A movie about a gigantic killer crocodile stalking and eating tourists lost in the Australian outback….. Oooooohhh! That never gets old!

Would your Favorite Catgirl movie geek miss this one? Nope…. not a chance…. Will she wait for August to get her lil’ paws on the Region 1 release? Nope…. not when it’s already out in Australia on Region 4, you silly people!!

This one appears to be the big budget answer to last years lil’ sleeper hit “Black Water” which also deals with the very scary… and very real menace, to be experienced when dealing with the local wildlife of Australia’s Northern Territory.

Neko-chan picked up that one, and was scared silly by it, despite it’s low budget and small cast. Can Greg McLean, who made a splash among horror fans in 2005 with his ultra gory debut film, “Wolf Creek” pull off another hit with “Rogue”?

Let’s “Read On” and find out!!

So… the synopsis for this one reads: “A handful of tourists looking for adventure get more than they bargained for when they cross paths with a massive man-eating beast in this thriller. Pete McKell (Michael Vartan) is a writer for an American travel magazine who has been assigned to write a story about vacationing in rugged Northern Australia. Pete signs up for a cruise along a river that’s home to a large crocodile population, with tough but pretty Kate Ryan (Radha Mitchell) serving as guide.

Pete soon finds he’s roughing it in the Aussie wilds with an eclectic variety of travelers, including Russell (John Jarratt), who is dealing with the death of his wife; Simon (Stephen Curry), a tactless amateur photographer; and Allen (Geoff Morrell), a member of the British upper crust making the trip with his ailing spouse (Heather Mitchell) and their rambunctious daughter (Mia Wasikowska). While Kate’s former husband, who also works on the river, makes a pest of himself in the early stages of the voyage, the travelers soon find they have more to worry about when their craft is attacked by a massive 25-foot crocodile, who is just clever enough to know how to trap its prey before enjoying them for dinner.”

Sounds like a winner to me! I just love those “When Animals Attack” films… “Jaws”, “Grizzly”, “The Birds”……you know the ones I mean. Mother Nature can be one ruthless bitch when it comes to shattering the illusion of Human Supremacy over the dominions of the Earth. Nothing takes us down a peg or two like showing just how physically inadequate we are in the face of the more primitive denizens of the far corners of the world. (And apparently…. we’re pretty darn tasty too….)

This one is skipping a theatrical release here in the US and going direct to DVD, normally a bad sign, but Neko couldn’t wait for August so she snapped up a Region 4 PAL release as soon a it was possible. The disc itself has the following features:

DVD FEATURES

All very nicely done, but it feels less like a disc intended for Australian audiences, and more like Dimension Films got lazy and did a disc that they’ll just port over for NTSC conversion. Outside of the obligatory anti-piracy warnings asking Australians to help preserve their limited film industry, all the documentaries act like the viewer hasn’t got a clue about Australia at all. Kind of insulting to an Australian viewer I would think…. The cover is, well, simply boring…I like the Region 1 poster better….but that’s a minor quibble.

Having given it a watch… it’s an OK film. If I were you, I wouldn’t rush out to grab it till it makes it’s way to your neck of the woods and whatever regional release is your normal flavor….

It’s well made, well acted, and the setting is gorgeously filmed. The story is simple, but adequate. I was more impressed with the suspense of it’s closest competitor in this genre “Black Water”, which does everything this film does, with but a fraction of the budget, and only 5 total cast members……

I have to say, after “Wolf Creek”, I had expected a much more visceral and unique film from writer/ director Greg McLean, but then that film was a hard act to top. Not a bad try… just not a great one.

Neko gives “Rogue” a basic 3 “Meows” out of 5 for not screwing things up, for getting most things in the genre right, and for giving it the ol’ college try. Better Luck next time though……..

Naturally, there a Trailer, and here it is: