MOVIE REVIEW: Everyone's On A Death Roll In "Rogue"

"Rogue" (2007)

Running time: 99 mins
Directed, written, and produced by Greg McLean
Starring: Michael Vartan, Radha Mitchell, Sam Worthington, John Jarratt and Mia Wasikowska.


Summary: A handful of tourists looking for adventure get more than they bargained for when they cross paths with a massive man-eating beast in this thriller. Pete McKell (Michael Vartan) is a writer for an American travel magazine who has been assigned to write a story about vacationing in rugged Northern Australia. Pete signs up for a cruise along a river that's home to a large crocodile population, with tough but pretty Kate Ryan (Radha Mitchell) serving as guide. Pete soon finds he's roughing it in the Aussie wilds with an eclectic variety of travelers, including Russell (John Jarratt), who is dealing with the death of his wife; Simon (Stephen Curry), a tactless amateur photographer; and Allen (Geoff Morrell), a member of the British upper crust making the trip with his ailing spouse (Heather Mitchell) and their rambunctious daughter (Mia Wasikowska). While Kate's former husband, who also works on the river, makes a pest of himself in the early stages of the voyage, the travelers soon find they have more to worry about when their craft is attacked by a massive 25-foot crocodile, who is just clever enough to know how to trap its prey before enjoying them for dinner.

☣☣☣

Review: So it's been a looong time since I last posted a review here on my horror movie blog, The Freak Show. I put this blog in hiatus while i was working on my other blog which was dedicated to Filipino films. But after 563 days (1 year, 6 months, 17 days to be exact), I am finally back. And this 2007 Australian indie creature feature is the first horror movie that I have watched and will be writing about. So what makes this Aussie horror flick a stand out among other creature feature films that I've seen? Well, to start off, it's got a great set of characters for the story to revolve around with. You see, most of these creature feature flicks (Syfy anyone?) usually don't spend enough effort to create believable characters. Instead, they go for the stereotypes and other countless horror movie stock characters.

But Greg McLean (of Wolf Creek fame) focuses a lot of it's time introducing it's set of characters which, mind you, are far from your usual set of horror movie stereotypes. Each one has their own attitudes and background, plus they were written in a realistic and believable style. The way they talk, the way they act, and the way they respond to the situation are pretty much the same way normal people would react. Aside from the great supporting cast who did a really great job of nailing their characters, I also like to give praise to the film's two leads, Michael Vartan (who plays Pete McKell) and Radha Mitchell (Kate Ryan) for their outstanding portrayal of their roles. and oh, how can I forget Sam Worthington as Neil who, despite of being a jerk, was one of the characters that i was hoping to get out of this story alive. But yeah, shit happens, right?

One of the best things about this film was it's great amount of suspense. We don't actually get to see the massive 25-foot killer croc until almost 3/4 of the film, where we get to marvel at it's glory. This technique, which was proven effective in films like Jaws (1975) and Alien (1979), was used extensively in this movie, making us play around with our imagination on how the actual croc looks like. And once it's finally show in full view, it's one of the best looking crocodiles I have seen on creature feature flicks like this. It's quite terrifying to look at. Greg McLean did a pretty good job in building up the tone and atmosphere of the film. It's full of dread and suspense, especially during the part when they tried to go across the river through a zip line, reminiscent of that final act of Piranha 3D (2010). And that one on one battle of Pete versus the 25-foot killer croc during the film's final moment is undeniably breathtaking and will take you at the edge of your seat. Seriously, there was one instance when I had to cover my eyes because of too much suspense. It's that good.

So if there is one killer croc movie you have to watch before you die, this is it.

💀💀💀💀💀 out of 5 skulls.