This film starts with a photographer being flown by helicopter to a hotel/resort in the middle of the jungle, because he has been hired to take some publicity photos for the owner. Once there he is introduced to everyone of any interest (to the viewer anyway) and is given a guided tour of the place (once again more for the viewers benefit than his, a quick and lazy way to set the story up). After this opening ten or so minutes its on with the story, this photographer falls for the owners assistant and tries to chat her up when she is alone, outside. At the same time two locals sail to a nearby island and make love. On their way back they are attacked and killed by a giant alligator, of course the photographer and his soon to be lover hear their screams. The next morning one of the two killed the night before is reported missing, the photographer puts two and two together and along with a broken boat realizes something is not quite right. The hotel owner however is not convinced, and as he has his first guests coming to stay he doesnt want to start a panic. Its now down to the photographer and his girlfriend to prove the great alligator exists. I like all these italian rip off movies from the late seventies and early eighties and this one isnt too bad at all. Sergio Martino is a solid director who seems to make good, handsome, well made movies that are better than their low budgets would suggest, mountain of the cannibal god, A man called blade and 2019 after the fall of new york are a few examples. There is not much gore and the alligator is rarely seen, but the locations are nice as is the camera work. I liked the ending as well. Some may find the film a bit dull and slow but I liked it and recommend it.

Sergio Martino directed some of my favorite films of all time, such as The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, All the Colors of the Dark, 2019: After the Fall of New York, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key as well other completely out there films like Hands of Steel, Torso, American Tiger, The Mountain of the Cannibal God and The Case of the Scorpion's Tail. Throw in a script co-written by one of my favorite Italian scuzzfest directors - George Eastman - and you have the recipe for a movie that should blow my mind.

The Great Alligator should be, well, great. And there are moments where it feels like it's going to be, as it attempts to be a mash-up of Jaws and Cannibal Holocaust, which again, seems like a great idea. Throw in the gorgeous Barbara Bach before she married Ringo Starr, Claudio Cassinelli (Murder Rock) and Mel Ferrer - who went from the A-list and marrying Audrey Hepburn to appearing in some of the most crazed films, like The Visitor, Nightmare City and Eaten Alive! to name but three - and you have a cast ready to make it happen. And the central theme of the movie - tourists anger the god of a resort island who then becomes a giant alligator and eats them all - is great, too.

Turns out that Kuma, that river god, doesn't like how Mel Ferrer runs Paradise House and wants none of his native people to work with the whites any longer. The natives then wipe out anyone that works there, no matter where they come from and Cassinelli and Bach must climb the waterfall that Stacy Keach fell off of in The Mountain of the Cannibal God to find the only person who may be able to save them, Prophet Jameson (Dr. Menard from Zombi 2).

That said, once the face painted natives and a giant alligator attack everyone, burning down Paradise House and menacing screaming tourists, who survives and what will be left of them is up for grabs. Look for appearances by Bobby Rhodes (the pimp from Demons),Romano Puppo (Trash's father from Escape from the Bronx) and Sylvia Collatina (Mae Freudenstein, the ghost girl of The House by the Cemetery)!

The huge body count, numerous alligator attacks and attempts at being something more than a Spielberg clone - outside of the way the attacks are filmed and that Ferrer keeps everything a secret so tourists keep coming - make this a movie that I enjoyed on some level. But much like Martino's post-giallo efforts, I keep wishing for him to go from simply good to flat out amazing. The ideas are there. The execution, however, is not.

This movie simply rips off the classic shark movie, using and alligator as the star. What we get are a series of scenes of stupid people tempting the title monster and getting eaten. Of course, there are blood and body parts, ripped apart for us to see. The editing is jerky and hard to focus on. The actors could have been turnips, used for their food value. Of course, we have Barbara Bach who is quite a looker. Must have had a few minutes off on her Italian vacation. Can't think of any other reason.