Alligator

1980
15
1h 31m

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

17K

YOUR RATING

A pet baby alligator is flushed down a toilet and survives in the city sewers. 12 years later, it grows to an enormous size thanks to a diet of discarded laboratory dogs injected with growth hormones. Now, humans have entered the menu.

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2 Videos

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Horror Sci-Fi Thriller

A pet baby alligator is flushed down a toilet and survives in the city sewers. Twelve years later, it grows to an enormous size thanks to a diet of discarded laboratory dogs injected with gr... Read allA pet baby alligator is flushed down a toilet and survives in the city sewers. Twelve years later, it grows to an enormous size thanks to a diet of discarded laboratory dogs injected with growth hormones. Now, humans have entered the menu.A pet baby alligator is flushed down a toilet and survives in the city sewers. Twelve years later, it grows to an enormous size thanks to a diet of discarded laboratory dogs injected with growth hormones. Now, humans have entered the menu.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

17K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 3 nominations total

Videos2

Photos203

+ 199

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Robert Forster improvised the jokes in regard to his receding hairline, which a delighted John Sayles wrote into the script during shooting for the other characters.

Goofs
In the first shot of the giant alligator's eye, the entire film crew is reflected in it.

Quotes
Callan: [David, Marisa and Callan are walking through the sewer system] What the hell we looking for?
David: Anything that looks like it doesn't belong here.
Marisa: Uh, evidence of alligator nesting.
Callan: I see, like shoes, handbags, luggage...

Alternate versions
The UK theatrical version of the film was cut by the BBFC to heavily edit scenes of gore, including shots of legs being bitten off, a car being destroyed by the alligator and victims being eaten alive during the garden party attack, and to remove one instance of the word "fuck" in order for the film to receive an "A" (PG) certificate. The cuts were all waived in 1991 when the certificate was raised to a "15", and all subsequent releases of the film are completely uncut.

Connections
Edited into Alligator II: The Mutation (1991)

User reviews171

Featured review

A fun, entertaining film!

When this film turned up on T.V. I was prepared for the worst. Much to my surprise this was a good thrilling monster movie with just the right amount of tongue and cheek to make the far fetched premise acceptable; ie the idea that an alligator this big could slip in and out of the sewers with out being detected. Robert Forster as the detective out to track down the killer gator gives a good performance. ,real stand out is Henry Silva as the military man sent to destroy the monster gator. He plays him like a broad stereotype of a general from some Latin American dictatorship.

FYI: If you think the idea of a 36 foot plus alligator is impossible, there is a fossil skull on display in the American Museum of Natural History in New York of an extinct crocodile. The skull is over five feet long. Image that such monsters once did roam the earth!