As horror movies go “Jaws” stands as a lot of people’s number one horror movie. I can’t say that it’s my favorite horror film of all time, but I will say it is in my top five. Being the first movie to ever gross over 100 million dollars domestically in the US, it has seen its share of knockoffs. These range from the amusing (“Grizzly”) the hilarious (“Day Of The Animals”) and the just plain suck (Anything that sci-fi channel puts out). Needless to say it’s been a long time since there has been a good “Giant Killer Animal” movie, and I’m happy to report that “Wolf Creek” director Greg McClean has made one of the best with “Rogue” 

The plot of “Rouge” is one that we have seen a million times before, tourists on an outback wildlife tour in Australia are lead off the beaten path by a distress flair. They soon discover, after being trapped on small mud island with the tide quickly rising, that they are being hunted by a giant man eating Crocodile. They have to figure a way off the island before being submerged and served as a tourist buffet.

The plot doesn’t make this movie sound good at all, but what makes this film great is they way the director takes his time with the material to let us know and care about the fates of the characters. McClean uses what I like to call the “Speed Factor” take an ordinary plot device, but populate that device with quirky and realistic characters, give the movie a little time to set them up, then BAM, put them in harm’s way. It makes you completely unable to guess who’s going to die and when, and really makes you care about who does.

 The film is also extremely well directed; McClean makes great use of his outback setting and truly makes it a character in the film’s opening frames. He also goes back to what made “Jaws” a truly terrifying movie, we only get glimpses of the croc cloaked in darkness throughout most of the film, then the big reveal at the end, which wisely uses a combination of fantastic CGI and practical effects to make this one of the more realistic movie monsters in recent memory. The ending also would rival “Jaws” and “Jurassic Park” for one of the great man vs. beast endings. Intense and breathtaking.

 This is an ensemble movie, and the cast take to their roles really well. It was refreshing to see “Pitch Black’s” Radha Mitchell use her real Australian accent and she could play feisty captain in her sleep and she brings a real dimension of realism to the role of Kate. And I used to think that Michael Vartan was just eye candy for Alias fans, but he’s really interesting to watch as smart, resourceful lead Pete. Kudos also to “Wolf Creek’s” John Jarratt, for movingly portraying a character 360 degrees away from Mick, nicely done.

Please don’t pay attention to Dimension’s cheesy cover art for this one. You will find a well directed taught thriller that will indeed make you think twice about going on an outback tour. And will make you admire the late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Erwin even more. A fantastic, scary, ride!! A must buy!! It's a shame we didn't get to see this one in theaters.