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It’s no secret that I am Australian, and if it was a secret, then my apologies! It’s not really something I hide.
As an Aussie, I actually do love the genre movies that we make - not the boring drama that no one will watch - but the interesting horror, action and sci-fi movies that we used to produce a few decades ago.
Lately I have fallen in love again with monster movies and creature features. But almost all of my viewing has been exclusively Asian, until the new Brollie streaming platform was released and I discovered there was a few Australian crocodile movies in there that I should watch again, to remind me of how good our movies used to be.
We were never going to compete with Hollywood, but we didn’t need to. We were Australia god-damn-it.
PLOT
Set in the Outback of Australia, a giant ancient crocodile has been hunting and killing people, including children. A park ranger whose job is to provide a safe haven for the crocodiles teams up with two indigenous guides to capture the croc and release it into a remote billabong far from any people.
But hot on their tails are a group of rabble rousing locals who want revenge on the croc for the deaths of their bogan friends and the loss of one of the man’s arms.
A showdown ensues.
ABOUT THE FILM
Released in 1987, I wasn’t expecting a heck of a lot from this film, and in fact what I was really looking forward to was to see some practical effects, because quite frankly I am sick of CGI crocodiles.
The movie doesn’t disappoint. There lots of scenes involving the croc where you get a mixture of a sedated real life beast and a convincing looking puppet for the action scenes.
Additionally, for me, another highlight was John Jarratt. Say what you want about the man, but he nailed the performance of Mick in Wolf Creek and is no stranger to featuring in Aussie creature features such as Boar and Rogue, yet another damn good Aussie croc film.
Otherwise, solid performances all round, a story line that’s interesting and a time capsule of Australia where Fords and Holdens ruled the roads, people threw empty beer cans into the river and no one locked their damn doors.
I’ll take two out of the three of those things to have back in our society.
What are my overall thoughts?
90 minutes of fun, Australian crocodile adventuring without Paul Hogan anywhere near the action. Although I do miss Steve Irwin.
Check this one out on Brollie, and have a damn good time.
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Genre Horror Adventure
Director Arch Nicholson
Starring John Jarratt, Nikki Coghill, Ray Meagher, David Gulpilil
Original Title Dark Age
Country of Origin Australia
Release Date 1987
Dark Age Australian Crocodile Movie Horror 1987 movie review