Alligator X (2014) Reviews

• A mess from start to finish

  TheLittleSongbird2011-07-25

  I happened to see Xtinction(aka Alligator X) on the SyFy channel. This movie is not as bad as some of the other output that airs on that channel, but in all honesty, is that any consolation? Xtinction still manages to start out a mess and finish on exactly the same level. For starters, the acting is very poor. Elena Lyons is actually decent, and the only real redeeming quality of the movie. The rest of the cast look completely disengaged, but it doesn't help that all the characters in Xtinction are very uninteresting and seem to have no life or purpose to them at all. The cinematography is more than okay too, however the effects cheapen it. The effects are not the worst I've seen, but they are crude and horrifically bad in too many places, while the look of the film in terms of colour palette and lighting is drab. I accept there was a need of a hostile atmosphere, but the drab look made it rather depressing in alternative to foreboding and hostile. The script is clichéd and cheesy, and the direction is derivative. What really kills Xtinction are the story and pace. Pace-wise, Xtinction is very dull, and the story and characters don't do much to engage us either. The story is very unfocused, with some of the film focusing on the dinosaur which was somewhat intriguing but lacking in tension, it was underdeveloped and the shock value was rather cheap. And the kidnapping focus that dominates the middle is just as derivative as the direction, with no genuine build ups to compensate. The ending is also a major let down in how predictable it is. All in all, I've seen worse, but this film is a mess really. 2/10 Bethany Cox

• It's mean and green!

  Boba_Fett11382012-02-11

  Oh trust me, there is far more worse stuff to watch out there but having said that, this movie is quite horrible. This is one of those incredibly cheap monster movies, that got put together in a matter of weeks and had no large budget behind it. Or at least, it truly does look that way. It isn't isn't ever very creative with any of its ideas and it's a pretty predictable movie, from beginning till end. It still had some good ideas in it, it seemed but the filmmakers obviously had no idea how to handle them. You could tell it's just another paycheck for all them and their heart isn't really into it at all. They decided to play things safely, do it fast and do it is cheap as possible, so maybe the studios would give them another job afterward. These persons are not in the business because they love to make movies, they are simply in it because it pays the bills. And really, with some more creativity behind it, this movie could had at least become a somewhat watchable one, even if it was featuring exactly the same story. Now instead it obviously isn't a very recommendable one, not even if you are really into the monster movie genre. There besides isn't really any good gore or tension present in this movie, which makes it such an incredibly bland one to watch. I honestly quite liked some of the characters and actors in this movie, which is already a real big thing for a movie of this sort but obviously they can't make the movie any more interesting or exciting. Thing that remains the absolute worst thing about this movie are its special effects. My goodness, when you make a monster movie you would think that the filmmakers would realize that having a good- and convincing looking monster is the absolute, most crucial thing but the monster looks absolutely horrendous in this, due to some incredibly bad and cheap looking special effects. It seriously had some good potential in its story but this all goes to waste, courtesy of some not so very talented and interested film-makers. 3/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

• Another terrible creature feature.

