watching it. They even went so far as to arrange a way for the alligator to catch the guy who was fleeing. It was actually a little funny watching the alligator destroy the car with its tail.

NoirFan

Sorry, I totally forgot I picked this one. Another clever John Sayles script, and a solid turn from the always reliable Robert Forster. I never understood why he didn't have more Hollywood success. The running joke about his silly comb-over is a nice touch, as is the reference to The Third Man - "Harry Lime lives!" is written on the wall in the sewer. Kudos also to LionsGate for the DVD - as Dick Laurent mentioned, the transfer is excellent (and widescreen, unlike many of their releases), plus there is a decent commentary track, though plenty of gaps exist. It took a couple of viewings before I realized Robin Riker, she of the "beautiful tits", was the bitchy yuppie neighbor on Get a Life. I've seen Alligator at least seven or eight times over the years, and I never get tired of it. Just a perfectly crafted little genre flick.

Trevor

I missed the Third Man reference, that's awesome. And I'll have to try the commentary track next time.

Dick Laurent

Thanks for this insight. I actually haven't seen The Third Man, and I wondered what that scribble was for.

Trevor

I avoided it for years, but finally watched it last month. Incredible film.

Do yourself a favor and don't wait any longer, well, until November 1st at least.