Alligator 2 The Mutation

R2 DVD

Anchor Bay Entertainment

Alligator 2 The Mutation dates from 1990 but looks very much like an Eighties film. It has very minimum swearing and a lot less gore than Alligator and was essentially given PG rating.

Alligator 2 continues the same theme as Alligator but lacks the humour and bloodshed of its predecessor. It focuses on corrupt businessman Vincent "Vinnie" Brown who is working to build his own business empire at all costs. He has bought off the mayor and has the police under his sway. Not only is he a property developer, buying properties on the cheap and turning them into yuppie units for the rich but he has a large share in a local pharmaceutical company. This is the same company whose chemicals created the alligator monster from the first film.

This time the company has been experimenting with “adrenaline” and been dumping toxic wastes in the city sewers as well in a local lake. It is the same lake around which Brown is developing his top end of the market town houses and resort.

As contracts are signed to turn the development into reality, reports surface of hobos and winos being brutally slaughtered by some sort of animal but nobody takes them seriously. Who would believe a big alligator could be the cause ? However, soon it becomes clear to Hodges, a maverick cop and his wife, a reptile expert that there is a monster on the loose. It is not a normal alligator but an oversized creature fashioned by chemicals and toxic sludge.

As one would expect the climax involves the alligator making its way to the lake just as Brown is holding an event to launch his business and all hells breaks loose. This time the alligator is not so easily killed. Since it is a “mutant” it is shot, blown up, knifed, poisoned and stabbed but it just won’t die. Finally after swallowing some dynamite it is hit with a rocket launcher and explodes.

The look of the alligator has not really improved since the first film. The real life footage is solid but the mechanical alligator looks like it is either on platoons or wheels. But it just adds to the B grade “creature feature” goodness of the film.

Both Alligator and Alligator 2 The Mutation have been remixed with both DD 5.1 and DTS tracks. Both are uneven and while the mixing does give sound good surround sound the voices and music seem tinny and artificial.

This is a fun sequel, nowhere near as amusing or exciting as the first, but since it comes in a double pack with Alligator, it is worth watching at least once !

This review will appear in Volume 2 No.3 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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