Alligator II: The Mutation

A fairly disappointing sequel, Alligator II: The Mutation follows a detective (Joseph Bologna’s David Hodges) as he becomes convinced that an enormous alligator is responsible for a series of deaths. Filmmaker Jon Hess, armed with Curt Allen’s screenplay, delivers a continuously (and often aggressively) low-rent endeavor that is, at least initially, relatively watchable, as the movie benefits from an inherently compelling setup and appealing performances by Bologna and his various costars – with, especially, Steve Railsback’s scenery-chewing turn as a smarmy, gleefully evil land developer standing as an obvious highlight. And while the first half of the proceedings has been peppered with a handful of fairly compelling moments, including a fun sequence in which a Cajun hunter (Richard Lynch’s Hawk Hawkins) and his men are attacked by the title creature, Alligator II: The Mutation builds towards a rather endless (and hopelessly dim) climax that completely bungles what should’ve been a home-run premise (ie the alligator attacks a crowded carnival and yet only one person dies on screen) – which does, in the final analysis, cement the picture’s place as a follow-up that falls short where it really counts (ie alligator-chomping action).

*1/2 out of ****