Feb
27
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Three cheers to an uncommonly excellent giant reptile-based horror movie! Given the implausible giant reptile horror movies of recent years – Placid Lake, Python, Anaconda, Snakes on a Plane, and so on – it’s almost embarrassing to be touting one! However, there’s not much implausibility to be found here.
The presence of Radha Mitchell is a huge plus for us guys, and perhaps Michael Vartan – the pretty boy made popular by the trendsetting show Alias — makes the movie more appealing to the ladies. Nevertheless, the mammoth crocodile is the star of the show, despite the fact this reptilian monster remains hidden for the vast majority of the film.
The classic monster movie Jaws immediately comes to mind in those parts of Rogue where hapless tourists wind up in the water and are thus urged to swim for their lives! When the awesome crocodile finally does appear long enough for viewers to get a good look at it, the ensuing scenes appear to be 100% real. There are no fakish or unrealistic qualities to this gargantuan beast whatsoever, and that’s obviously a big plus.
My accolades of the beast’s realism do not carry over to all facets of the movie, however. Without divulging spoiler material, certain people who are attacked and carried away by the creature — who would surely have died – somehow hang on to life, if tenuously.
Oh yeah, and there’s a dog named Kevin (seriously)! Classic!
As a lifetime amateur herpetologist, I definitely appreciate some of the details with regard to crocodilian habitry that were demonstrated in the film, such as the croc’s standard M.O. for tearing and ripping things apart. These creatures feast on very large prey (e.g., deer, wildebeest, wild pig) – too large to swallow whole. The massive reptiles have a very effective means of tearing off bite-sized pieces of the mammals they attack. Alligators and crocodiles manage to rip and tear large chunks of flesh from their prey by biting and holding like a pit bull, then twisting the entire body, thereby twisting off large pieces of meat from unfortunate prey. This was demonstrated several times in the movie, and it looked exactly like a National Geographic special every time.
Rogue Loosely Based on True Story
Source: Moria - Rogue
Like Wolf Creek, Greg McLean claims that he based Rogue (very loosely) on a true story – that of Sweetheart, a 17-foot crocodile that attacked boats (although wasn’t known to have killed anybody) on the Finniss River in Australia’s Northern Territories in the late 1970s.
Besides the quasi-true story aspect, Rogue and Wolf Creek have a number of other similarities – the focus characters in both (the backpackers in Wolf Creek, Michael Vartan’s travel writer here) are foreigners come to visit the wilds of Australia, where they run afoul of the life-threatening dangers that lie in wait and prey on the innocent. In both cases, the films have scenes early on where the visitors’ city ways are cruelly made fun of by the locals. Both films also have moments that touch on a mystical view of the Australian Outback. Wolf Creek’s disturbed killer John Jarratt also turns up in Rogue, almost unrecognizable as a bespectacled middle-aged passenger.
Frasier’s Verdict: Rogue
It is an extreme rarity for me to watch any sort of giant reptile-based horror movie, most of which suck (badly) – much less recommend one; however, Rogue was a high quality film through and through, interesting from start to finish. Check it out!
More Amazingly Good Reviews for Rogue
Amazon - Rogue (4 of 5)
Dread Central - Rogue Review (4 of 5)
Rotten Tomatoes - Rogue Review (100% Critics, 76% Users)
Twitch on Rogue
BloggerNews on Rogue
Moria on Rogue
OMGHorror on Rogue
Suite101 Horror Films Review of Rogue
Crocodiles in Real Life
The largest verifiable crocs have been in the 20 to 21 foot range – incredible beasts to be sure, but definitely not as big as the crocodile portrayed in Rogue. Remains of even bigger crocs have been found.
The maximum size for the majority of male saltwater crocodiles is around 15 to 16 feet (4.6 to 4.9 meters), and females are considerably smaller at around 10 feet (3 meters) at most.
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