The Dragon’s Triangle is like an Asia-based Bermuda Triangle, but instead of the normal magnetic interference bringing down aircraft over the area (though that plays a part too), ol’ D.S. is lousy with pterodactyls which have a tendency to smash into planes en masse and causing them to crash on a remote island populated by the biggest fuckin’ crocodile in forever… like since prehistoric times “forever”!
Enter: Lin Hao (Gallen Lo) and his daughter Yi (Liao Yinyue), who along with a handful of others have recently survived a passenger plane crash in the aforementioned location. Now as the few that remain try to survive both in-fighting and the harsh locale they’ll have to deal with not only crocodiles of varying size, as well as giant spiders that stalk the mist-covered forests of the island!
Will Lin be able to keep his skin intact while also looking out for his daughter and the other passengers, or will they become just more casualties of the islands creepy creatures?
Coming off as a take on Jules Verne’s 1875 monster filled island survival yarn The Mysterious Island, directors Shixing Xu and Simon Zhao (along with screenwriter Minming Ni) deliver a solid lil’ creature feature with Crocodile Island, a film that at times is downright effective in the thrills and chills department… though not in a way that you might think given the title…
Now the crocs, realized as they are with SyFy channel-level CGI are fair to quite good given the scene,… but for my monstrous money the real monster heroes are those spiders I mentioned up yonder.
Stalking through the fog and vicious as hell, the arachnids fare much, much better with being (mostly) realized via computer wizardry… their movements benefit from the unnaturalness inherent in the CG process, and harken back to the stop-motion techniques utilized in the 1961 film adaption of Verne’s novel (but no where near the artistry displayed by Ray Harryhausen in that picture).
Adding to the affair is the acting of Gallen Ho as our hero who manages to balance no-nonsense hero with caring, if stern, father incredibly well. He’s interesting to watch, and ably carries the human quotient of the film.
Some acting isn’t as good, with those speaking English in bit parts eliciting howls of unintended laughter as the performances are bizarre to say the least… but see the original versions of ‘90s Godzilla flicks for more of the same (in particular 1991’s Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah for some true gems).
Speaking of deficits, this DVD from WellGo USA is light on the special features, with only the film’s trailer (and a handful of others from the company’s catalog) included.
Pound for pound, Crocodile Island is a solid enough creature feature of the SyFy Channel variety that features some fun monster mayhem… and that is never a bad thing!
