Alligator (1980)

"I'm gonna go out there, find that alligator... and kick its ass."

- Madison to Kendall

Alligator is a 1980 independent horror/comedy film directed by Lewis Teague and released theatrically in the United States on July 2nd, 1980. The formula for Alligator, as well as similar "killer animal"-themed movies likeJoe Dante's 1978 Piranha, is derived from the popularity of Steven Spielberg's 1975 classic thriller Jaws. It also builds on the popular urban legend regarding alligators living in the sewers of major cities. The plot of the film follows Marisa Kendall who, as a child, owned a pet baby alligator named Ramón. Her father, disliking the animal, flushes it down the toilet while she is in school where it spends the next several years growing up in the sewers of Chicago. The adult Marisa Kendall teams up with police detective David Madison to deal with this creature as it breaks out of the sewers and begins running amok throughout the city.

Notes & Trivia

 * Alligator was released to DVD by Lions Gate Home Entertainment on September 18th, 2007. A previous Region 2 DVD was released in the UK on May 21st, 2001. It was also packaged with Alligator II: The Mutation as a two-pack DVD collection on February 24th, 2003.


 * Lewis Teague appears to have a preference for animal-centric films. He also directed Cujo in 1983 and Cat's Eye in 1984.


 * John Sayles also wrote the screenplay for the 1981 werewolf film The Howling.


 * Final film of actor Dean Jagger.