1974
Directed by Beverly & Ferd Sebastion
Written by Beverly Sebastion
Starring Claudia Jennings, Sam Gilman & Sam Thurman
Tag Lines:
Unless they get her first... she'll never let them out alive!
Swamp Behind -- Hell Ahead!
Untamed and deadly, she ruled the swamp with a BLAZING GUN and a LUSCIOUS SMILE.
Half Animal.. All Woman
Alligaattoriansa (Alligator Trap) - Finland
Blodhævn (Blood Feuds) - Denmark
Destemida e Audaciosa (Audacious and Fearless) - Brazil
Isca Perigosa (Dangerous Bait) - Brazil (Alternative Title)
Hetzjagd im Sumpf (Hunt in the Swamp) - West Germany
Η αγριογατα (The Wildcat) - Greece
Les marais de la haine (Swamps of Hatred) - France
Releases:
Theatrical: USA - June 1974: Denmark - March 1977
VHS: Paramount Home Video
DVD: Panama Films
Unfortunately, no screen caps to go with this review.....I may be able to add them in later, but I've already lost too much time and not updated in a half a month. But I digress......
I remember seeing Gator Bait in the aisles of Video Paradise and then later on in the local Blockbuster Video....and there was something (besides Claudia Jennings scantily clad) that really piqued my interest. I've got this soft spot for swamp movies. I dunno why, but I do.
Gator Bait start with good ol' boys Deputy Billy Boy (I'm not making that up) and Ben out in the swamp, waiting for the "Cajun Swamp Rat" Desiree to come collect a gator she trapped. See Desiree and her brother and sister live in the swamp by themselves. Sure trapping gators is illegal, but the sheriff just kinda turns a blind eye to it. Not Billy Boy and Ben though....oh no. They decide that they are gonnna get them some. They figure they'll threaten Desiree with jail, unless she makes with the sexual favors. Desiree leads them on a chase and after getting some swamp snakes tossed at him, Billy Boy accidentally shoots Ben in the head.
Billy Boy runs back to town and tells his Dad (Sheriff Joe Bob Thomas! Seriously, that's his name!) that Desiree did it. Well, that starts the whole mess. Sheriff Joe Bob and Deputy Billy Boy then inform Ben's father and brothers of his demise. They form a posse and go on the hunt for Desiree....which quickly goes sour. Mostly because Ben's brothers are a bunch of horny bastards that view women as little more than fuck toys.
Everything is going more or less okay, until they come across Desiree's shack. She's gone, but her siblings are there. The good ol' boys take her sister hostage and just as Ben's brother Pete is about to rape her younger sister, other brother Leroy knocks him out of the way and then proceeds to blast her in the vagina with his shotgun. WTF?!!??!??? Well, Desiree's brother escapes and warns her what happened (even though he's mute). From that point it's full on war.
Of course Desiree knows these swamps like the back of her hand, giving her the advantage over these bumbling red necks who, half the time, can't stop bickering among themselves long enough for formulate a real plan of attack. The entire movie takes place in the swamp save for the one scene where Deputy Billy Boy goes to get Sheriff Joe Bob. That's a small town scene. Everything else? Swamp. Lots and lots of swamp.
I'll bet that Claudia Jennings would have been an 80's Scream Queen had she not died in a car crash on Pacific Coast Highway in 1979.......
Midnight Cinephile Totals:
Body Count: Six! Not bad for a no budget swamp flick! There's not much in the way of blood and gore...and the bit that there is is pretty cheap looking....but that adds to the charm.
Boob Count: I was expecting to see far more of Claudia Jennings than we did! We get a brief view of her assets as she motor boats through the swamp in the initial chase and the rest of the film, she's scantily clad, but far from nude. Her sister on the other hand (Janit Baldwin) shows us far more.
Beast Count: No monsters to speak of, other than the despicable Bracken clan.
Final Thoughts:
The best way I can describe this movie is Deliverance meets First Blood. It is pretty fun to watch Desiree lead these idiots around the swamp to their eventual demise. You'll be cheering for her the whole way. If you're a fan of that seventies low budget motif and you like your thrillers southern fried, then you will probably dig Gator Bait!
Final Rating:
Three out of Five Pizza Rolls!
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