Tuesday, April 1, 2014

A-Z Challenge 2014: A is for Alligator!

Welcome to my fourth go-round for the A-Z Blogging Challenge! After the first two Challenges - where I sometimes wrote posts with word counts that rivalled Dostoevsky and Stephen King - combined - I took it down a notch for the 2013's third blogfest with much shorter posts.

I'm going to bring it down again. This year, it's going to be 26 movie posters. I feature a lot of movie posters in this blog. Monday's regular department is Maniacal Movie Poster Monday - with three randomly chosen movie posters on display; and Saturday Night at the Movies is the other regular department where I feature a movie poster and trailer from my own video collection. So that's four posters a week right there.

So yeah, I do love movie posters. For this A-Z Challenge we'll run right down the alphabet - with the hopes of putting the spotlight on 26 smaller movies - flicks that didn't necessarily have huge budgets or massive advertising campaigns - but which are well worth a look anyway.


First up - I'm very happy to announce that



A is for Alligator!



1980

 






Long before there was a Syuh Fyuh channel (I pronounce it when I write it) or their never ending stream of nature runs amok movies featuring goofy combo creatures and mostly bad CGI - here was a prime example of the genre that I prefer to call "Chew 'Em Up and Spit 'Em Out" movies - with a variety of practical effects pulling off a pretty cool alligator.



The little critter was brought home from Florida and subsequently flushed into the sewers of Chicago.
It started eating the remains of genetic experiments dumped illegally - and now Chicago faces a 36 foot long monster. Cop Robert Forster teams with biologist Robin Riker to try to save the city.




Add in a killer supporting cast - a knowing script by John Sayles (Return of the Secaucus Seven) with just the right amount of tongue in cheek - and tight direction from Lewis Teague (Cujo) and you have the recipe for a fine B picture - highly recommended.







Thanks to all the host blogs and associates - you guys rock!





Hope you'll "B" back tomorrow for the next post - until then, you Can Poke Me With An Alligator, Cause I Am Outta Here!

21 comments:

  1. Living in New York I found the concept behind this movie terrifying. A good start for the challenge Craig!

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  2. A is for "Attack of the GORILLA!" We intentionally named it with an "A" in order to jump to the top of VOD lists...

    Trailer: http://vimeo.com/ondemand/attackgorilla

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    1. Tha't fantastic! And hilarious! Best of luck with it - maybe I'll be writing about it this time next year!

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  3. That is quite the poster, the alligator image. Talk about a scary factor, they did a good job selling it via the poster -- smart marketing. Great choice for A-Z. Hope to see more.

    Silvia @
    SilviaWrites

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    1. Thank you Silvia! I have always love movie posters - though I have to admit a dtronger fondness for the older ones - when they were actually put outside a theater to try to draw you in.

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  4. Excellent! I'm doing shorter posts this year, too. We all have ADD, don't we? :-)

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    1. I think that might be a factor. Of course, having more than 2000 (!) blogs in the challenge this year seems to be a factor too! Thanks for coming by!

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  5. I love this movie and your theme, my friend. I can still remember watching that little gator going down the toilet into the pipes and on into the sewer. I stared at my toilet for months after. LOL

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    1. Mel! Delighted to see you! Yeah, and that little guy going down was accompanied by some of the greatest scary movie library music ever!

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  6. A fun little monster flick from one of the most underrated horror directors of all time. The sequel was just crap.

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    1. I love the first movie with you equally. I differ from you on the second in-name-only sequel - (really a requel since it just tells the same story again in a different city) - I enjoyed the name stars in the cast enough to like the second movie. It's nowhere near as good as the first, but it's watchable.

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  7. One of my favorite nature on the rampage flicks. Really would be nice to get a blu-ray one day.

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    1. It would be glorious on Blu-Ray! The DVD isn't bad though - gotta say!

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  8. I have such a soft spot for the old sci-fi and horror films! My dad raised me on the stuff and Alligator was one of the many my young and impressionable brain was exposed to. Naturally, for many years to follow I believed that this concept was not only highly possible, but in fact a guaranteed result. To this day I still wonder why the dead bird that was flushed in Poltergeist did not return as a giant zombie canary. Fantastic subject!

    The Immarcescible Word

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    1. Thank you! And thanks for following! Yeah, I love the old flicks too! Welcome aboard! Come by often, stay late, and comment whenever the mood strikes you!

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    2. I shall indeed! Thanks! And now I remember that the bird in Poltergeist didn't actually get flushed, so of course it didn't come back as a giant zombie canary. *facepalm* (It would have been a great and terrible movie, though.)

      The Immarcescible Word

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  9. I remember seeing this one at our local drive-in. As a thirteen year old, I kinda liked it. As an adult, not so much.

    Happy A to Z-ing. See ya 'round the web. All Things Kevyn

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    1. Ah, that's too bad. It actually holds up as a very well made little flick. Sorry it's no longer your cup of tea. Thanks for coming by!

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    2. Oh, it is fun, just not as spectacular as I once thought it to be.

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