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What do you get when you combine a group of flighty friends, a masked ax-wielding psychopath, a backwoods cult, and man-eating alligators? You get a trope-filled horror concoction that stays true to what it wants to be no matter how predictable or preposterous things get. That describes “Gator Face” to a tee. Writer-director Padraig Reynolds pulls from both classic slashers and B-movie creature features to create an unvarnished throwback chiller coated in grindhouse goodness.
“Gator Face” is an independent film in every sense. Reynolds is clearly working with a micro-budget, as evident by his skeleton production crew and a mostly unknown cast. But Reynolds and his collaborators don’t let that stop them. In fact it’s impressive how much they’re able to squeeze out of so little. Reynolds does wonders in working around the limitations. He films on location in the Florida swamps. He teamed with a North Florida sanctuary to use live alligators rather than CGI. And he relied on in-camera practical effects which are cost-effective and more impressive.
As for its story, “Gator Face” isn’t going to surprise anyone who has as least dabbled in these subgenres. The characters are all cut from the same blood-soaked horror movie cloth. They make dumb choices, they spend most of their time running for their lives, and they’re one-by-one creatively slaughtered for our viewing pleasure. Meanwhile the killer stalks them relentlessly, never running out of gas and always popping up just when the audience needs a good jolt. It’s a well-worn formula that Reynolds sticks intimately close to.
But a movie named “Gator Face” clearly isn’t aiming to narratively revolutionize the slasher or creature feature genres. It’s far more interested in paying homage to the exploitation films of the 1970s. When considered that way, it’s even easier to appreciate what Reynolds is able to accomplish. The entire presentation hearkens back to such low-budget grindhouse gems as “Eaten Alive”, “Race with the Devil”, and “Gator Bait”, while still hoping to connect with younger horror audiences of today.
The movie opens with three teen friends enjoying the final day of their summer getaway. Sierra (Ellie Shaddix), Jess (Amariah Dionne), and Nikki (Kiara Mitjans) make their way to a tucked away Florida beach hidden from the big crowds. After a day of swimming and sunbathing the trio pack up and head out. But their vacation takes a twisted turn when they notice the words “3 Dead Inside” crudely written on an abandoned beach house. I don’t know about you, but my first instinct would be to get away and contact the police. Not so with our three brainiacs.
To Jess’s credit she does attempt to call the cops. But Sierra and Nikki dumbly stroll right into the house only to find themselves face-to-face with a trench coat-wearing, ax-toting maniac in a gator mask (Nikolas Kolasinski) and his very hungry alligators. The encounter doesn’t bode well for Sierra and Nikki, but Jess manages to escape into the nearby woods with the killer hot on her heels.
Jess eventually gets help from four other vacationing teens, Claire (Tabitha Brownstone), Andy (Iain P. Smith), David (Barron Regan) and Samara (Ella Mosca). But they quickly find themselves on the run with Jess, chased into the sun-baked swamplands by the relentless ‘Gator Face’. They happen upon a remote old church shepherded by Father Eli (Scot Scurlock). But with a name like The Church of the Old Flesh, it’s pretty obvious that it is no safe haven.
It’s here that “Gator Face” shifts from a straightforward slasher movie with a helping of killer alligators on the side to an utterly bonkers cult thriller that eats up most of the final act. It’s much more silly than scary, and it carries on for far too long. Yet it strangely fits within the movie’s exploitation vibe which Reynolds sees through to the very end. He even tags on a post-credits scene that teases a second movie and adds a new twist to the story he has just told.
In all honesty “Gator Face” isn’t a movie that will have mass appeal. I can even see a certain segment of modern horror fans turning their noses up to it. But if you get what it’s doing and appreciate what it’s paying homage to, “Gator Face” turns into something far more entertaining than any synopsis can make it sound. In fact, I can seeing it feeling right at home on New York City’s once infamous 42nd Street. And for me, that’s a pretty good selling point.
