Film Review: ALLIGATOR (1980)

The ‘80s were a great time for horror films as animals became man’s worst enemy from Cujo and Cat’s Eye to The Fly and Of Unknown Origin and Alligator belongs right up there with them. Lucky for us Alligator is a competently written film about the harmful effects of genetic manipulation (a popular theme of the ‘80s).

In this film Robert Forster plays a detective on the case of several missing limbs that pop up in the city’s water system. When he is attacked in the city sewer system by a large alligator he must convince the mayor that there is an mutated and abnormally large alligator roaming under the city streets killing whomever gets in its way.

One of the great things about this film is actor Forster who always takes the situation seriously and never plays it for laughs (which is how many of the films of this genre do today). There is humor to be had in this film but it is not at the expense of the film itself which is a testament to the great writing from John Sayles (who would go on to write such unforgettable films as Passion Fish, Men With Guns, Limbo, Matewan, and Eight Men Out not to mention the original Piranha and The Howling).

Because there is no CGI in the film the special effects for the alligator also hold up extremely well (and the fact that they used a real alligator in many scenes). Today a CGI alligator would be used and the film would not have nearly the same impact. Alligator may be a film of the ‘80s but it’s certainly better than many films of the ‘00s.