''Dinocroc'' is a 2004 American

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by Kevin O'Neill. The film's plot revolves around a genetically engineered ''

Suchomimus ''Suchomimus'' (meaning "crocodile mimic") is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived between 125 and 112 million years ago in what is now Niger, during the Aptian to early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous period. It was named and ...

'' terrorizing the lake-side residents of a small town. The film stars

Matthew Borlenghi Matt Borlenghi is an American actor, best known for his roles as Brian Bodine on '' All My Children'' from 1991 to 1993 and 1996, as Russ on ''The Jeff Foxworthy Show'', as Rich Casey on '' Police Academy: The Series'' and as Lyle on ''Cobra K ...

, Jane Longenecker, Charles Napier,

Costas Mandylor Costas Mandylor (born Konstantinos Theodosopoulos; 3 September 1965) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as Kenny in ''Picket Fences'' and for portraying Mark Hoffman in the ''Saw'' films. Early life Mandylor was born i ...

, Bruce Weitz, and

Joanna Pacuła Joanna Pacuła (; born 30 December 1957) is a Polish-American actress and model. Born in Tomaszów Lubelski and emigrating to the United States in the early 1980s, she first gained prominence through her modeling work for Vogue. Her breakthrough ...

. The film was produced by

b-movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

director

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

. The film received a limited theatrical release in early 2004. before premiering on the

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

Channel in April of that year. It was followed by two sequels, '' Supergator'' and '' Dinocroc vs. Supergator'', as well as a spin-off film, ''

Dinoshark ''Dinoshark'' is a 2010 low budget Syfy horror film. It was shown on Syfy on March 13, 2010. Background The film premiered on Syfy on the evening of March 13, 2010 before 2 million viewers. ''Dinoshark'' followed up ''Dinocroc''; Roger Corman prop ...

''. Upon release, the film received negative reviews from critics and audiences. It later received a Golden Galaxy award.

Plot

A large carnivorous

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

from the Cretaceous period of Northern Africa, with a head resembling one of a crocodilian, is found which could grow up to 50 feet long. Dr. Campbell ( Bruce Weitz) uses its DNA with a modern-day

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

to create two hybrids of it at Paula Kennedy's Genetic Research Co. (Gereco) lab. One creature kills Dr. Campbell's assistant and the other creature before escaping. This information is kept from Sheriff Harper (Napier) by Kennedy, stating the dead creature killed Campbell's assistant. His daughter, county dog catcher Diane Harper, helps her ex-welding artist, Tom Banning, and his 12-year-old brother Michael Banning (

Jake Thomas Jake Thomas (born January 30, 1990) is an American actor and director, perhaps best known for his role as Matt McGuire, the title character's younger brother, in the Disney Channel show ''Lizzie McGuire'' (2001–04). In 2002, he won a Young Ar ...

) find their three-legged dog, Lucky, who was lost a few days earlier. Meanwhile, Kennedy sends a trapper to feed the Dinocroc (the animal still being on Gereco Property). The trapper uses Lucky as bait, but Lucky runs away and the Dinocroc quickly kills the trapper soon after. Later in the morning Diane and Tom find Lucky running around in the woods and try to catch him, unaware that the Dinocroc is lurking nearby, but Dr. Campbell saves them by shooting at it. Kennedy then hires an Australian crocodile hunter, Dick Sydney (