  poolandrews2011-06-06

  Xtinction is set in the Louisiana swamps where Laura Le Crois (Elena Lyons) has returned to after several years in search of her missing father Pappy (Philip Beard), meanwhile local Sheriff Tim Richards (Lochlyn Munro) has a growing list of missing persons on his hands. A young couple named Mandy (Lacey Minchew) & Matt (Gabe Begneaud) hire a boat from Laura to go on a sunset tour of the swamp, with no one else to pilot the boat Laura has to herself but while out in the swamp the boat is attacked by a huge underwater prehistoric reptile. On dry land Laura witnesses two local brother's feed her father pappy to the prehistoric monster who then turn their attentions to her, the brother's kidnap Laura, Mandy & Matt while the Sheriff now has to start dealing with various severed body parts washing up on dry land & after Laura's boat is found badly damaged he sets out to find her... Also known as Xtinction: Predator X this was directed by Amir Valinia & although not a Sy-Fy Channel original creature feature it might well have been, in fact I'm pretty sure the Sy-Fy Channel will pick this up as it's just the sort of thing they make themselves. The cloned Dinosaur, the aquatic swamp setting, the policeman & his girlfriend character's, the evil scientist guy, the dumb clichés who are there just to be killed off & some really lame plot twists. While watching this yesterday it felt like I was sat there in front of the telly for hours, this really drags & the Dinosaur feels more like a second thought than anything else. The plot is stupid, are the writers of this thing convinced that anyone who watches this will believe that in order to genetically clone a Dinosaur all you need are some old bones, a few test tubes in a wooden shack in a Louisiana swamp & the combined knowledge of a college teacher & two inbred brother's one of whom can barely speak? Where did the sonar device come from? How did the teacher know it would work, what does the Dinosaur do when the sonar isn't on? Why create a Dinosaur in the first place? What did they intend to do with it? Why didn't they take any precautions to stop the Dinosaur eating them? Nothing quite makes sense, there's little or no reason behind anything that happens & character motivation is baffling. The majority of the film follows Laura as she gets kidnapped, has to escape & then fight for her life as she is pursued by a giant Dinosaur & a couple of local killers. The kidnapping angle dominates the middle third of the film & the Dinosaur really is all but forgotten about. There's a totally random twist near the end in which a friend suddenly betrays Laura & turns out to be working for the bad guy but then once his car crashes a few minutes later he sees the error of his ways & says he deserves to die & the car blows up. The Dinosaur angle is poorly thought out with no reason or logic behind it's creation or continued protection, the character's are poor & it's pretty dull. In fact, are you sure this wasn't made by the Sy-Fy Channel? The CGI effects vary from average to terrible, the same shot of the Dinosaur swimming underwater is used several times & even the gore isn't that good. There's a severed hand, a severed arm, a couple of severed feet & a bit of blood but not much else. The one thing I will say about Xtinction is that the cinematography is quite nice, I expected lots of green trees & bright sunshine but the look of Xtinction is just the opposite with dead trees, very brown & Earthy settings & a Louisiana swamp that looks quite dead & hostile. Not that a subdued colour scheme makes Xtinction worth watching. With a supposed budget of about $2,500,000 I can't believe that much was spent on it, it looks pretty cheap with minimal effects & action. Actually filmed in Louisiana. The one bright spark of Xtinction is leading lady Elena Lyons who does put in an energetic performance, everyone else seems bored. Xtinction is your average stand Sy-Fy Channel quality creature feature, in other words it's routine unoriginal crap. Poor effects, predictable plot, a script that makes no sense & a slow pace just kill it dead in the water. Films like Xtinction are ten a penny & there are much, much better ones out there.

• Disappointing immensely cheesy creature feature

  kannibalcorpsegrinder2013-02-07

  Returning to her hometown to deal with her father's disappearance, a woman and her friends find he's part of a rampage of terror conducted by a monstrous prehistoric crocodile and try to find a way to end it's blood-soaked rampage. This wasn't all that great of a creature but did have a few good points drowned in it's flaws. There's no use complaining about the lack of quality CGI here since that's to be expected with this, but the fact that it never really featured the title creature at all in this who tends to be so rarely shown in the film that there's almost a sense of it not being a real creature feature at all. By choosing to focus instead on the family drama and the different background characters first, the crocodile doesn't seem to be a big important factor in the plot and rarely seems to be a concern for them once it does show up, dramatically reducing it's effectiveness even before the lame effects used for it are brought into play. There's some good stuff in the rather frenetic finale that finally lets the creature loose and get a decent rampage on the populace resulting in some fine deaths and a bit of action, the ultimate manner of killing the beast is pretty creative and overall the second half has a nice vibe to it, but overall it's quite lacking. Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language

• Way too Bland for a Creature Feature

  Michael_Elliott2012-07-20

  Alligator X (2010) ** (out of 4) Creature feature has a couple rednecks in a deep swamp creating a large gator that has been extinct for as far back as anyone can remember. Somehow this creature is now stalking the swamp eating anyone that gets in its path but thankfully there's some nice people willing to try and destroy it. ALLIGATOR X, which is also known as XTINCTION: PREDATOR X, is a pretty average movie from start to finish and I guess I would say that it's fairly well made but if you're advertising a creature feature it might be a good idea to actually spend some time with that creature. The biggest issue I had with this movie is that there simply wasn't enough time with the creature. The attacks rarely happened and when they did they were often filmed in a way where we don't see too much action. Again, I'm really not sure why they selected to try and tell more "story" than actually deliver on the goods that fans coming to these type of movies will expect. While on a technical level this film is much better than your typical film you'd see on SyFy, on the level of entertainment I'd say this isn't nearly as good simply because there's not enough action going on. The majority of the running time has our leading lady searching for her father and then constantly running around the swamp trying to get away from the two rednecks and her ex-husband who just happens to be the scientist trying to take this creature and make more of them. This silly melodrama about her father's property and the various other issues that come up really add nothing to the movie. The performances range from average to above average but none of them are going to knock you off your seats. In regards to violence and gore, the levels are pretty low as there simply aren't enough attacks to get excited about and when they do happen we don't get to see much. ALLIGATOR X is a real wasted opportunity and there's really no point in watching it unless you've got to see every film of its type.