Rogue

DVD review (region 1)
Directed by Greg Mclean
Starring Radha Mitchell, Michael Vartan, Sam Worthington
Release date Out now

Some tourists on a boat tour of the Australian outback find themselves trapped on a small island after their vehicle is capsized by a huge crocodile. As night falls and the water rises, the “rogue” reptile begins to pick them off one by one…

Considering that the advances in digital special effects have made the lifelike creation of any toothsome monster possible it is surprising that there have been so few giant crocodile flicks. Moreover, those that have arrived – such as Tobe Hooper’s Crocodile, Lake Placid and Primeval – have lacked any sort of bite. As such, saying that Rogue is more effective than these turkeys is faint praise indeed – all the more frustrating because Wolf Creek director Mclean was clearly given a big budget to bring this monster mash to the screen.

Unfortunately, the filmmaker decides to hide his titular swamp beast from the cameras for most of Rogue’s running time, resulting in only a great deal of boredom. Lacking the skills of a Spielberg, his attempt to create a Jaws-like atmosphere of impending doom completely fails – especially since, after Jurassic Park, anyone paying their entrance fee deserves to see some serious croc carnage. Alas, it is not to be – and with a paltry body count, off-screen chompings and far too much build up Rogue turns out to be just one giant snooze. Indeed, you would be better off watching Lewis Teague’s Alligator all over again.

Dimension’s DVD features an audio track from Mclean, a 'making of' documentary and some featurettes on the movie’s production and real life inspiration. Calum Waddell