Croc (film)

Croc
DVD Cover
Genre	Horror
Written by	Ken Solarz
Directed by	Stewart Raffill
Starring	Michael Madsen Peter Tuinstra Sherry Phungprasert Scott Hazell
Theme music composer	Charles Olins Mark Ryder
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Charles Salmon
Cinematography	Choochart Nantitanyatada
Editors	Laurie McDowell Kant Pan
Running time	100 minutes
Production company	Thai Occidental Productions
Budget	$750,000 (estimated)
Original release
Network	Syfy
Release	November 4, 2007 (2007-11-04)

Croc is a 2007 made-for-television natural horror film produced by RHI Entertainment that premiered in Canada on the video-on-demand channel Movie Central On Demand in July 2007. It aired in the United States on the Syfy Channel on November 4, 2007. It is the 6th film in the Maneater Series produced under an agreement with Syfy. Filmed in Thailand, the film revolves around the efforts of the owner of a crocodile-farm, an animal welfare agent, and a hunter trying to kill a large saltwater crocodile that has begun killing people in the area.

Plot

The film begins with two dynamite fisherman working only to disturb a large saltwater crocodile which attacks, mutilates, and kills them both.

Jack McQuade (Peter Tuinstra) runs a crocodile farm in Thailand with the help of his nephew Theo (Scott Hazell) and Jack's sister (and Theo's mother) Allison (Elizabeth Healey). Jack is being constantly harassed by a new neighboring resort owned by the Konsong brothers. They want to get Jack shut down because they have buildings on the land and want to steal the rest. The Konsong brothers set animal welfare, bill collectors, and tax collectors on the farm. As animal welfare investigator Evelyn Namwong (Sherry Phungprasert) refuses to shut down the farm, having found only minor violations, she is fired. After two teenagers are eaten by a horrorized crocodile, the Konsongs send goons to break in and release three of the farm's crocodiles. Jack's crocodiles are blamed and he gets orders to shut down until further notice.

The Crocodile that killed the teens reappears and eats a young boy near the docks. Its filmed by a tourist nearby and identified as a 20-foot salt water crocodile. Being much much larger and of a different species than Jack's, his farm's name is cleared and he is able to reopen. With the monster continuing to snack on the local population, Jack and Evelyn run into Hawkins (Michael Madsen), a man who has been hunting it for months to get revenge for its many victims. They join forces to find and kill the crocodile. While they are talking, they hear gunfire and two hunters claiming to have killed the Croc which is actually one of Jack's escaped crocs. They quickly rush over, only to see the real croc kill one of the hunters.

While they hunt the crocodile, the Konsongs send someone to kill Allison, who paid his taxes and other bills to help him out. The goon tries to run her down, but misses. He leaves behind his cell phone which links him back to Andy Konsong. Andy heads home to warn his brother that their plot has been uncovered, only to find pieces of him floating in a bloodied pool. The Crocodile was in the pool when he was swimming and killed him. Panicked, Andy calls 911, but then gets sick to his stomach. While he's throwing up in the pool, the Crocodile emerges and kills him.

When Evelyn, Jack, Hawkins, and the crocodile farm manager go looking for the crocodile's pit, Allison and Theo follow in a small boat. The Crocodile appears and snatches Allison from the boat, much to Theo's horror. Jack and the rest of the team continue searching for the pit underwater while Hawkins and Theo go to search on land. They find the pit and, to their relief, Allison, who is unconscious but still alive. She wakes up to find the Crocodile with its jaws right in front of her head, but it leaves when it hears Jack calling for her. It comes up behind Jack, gets a hold of his foot, and drags him underwater. As it's going down, Hawkins and Theo shoot at it, with Hawkins managing to shoot it in the brain. It dies with Jack's foot still firmly clamped in its mouth and him underwater. Stuck too high to get down to help, Hawkins advises Allison to cut off Jack's leg since they can't get the Crocodile's mouth open. Instead, the park manager uses a bang stick to blast it open and Jack gets to keep his leg.

Production

In October 2006, RHI Entertainment made a deal with the Sci Fi Channel to produce a series of ten made-for-television natural horror films to air on the network the following year. Dubbed the "Maneater" series by RHI Entertainment, Croc was the fourth film released. Although the agreement called for the films to premiere on SciFi, the first six films in the series actually premiered in Canada on the video on demand channel Movie Central on Demand in July 2007 due to a pre-licensing agreement.

Distribution

Croc premiered in the United States on the SCI FI channel on November 4, 2007 for the channel's Saturday Night "Movie of the Week" premiere. Genius Products released the film to Region 1 DVD on February 5, 2008. The film was re-released on August 19, 2008 as part of the second volume of the "Maneater Series Collection" sets. The volume also included Eye of the Beast and Grizzly Rage, the fifth and sixth films in the series, respectively. In 2008, RHI Entertainment released the film to the iTunes store for downloading.

Critical reception

The film holds a score of 3.7/10 on the Internet Movie Database and a 20% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

See also

• List of killer crocodile films

External links

• Official RHI Entertainment Croc website
• Official Genius Entertainment Croc website
• Croc at IMDb
• Horror.com review
• Dreadcentral review
• Justin Felix, DVD Talk review
• Jeff Swindoll, Monsters and Critics.com review
• David Johnson, DVD Verdict review