| Produced and filmed in England, The Bayou filmmakers took the only the two things they know about the southern US and turned it into a movie: gators and drugs. It’s not supposed to be a comedy, but it would be decidedly better if everything was played up for laughs like a horror-comedy instead of the thriller-drama that it’s supposed to be. Most jump scares are met with laughs instead of screams partly because you can’t take these characters seriously and the gators definitely become a bit far-fetched. | | 2025
Directed by: Taneli Mustonen, Brad Watson
Screenplay by: Ashley Holberry, Gavin Cosmos Mehrtens
Starring: Athena Strates, Madalena Aragão
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Kyle (Athena Strates) is supposed to be on her way to the Florida Keys from Houston to scatter her late brother’s ashes, until her friend’s friends decide to take a short cut via a super sketchy, very cheap, not really legit airline, piloted by a super sketchy not really legit drunk guy. They crash somewhere in the Louisiana bayou amidst swamps and gators.
The other passengers that also decided to take this unchartered, bad idea flight for no given reason (Kyle and her friends are young and poor, it makes sense for them) mostly die early on. The characters that live the longest are less annoying.
The most frustrating aspect about this movie is that they had set themselves up with a good premise but then forgot it halfway through. Kyle, who is conveniently studying biology and specifically apex predators in school, remarks that it’s very unusual for alligators to go out of their way to attack humans, and they must have a nest nearby. The opening credits scene was filled with newspaper headline about alligator eggs being sold for huge sums of money. Putting two and two together, we have the makings of a decent plot: people in desperate need for money, stealing alligator eggs and then being hunted by the gators. But no, that’s not the plot that unfolds, instead we have super alligators that are suddenly bigger, stronger and smarter than ever for a really stupid reason. It involves drugs.
It's nicely filmed; the movie makes great use of lighting and mist to create an intriguing setting. And then those damn gators come and ruin everything. The CGI gators are hit and miss, more funny than anything resembling something to take seriously. Especially when the characters can’t be taken seriously. You know what you should do when you come across a sleeping alligator? Wake it up, of course, so then it will gather all of its friends and come chase you. Also, if you’re hiding out in a drug kingpin’s laboratory and come across a stream of alligators, you should try to walk across them just to find out what is on the other side. The end gets very bloody given all the characters’ stupid plans.
At times The Bayou has really nice production values and a lot of fun could be had, but I don’t think these filmmakers could recognize a good idea if it came and bit their arm off.
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