So basically, Brandon Slagle’s “The Flood” is “Assault on Precinct 13” but with killer alligators. That’s it. That’s the whole of the concept and premise. You can fill in the rest, if you’ve been watching movies for a while; which is not to say that “The Flood” is a bad film, it’s just not something that I haven’t seen before. Truth be told, there are nuggets of a great film embedded within “The Flood” but if you’re expecting a full on alligator siege movie in the vein of “Crawl,” then your best bet is looking elsewhere.
After a massive hurricane floods Louisiana, it unleashes a threat even deadlier than the rising water level: a relentless horde of giant hungry alligators. When a group of in-transit prisoners and their security guards seek shelter in a local prison, they become prey for the flesh-eating attackers. To survive, the prisoners and guards must fight together, in this action-thriller packed with slithery scares and jaw-clenching suspense.
I don’t know if it’s the limited CGI budget, or lack of logical scenarios for the alligators, but they’re just secondary villains when all is said and done. There’s even a point mid-way where the alligators disappear for a long period. “The Flood” does make good on its premise, revolving around an uneasy truce between prisoners and police officers during a massive storm. There’s just not enough that plays on the tension and survival aspect, relying a lot more on quippy dialogue and scenes that feel like outright filler. There’s even a pair of fight scenes mid-way that, while slick, just don’t contribute anything to the overall narrative. It just feels a lot like treading water to get to the finish line.
It’s obvious the movie wants to deliver on a lot of gator rampage, but their appearances are brief, abrupt, and sometimes not too eventful. It doesn’t help that a lot of the characters make bone headed decisions when approached by the killer gators. You’d think that people that live in Louisiana would have a better knowledge of alligators, and how to evade, and or avoid them. But not even primary protagonist Sheriff Newman seems too aware on what to do in the event of a gator attack. In any case, Brandon Slagle’s direction is very good and I enjoyed the self aware performances, especially by Nicky Whelan, who is fun in the role as heroine Sheriff Newman.
According to the director, “The Flood” seeks to be nothing more than a fun, action packed, survival flick, and in the department substance free movie junk food, it works more than it doesn’t. I just wish we had more gator rampages, and less annoying banter.
In Theaters, On Demand, and Digital on July 14th.