Highlights
- Alligator is an underrated gem of the creature feature genre, providing a fresh take on the concept of an evil creature wreaking havoc on a city.
- Despite its modest budget, Alligator has garnered a cult following and praise from critics for its originality and entertainment value.
- While the general audience may find the film corny, many enjoy the ridiculousness of Alligator and appreciate its premise, even if they don’t like the execution.
Those who find themselves wishing for more excellent creature features shouldn’t overlook the 1980 classic, Alligator. The genre goes back decades, pitting some kind of unthinkable evil creature against a population of unwitting innocence, and yet, the genre still manages to feel fresh even when creature features are released today. It may be thanks to the genre being much rarer to find in high quality these days, but depending on who is asked, Alligator is an underrated gem of the genre.
With a modest budget, Alligator had a lot of potential with audiences, even having a tabletop game released alongside the movie. While it never took hold of the public horror consciousness in any big way, it did eventually get a sequel, though that sequel is relatively disconnected from the original. If there’s one thing everyone needs to take away from Alligator, it’s to be careful of what gets flushed down the toilet.
RELATED: This 2002 Creature Feature Pits Scarlett Johansson Against Giant Spiders
What Is Alligator About?
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Alligator |
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|---|---|
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Director |
Lewis Teague |
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Screenplay |
John Sayles |
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Cast |
Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo |
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Runtime |
94 minutes |
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Release Dates |
November 14, 1980 |
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Budget |
$1,750,000 |
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Box Office |
$6,459,000 |
Unsurprisingly, Alligator is about an alligator that becomes a monstrous version of its former self, and as a result, wreaks ceaseless havoc across the city of Chicago. It all starts in the late sixties when a young girl’s baby pet alligator is flushed down the toilet by her father. From there, the alligator would make the sewers beneath the city its home feasting on whatever would end up flushed into the sewer, though what it would feed on would be anything but ordinary. Over the years, that alligator would feed on animals that were being put through awful growth experiments, something that caused both the alligator and its hunger to grow to massive proportions.
With animal carcasses not being enough to sustain the beast’s hunger, the alligator turns its attention to the people who come down to work in the sewers, finding and eating them alive. The man brought in to uncover the mystery behind dismembered body parts is the down-on-his-luck Detective David Madison who ultimately partners with herpetologist Marisa Kendall to stop the alligator after his own police partner is killed. Detective Madison tries to let people know about his unbelievable story in which an alligator ate his partner, but no one is interested in listening.
The prime reason for no one listening is a powerful man named Slade who funded the experiments that resulted in the massive alligator in the first place. Slad practically has total control of Chicago, and as a result, is capable of keeping his involvement with the beast a complete secret from most people. Luckily, a journalist is able to get the word out and the city of Chicago bands together to fight the beast. Unfortunately, it’s going to take a lot more than a few angry citizens to take down the massive thirty-six-foot alligator.
What Is Alligator’s Rotten Tomatoes Score?
While Alligator hasn’t been remembered fondly by the general public, critics seem to love the movie. On Rotten Tomatoes, the critics have been incredibly kind to Alligator, giving it 85% overall citing aspects like the film’s relative originality, how far it goes on such a low budget, and how fun the movie is overall. The reception has been warm, but one of the most notable film critics out there, Roger Ebert, absolutely brutalized the film in his review. Via Rogerebert.com:
Meanwhile, I suggest a plan: Why not try flushing this movie down the toilet to see if it also grows into something big and fearsome?
It seems that the general audience tends to agree more with Roger Ebert than the critics of Rotten Tomatoes, granting Alligator 49%. A lot of the general audience can give praise to the premise of the film, but many just can’t find themselves enjoying the execution of the film itself. The entire thing is seen as incredibly corny, but that is also a factor that many of the general audience reviewers praise about the film, with many being able to find joy in how ridiculous Alligator can be throughout its runtime.
How Does Alligator End?
With the alligator creature now running rampant through Chicago, there really isn’t any way for the public to stop the beast. It makes that clear in a hurry by beginning a horrific tear throughout the city starting with a police officer. Throughout the final apportion of the movie, the alligator is an unstoppable force that is happy to chew through all comers, regardless of how prepared they believe themselves to be. Even the comedically out-of-touch Colonel Brock, is interested in taking the beast down, though that goes about as well as one might expect it to.
The same Slade mentioned earlier ends up getting what is deserved when the alligator eventually happens upon a large party being held at his mansion. In a strange kind of comeuppance, Slade and his many party-goers are massacred by the alligator, allowing the beast to get revenge on the people who made it into the monster it became. Even the mayor is caught up in the alligator’s wrath, though most who watch the film likely aren’t going to feel any sympathy.
Eventually, Detective Madison and Kendall manage to bring the alligator back down into the sewers in order to stop it once and for all. Their simple plan has them blowing up the alligator, destroying it, and ridding Chicago of the scaly beast. Unfortunately, Alligator gives viewers a bit of a sequel tease in the form of a baby alligator appearing, hinting that Chicago hasn’t seen the last enormous alligators. With the day saved, Detective Madison and Kendall are able to go back to their lives, forever changed by their fight against the alligator.
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