Alligator (1980)

Directed by Lewis Teague. Starring Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo, Sydney Lassick, Dean Jagger, Jack Carter, Henry Silva, Perry Lang, Bart Braverman. [R]

A baby alligator purchased in Florida gets flushed down the toilet at a Chicago apartment, and years later, it comes out of the sewers the size of a car and ready to wreak bloody havoc. Tongue-in-cheek animal-attack movie is part satire, part full-blown B-horror pic; it’s either for you or it’s not, no judgment. Made with more skill and intelligence than its Jaws-clone ilk is usually afforded—Teague knows his way around second-tier action and horror, and the script was penned by John Sayles(!)—but it never quite takes the next leap to either hysterical camp or nerve-jangling terror. The attack scenes are as uneven as the special effects used to bring them to life, but sometimes effective. Its ace-in-the-hole is a knowing, world-weary turn from Forster as the cop working with reptile expert Riker to find and stop the rampaging gator. Jagger’s final film role. Followed by a barely-related sequel in 1990.

63/100