), to help kill the Dinocroc after it is discovered to have killed two hunters in the woods (leaving behind one of their guns). Later that night, Michael sneaks out to look for Lucky when he witnesses the creature. The Dinocroc chases Michael through the forest into a tool shed situated on a dock above the water. Dinocroc then gets under the shed (tearing the dock to pieces in the process) and kills Michael from below, leaving only his head. The next day, not having noticed that Michael has gone, Tom, Diane, Dick and Campbell find that the creature is headed toward the town's lakeside beach. It kills three people, the last one being Campbell. In a press conference after the incident, Kennedy lies that Campbell was not part of Gereco. Sheriff Harper then plans to kill the creature with his police force and Diane. While looking for it, they stumble upon Michael's damaged bike and Michael's remains in the ruined shed. Tom, who knows Michael is missing, appears on his motorbike and then speeds away after seeing what is left of his dead brother. After trying to get drunk, Tom cries loudly over his brother and is met by Dick Sydney who is also there to unwind. Sydney explains to Tom how a crocodile killed his son and that is the reason he hunts them. Diane also arrives to comfort Tom along with Lucky. Meanwhile, five of Sheriff Harper's officers are brutally killed by the Dinocroc while searching the swamp for the cause; their mutilated remains found shortly after. The next day, Tom, Diane and others devise a plan to trap the Dinocroc in a tunnel and gas him to death. Sheriff Harper uses some dogs for bait, which Diane and Tom immediately object to, so Harper has them handcuffed and put in the police car. The two manage to escape and use a blowtorch to release the chained dogs while the creature chases them. They trap the Dinocroc in the tunnel and gas him, seemingly killing it. While a local news crew is taping Kennedy (who arrived after the creature's death) inside the tunnel, telling the reporter false stories about the events, the Dinocroc awakens; it then kills Kennedy and comes after Tom and Diane, who are left after the news crew drives away quickly in terror. After hiding under a truck, they hear a train and lure the Dinocroc across the tracks. It is rammed by a passing train, followed by Tom stabbing it in the eye to the brain with a small pipe as revenge for Michael's death. As the sun rises the next day, Diane and Tom drive away, contemplating leaving for a vacation together just to get away for a while. Then the camera pans slowly back as their truck passes and a second Dinocroc is seen walking weakly across the road.

Cast

as Dick Sydney * Charles Napier as Sheriff Harper * Bruce Weitz as Dr. Campbell *

as Tom Banning (Matt Borlenghi) * Jane Longenecker as Diane Harper *

Max Perlich Max Perlich (born March 26, 1968) is an American film and television actor. In 1990, Perlich won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the hit indie film ''Drugstore Cowboy'' and was nominated for the same ...

as Deputy Kerrigan *

as Michael Banning * Kerri Hemmington as Annie Dexter * Price Carson as Edwin Danders *

Joanna Pacula Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from from he, יוֹחָנָה, translit=Yôḥānāh, lit=God is gracious. Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janice ...

as Paula Kennedy * Jamie Akhavi as Judith * Ezekel Cruz as Pool Player

Music

Composer Damon Ebner created background music for the creature, similar to that in ''Jaws''. Every time the creature is near, attacks, or chases a victim, the background music, which was made up of orchestral and choir, accompanies it.

Sequels

After Corman produced ''Dinocroc'' in 2004, he proposed a sequel to be named ''Dinocroc 2''. However,

Sci-Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launc ...

turned down the project after claiming that sequels did not do well for them. In 2007, Corman decided to go ahead with the project, but under the name '' Supergator''. In 2010, Roger Corman produced a third and fourth film, ''

'', about a prehistoric shark, and '' Dinocroc vs. Supergator'', which featured the two creatures from Corman's earlier films battling one another. In the film, Dinocroc and Supergator escape from captivity (Dinocroc was possibly recaptured, while they possibly created a clone of Supergator since the original Supergator had died in the previous film). It first aired on

on June 26, 2010, was directed by

Jim Wynorski Jim Wynorski (born August 14, 1950) is an American screenwriter, film director, director, and film producer, producer. Wynorski has been making B-movies and exploitation movies since the early 1980s, and has directed over 150 feature films. His ...

and starred

David Carradine David Carradine ( ; born John Arthur Carradine Jr.; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor best known for playing martial arts roles. He is perhaps best known as the star of the 1970s television series ''Kung Fu'', playi ...

and John Callahan.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has three reviews, all negative. David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews gave it 1 out of 4 and called it "a typically cheesy straight-to-video monster flick". Kevin Carr of ''7M Pictures'' gave it 2.5 out of 5 and wrote: "With a name like Dinocroc, you know you ain't getting 2001: A Space Odyssey. You're not even getting 2001: A Space Travesty." Carr concluded " if you don’t like stupid monster movies, skip this one."

Awards

It received a Golden Galaxy Award from the American Science Fiction Society.

References

External links

* {{Dinocroc 2004 films 2004 horror films Giant monster films American monster movies American natural horror films American independent films Syfy original films Films about crocodilians Films about dinosaurs Mad scientist films Films produced by Roger Corman 2000s monster movies 2000s English-language films Films directed by Kevin O'Neill (director) 2000s American films