Crocodile appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The source showed some issues but nonetheless held up better than expected.
Overall sharpness worked fine. I saw more softness than anticipated – almost always in wide shots – but the movie’s delineation largely satisfied.
No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects arose, and edge haloes remained absent. A good layer of grain arrived, and outside of some scratches attached to stock footage, print flaws failed to become a factor.
Colors went for a natural palette that tended to seem fairly vivid. The hues occasionally came across as a bit heavy, but they usually offered appealing range.
Blacks seemed mostly deep and dark, while low-light shots presented fairly appealing clarity, even with some “day for night”. Nothing here excelled but the image seemed pretty good for a low-budget horror flick from the late 1970s.
Unfortunately, the movie’s DTS-HD MA monaural worked less well, and not just due to the terrible English dub. In addition to poor acting, the re-recorded lines sounded flat and artificial.
As for music and effects, they tended to lack life. Both came across as stiff and with limited range.
Both music and effects also demonstrate some distortion. Granted, the film’s age and origins meant I didn’t expect much from the audio, but the track still sounded subpar.
When we move to extras, we open with an audio commentary from film historian Lee Gambin. He brings a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, genre domains, and his thoughts about the film.
At the start, Gambin tells us he won’t spend much time on production notes, and that proves accurate. He offers a little in that realm but not much, probably partly because so little seems to be known about the movie’s creation.
This means a good look at other movies in this one’s genres of “monster movie” and “ecological horror”. Gambin seems much more enthusiastic about Crocodile than I think it deserves but he still provides a good overview of the subjects.
Next comes an Interview with director Won-se Lee that runs 31 minutes, 44 seconds. He tells us how he came to the film, aspects of the production and its release.
Given how little information appears to be out there about Crocodile, this turns into a useful discussion.
In addition to the film’s trailer, we find six deleted/alternate scenes. These occupy a total of 22 minutes, 11 seconds.
We get “Original Thai Ending” (2:37), “The Monkey and the Little Boy” (4:41), “Extended Town Attack” (5:50), “Crocodile Cruelty” (1:16), “Alternate Spanish Release Ending” (3:32) and “Alternate International Opening” (4:15).
Do any of these add useful material or come with the potential to improve the film? No - Crocodile exists beyond redemption, and nothing here would change that.
Still, I'm sure fans will feel happy to see these clips. Don't expect good quality, though, as all look like a truck ran over them.
Even by the low standards of Jaws ripoffs, Crocodile flops. Incoherent, meandering and downright dull, the movie does nothing right. The Blu-ray comes with generally positive picture, iffy audio and a decent mix of supplements. Nothing about this awful flick succeeds.
