Main cast: Jordan Hinson (Avery Doucette), John Criss (Dathan Robichaud), Victor Webster (Tristan Sinclair), Christopher Berry (Bud), Shanna Forrestall (Deputy Darla Doucette), Ritchie Montgomery (Lucien Doucette), and Thomas Francis Murphy (Wade Robichaud)
Director: Griff Furst
Ragin’ Cajun Redneck Gators is not going to win the hearts of the good people of Louisiana anytime soon. Every offensive swamp redneck stereotype is tossed in here, and the result is hilarious or grossly offensive, depending on how seriously you want to take this movie. I mean, it has mutant crocodiles and people turning into those crocodiles, and it makes its grand premiere on the Syfy channel. The cast and the people behind the movie seem to be well aware that they would not be given accolades and awards from their peers anytime soon, so it was like they decided to just let their hair down and go all out with the crazy. This is one of the main reasons why this movie is a deliciously, hilariously fun kind of dumb.
Avery Doucette left the bayous a few years ago because she wanted to be more than just another redneck girl doomed to pop out brats and sit on a rocking chair cursing life in general. Well, she has had her education and all, but when the movie opens, she decides to return home for a brief visit. It has to be brief – her father doesn’t blink when she announces that she wants to be a vegan, but he nearly pops a vein in his head when she declares that she wants to be a liberal too.
Also, nothing much has changed at home. Her redneck clan is still warring with the Robichaud clan. On the bright side, her boyfriend Dathan is still in love with her. Unfortunately, he’s still related to the Robichauds. Their rekindled romance has to wait, though, as mutant crocodiles show up to start chomping on people and the two families don’t seem willing to put aside their feud to handle this problem. Worse, the happy rednecks kill and eat an alligator, and soon discover that eating mutant meat can lead to… slippery consequences. Can roping in Tristan Sinclair, TV’s very own Gator Whisperer, make things better?
The majority of the characters are as dumb as can be – wandering out alone in the swamp at night after knowing that there are several hungry mutant crocodiles running around – but they can be so entertaining. I especially love how Avery’s mother wanders in the woods at night to look for her dog, sees a crocodile, and is saved when her family happily toss the dog into the crocodile’s maw as a “distraction”. “So it’s either me or the dog, like Sophie’s Choice?” she rages at them. There are some gore, but with the cartoon-like special effects present in this movie, the gore is more comical than scary. Still, it’s not that bad. The crocodiles look shiny and rubbery, but at least they look like well-produced shiny plastic models and not something dug out from someone’s attic. It helps that the various cast members play their colorful characters with style and good comedic timing. This movie is most entertaining as a result.
However, the final third or so of the movie sinks to a level that goes beyond dumb. If this movie had a bigger budget for the special effects, the folks behind it might have pulled it off, but what could have been a dramatic showdown ends up being a showcase of how the budget constraints can unfortunately impact the movie for all the wrong reasons. This part is still funny, but unlike previous parts of this movie, it’s funny for all the wrong reasons. But I guess that’s just how such movies roll at the end of the day, sigh.
