Blood Surf, Crocodile Mayhem in The Philippines

One of my favorite countries to visit is The Philippines...and one of my favorite creatures in monster movies is the crocodile (see my review of "Crocodile 2: Death Swamp" from last Nov. 14th).  This brings us to today's feature, the universally maligned "Blood Surf" (2000).  Kate Fischer (aka Katie Fischer), the tall Australian beauty, stars as an underwater camerawoman trying to capture surfers plying their trade among sharks.  Beautiful ocean, beach, and island settings in The Philippines, contrasted with gore and a neat 31 foot crocodile monster were not enough to please the wine and cheese crowd, but B Movie fans should find lots of exuberance from this work.

The plot: A film crew arrives on Palm Island to film surfers weaving through sharks.  The producer, Zack (Matthew Borlenghi), Cicely (Fischer), and two surfers, Bog (Dax Miller) and Jeremy (Joel West) make up this team.  They succeed in hiring guides to bring them to the dangerous Lilo Cay.  Sonny and Melba have a neat catamaran which our crew piles on to.  Jeremy then consults the statutory rape laws of The Philippines, as Sonny and Melba's daughter just turned 15.....Jeremy ends up in luck.  Sonny and Melba were our crew's second choice, as Dirks (Duncan Regehr) and his kinky girlfriend Arti (Taryn Reif) refused, as Dirks had a horrible experience in that cay.  By the way, Arti is listed sixth in the credits and loves to skinny-dip....you can guess her fate.  Anyway, our crew (see picture above) arrive at the cay and captures some great film as our surfers dodge man-eaters while surfing.  Melba and Sonny are not so lucky.  With our quartet exploring the island, a 31 foot crocodile attacks the catamaran and eats the guides.  A few minutes later, Jeremy is engaging in premarital relations with their 15 year old daughter, Lemmya (Maureen Larrazabal).  A morality tale is "Blood Surf," as Lemmya is then gulped up by our monster. (The picture below shows Lemmya's image in the eye of the giant crocodile).

With the catamaran sunk, our protagonists have no way to flee the island.  They are then abducted by pirates who want to rape Cicely....fortunately, the crocodile attacks their ship and eats most of them.  Now our four are rescued by Dirks and his beautiful, semi naked first mate, Arti.  Dirks is a Quint-like figure, and wants to kill the crocodile.  He will have his chance sooner than later, as our fiend attacks his boat and eats Jeremy (see picture below).  Like Quint in "Jaws," Dirks endures a gruesome fate.  As Bog, Cicely, and Arti..never mind about Zack, he gets what he deserves...make their way to the cursed island, they prepare for a final confrontation with this freak of nature.

Will our, now, trio make a successful stand against the king of the crocs?  Will this film inspire The Philippines to change their laws on statutory rape?  I counted ten direct references to "Jaws" in this film, which I found entertaining.  I am confused as to the very harsh reception "Blood Surf" received from most critics.  This monster film is better than "Thor" and "The Transformers," and possesses a more plausible plot.  The actors do a good job, and it knows when to be "tongue and cheek."  Another huge asset of "Blood Surf" is that we get to see a lot of the creature.  See this film as the summer beach season begins to wind down.  Note: "Blood Tide" is a movie I recommend (see my review of it on this blog dated July 5th), but a different movie altogether from "Blood Surf," which is less ethereal, and more"blue collar."