REVIEW: This holiday season, Severin is trying to escape ‘The Great Alligator’
Photo: The Great Alligator, directed by Sergio Martino, is a loving ripoff of Jaws. Photo courtesy of Severin / Provided by Foundry Comm with permission.
There are so many reasons to watch and enjoy Severin’s new UHD / Blu-ray release of Sergio Martino’s The Great Alligator from 1979. For starters, this is an unabashed ripoff of Jaws, that little shark movie that lit up the 1970s box office. There are some scenes that are creepily identical to Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece, so watching the creature feature moved to a jungle environment is fun and hilarious.
However, the real charms of Martino’s film comes in the realization that it’s actually, shockingly, amazingly … quite good. The Italian-made movie has the look and feel of other video nasties from the time period, including Cannibal Holocaust, but the emphasis this time is less on the guts and gore and more on the perceived threat of violence. Much like Jaws, the intensity comes from the buildup, much more than the payoff.
Like the setup for a bad joke, The Great Alligator follows a photographer, anthropologist and hotelier who all have competing interests in a resort paradise located along an enormous river (the reason for the photographer and a fashion model tagging along are never fully explained). The problem with the location in this unspecified country is that there’s a legend of an alligator (or crocodile) that lurks in the waters. No problem because these beaches need to stay open … whoops, sorry … this riverside resort needs to stay open. To keep the beast away from the swimming elite, a pitiful fence is erected in the water.
The local Indigenous community, most of whom are not part of the main narrative and that’s unfortunate, believes the alligator / crocodile is a godlike creature that is supernaturally drawn to this stretch of the river. The outsiders who are trying to profit off the land don’t pay attention to the local legend and forge ahead.
Along the way, there are some stunning visuals caught by Martino and his team. Honestly, this film is shot well and takes full advantage of the unique environs. Several of the underwater shots are reminiscent of Creature From the Black Lagoon, although one view of the alligator clearly shows that it’s essentially an immobile prop.
Although the film seems destined for a gore-fest, there’s a lot more restraint in this Italian horror film as compared to its splatterfest cousins from the late-1970s and early-1980s. Ruggero Deodato this is not.
Severin has packed the two-disc set in a most attractive slipcover, and there is a host of special features, including a trailer, interview with Martino, interview with actor Silvia Collatina (The House by the Cemetery) and interview with production designer Antonello Geleng, among others. The cast and creative team offer up many stories about actors Claudio Cassinelli, Barbara Bach and Mel Ferrer, plus what it was like filming underwater.
The Great Alligator is a must-watch for genre fans and lovers of Italian horror. Even better, this is a wonderful complement to that other water beast movie.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Great Alligator (1979). Directed by Sergio Martino. Starring Claudio Cassinelli, Barbara Bach, Mel Ferrer, Romano Puppo, Richard Johnson and Silvia Collatina. In English or Italian with optional English subtitles. Rating: 
Click here for more information on the Severin release.
