Alliance Airlines Flight GZ261 departing from Australia is flying over The Dragon’s Triangle when it starts to experience turbulence. This area of The Devil’s Sea is known as Asia’s Bermuda Triangle—its magnetic interference is a frequent cause of aviation accidents. As the plane comes in contact with a flock of prehistoric birds, one of the engines is knocked out, and the wings and fuselage start to rip apart. The pilot is forced to make a crash landing in the water below, but the plane is torn in two upon impact, sending any survivors swimming for the beach on a nearby uncharted island. As people try to find their loved ones, tend to their wounds, and gather up the limited supplies, the situation gets even more chaotic when some crocodiles make their way onto land and start making a meal out of the passengers. And so people start scattering into the woods.

Taking charge of the situation is military veteran Lin Hao (Gallen Lo), who was traveling with his 19-year-old daughter Yiyi (Yinyue Liao). They have a very strained relationship, and hadn’t seen one another in 5 years. They are coming back from Yiyi’s mother’s funeral—Yiyi resents her father for not being there for her and her mother. The other survivors also include Cheng Jie (Bingxiang Wang), Yiyi’s boyfriend for the past year, who Lin Hao has just learned about; Li Zhi (Wei Dang) and his pregnant partner Jin Jiayan (Xue’er Hu); absentee father Lu Wenbing (Zhao Zuo) who was trying to get back home to his family; live streamer/influencer Shao Lii (Zhiyan Zhao); and Cao Fang (Qiwei He) who seems to only care about himself.

The dwindling number of survivors make their way to a nearby cabin where some WWII pilots had lived after crashing on the island decades earlier. If they can find the pilots’ plane, they can use the communications equipment to call for help. However, the pilots had been transporting radioactive material when they crashed on the island, and over the decades this has caused the wildlife to mutate. In order to get to the radio on the other side of the island, they’re going to need to work together to avoid the giant spiders and crocodiles that want to make them their dinner. It soon becomes a tense battle for survival.

Crocodile Island is very much your lower-budget Syfy channel style monster movie. Some of the effects look pretty bad, especially in the pre-credits sequence when the WWII pilots’ flight goes down, but I think that’s part of the charm of this type of B-movie. It’s certainly not going to win any awards, but it makes for an entreating watch. Some of the creature attack scenes feel like homages to Jurassic Park or Aliens. The characters play the situation very seriously, which helps to sell the danger and make it feel more believable, even if the CGI isn’t quite up to snuff. The film also finds a nice blend between showing the creatures chomping into their bloody prey, and conveniently cutting the camera away just at the right time to reduce the VFX budget. The filmmakers also use some creative shots from the creatures’ POV as they stalk their prey.

When the characters are not running for their lives or fending off attacks from creatures trying to stab or eat them, we get some nice character drama. At the core is this estranged father/daughter who are thrust into this dangerous situation that forces them to reconnect and work out their issues. We also get the fun third wheel of the boyfriend that the father just learned about. Of course Lin Hao’s default reaction is to dislike Cheng Jie—especially when he calls him “Uncle Lin”.—but as he gets to know the young man, his attitude changes. When we first meet the pregnant couple, they are bickering about what to name their upcoming child, but that quickly becomes the least of their problems. Then there’s the less likeable characters, who are there to serve the purpose of giving the audience someone to root for to become the croc’s next snack. First there’s the social media streamer who’s constantly glued to her phone, recording videos for her fans. But the worst of all is the despicable Cao Fang, who we see early on fight with a flight attendant for the last bottle of water. He’s the Billy Zane from Titanic, who would push someone else to the croc in order to save himself.

Well Go has only released this movie on physical disc in DVD format, though it is also available in HD on digital. The DVD picture looks pretty solid, but it’s lacking that extra sharpness and clarity of an HD release. There are a few moments where the creatures don’t quite blend in properly with the rest of the scene, making it a bit obvious that they are CGI. I think some of the effects could have really benefitted from a higher resolution. The audio track is only offered in its original Mandarin, though there are a few moments during the two flights where the pilots speak English. These feel like they were dubbed as the voice acting is a bit over-the-top. It made me glad that the rest of the film was not dubbed. Any text that appears on screen is provided in both Chinese and English. The audio track provides a nice immersive ambiance, especially as the characters make their way into the woods and you can hear the birds chirping and other creature sounds all around.

The DVD is barebones when it comes to bonus material, just offering the film’s trailer and trailers for three other Well Go releases. The DVD disc comes packed in a standard DVD keepcase. There is no digital copy, and our review copy did not include a slipcover.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:26:57)

DVD:
• 480i / Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
• Audio: Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1, Mandarin Stereo
• Subtitles: English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese

Extras:

• Trailer (1:28)
• Previews (5:49)
  Trailers for A Creature Was Stirring, Creepy Crawly & Gangnam Zombie.

Final Thoughts:

Crocodile Island is a fun and entertaining film as long as you go into it with the proper expectations—this is more like something you would see on the Syfy channel, and not Jurassic Park. What may be lacking in some of the effects, the film makes up for with interesting characters and relationships. Well Go’s DVD has a pretty solid presentation, but lacks any bonus material. The film is worth checking out for fans of this kind of B-movie creature feature.

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Crocodile Island

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$8.88 (as of November 14, 2024 22:58 GMT -05:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)