Primeval (DVD)

This January Hollywood Pictures quickly rushed Primeval into theaters once they had a marketing realization where they felt they could dupe moviegoers into thinking this film was about some crazy killer in the African jungle. Of course this wasn't a lie, however the one thing their marketing didn't tell you was that the killer they referred to as Gustave was in fact not human, he is a blood-thirsty crocodile. Unfortunately, for people looking for the campy fun of Lake Placid, this film deviates from its primary storyline and forgets what actually makes a story like this fun.

Primeval tells the story of a news crew sent to Africa to not only do a story on the giant croc that has been eating people for years, but to capture him as well. Of course, this is a fantastic idea that I wish I had thought of and I am surprised not everyone goes chasing after giant human eating crocodiles. Unfortunately for this news crew it isn't only the crocodile they have to worry about. A small group of individuals, led by a man referred to as Little Gustave runs the jungle and kills people at will, and when the camera crew catches an execution on film they are in for a heap of trouble. This is the element of the film that ruins the fun.

I am all aboard a film about a killer croc, it can go one way or the other and has a good chance at being a lot of fun, but when you concentrate on a completely different storyline for 50% of the film it ruins the whole experience.

On a special feature level you get a few deleted scenes including an alternate ending, which was truly a good decision to be left out as the original ending is satisfyingly gory and rather effective considering the rest of the film is pretty shitty. There is also a silly little making-of feature that is worthless and an audio commentary with director Michael Katleman and effects supervisor Paul Linden that isn't all that good either, especially considering the movie isn't that good and you don't really care about anything these folks have to say.

Overall Primeval is not even worth a rental, just grab a copy of Lake Placid if killer crocs are what you need.