A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This movie essentially begins with 3 poachers in the Australian Outback taking a small boat into a lake at night to hunt crocodiles. Although they manage to kill the first two they come across, the third crocodile is much larger than anything they have ever seen and it capsizes the boat and kills two of them. This results in a park ranger named "Steve Harris" (John Jarratt) taking two aborigines in a boat to find it. Unfortunately, tracking it down becomes much harder than he suspects and if that wasn't bad enough local politics and prejudice hamper his efforts even more. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this movie had a pretty good premise to operate from but I thought that the director (Arch Nicholson) got a bit carried away with the clash of cultures between the whites and the aborigines which seemed to permeate the entire course of the movie. Likewise, proscribing some kind of spiritual mystique on the large crocodile was somewhat cheesy as well. That being said, I have rated this film accordingly. Slightly below average.

"Dark Age" is a thoroughly enjoyable monster movie with an environmentalist twist. It paints some of its strokes a little broadly, but just when it seems to be settling into an entirely predictable formula, it still has tricks up its sleeve. This monster movie is basically a cautionary tale, but for once, it's not about the hazards of radiation creating mutated (read: bigger) deadly creatures. You see, crocodiles come so big and so dangerous in Outback Australia that there is no need for science fiction. Rather, the story is about white Australia not paying heed to the customs, and warnings, of Aboriginal people. Aborigines had (and in some places, still have) a traditional way of life based on respect for living things. The "numanwari" - a giant fresh-water crocodile - is penance for our sins against nature.The movie features one killing that I doubt many will see coming, and many more will switch off afterwards. It's not often you can't believe your eyes in a horror movie.Strange to say, then, that the movie also features well worn territory, like the stuffy big wig from the city with no concept of the threat he is working with because he is too busy pushing pens around, so he requires the handsome country boy - a very pre-"Wolf Creek" John Jarratt - to agree to take all responsibility.That character is such a cliché I was glad he was given short shrift. More convincing was one of our best character actors, Max Phipps (RIP), as a brutal redneck out for crocodilian blood.David Gulpilil, another national treasure, benefits the movie through his presence, but there is also an Aboriginal elder - Burnam Burnam - who, of course, provides the dire and unheeded warnings.I'm not entirely sure what I think of his performance. He speaks a strange broken English, made all the more strange by the fact that the actor appears to know better speech. It sounds forced. While it's true that Aboriginal Australians, especially those from remote areas, have a distinct patois that may sound alien to other English speakers, I'm unconvinced that there are many who speak as he does.All up, "Dark Age" is one of those movies that you can easily pick at for its silliness, or be impressed at for its bravery and inventiveness. It can just as easily be called a cliché-fest as a horror movie that goes where few others have. Which movie you watch and respond to will be up to you.

I might be one of only a handful of people, to have seen this movie in Australia. I had read about 'Dark Age' in Fango, many years ago, and had knowledge of the production.(it was shot in my home town- Darwin) So I waited patiently, time pass, but nothing! Then one fateful day, a friend came back from East Timor with a bunch of bootleg DVDs. Amongest them was 'Dark Age', with the alternative title- 'Lake Placid 3: Dark Age'. It was a really dodgy copy, that fell apart towards the end, but it was enough to get an idea of what I had been missing. Hopefully with the release of 'Rogue', someone might dig up the rights to this gem and get it out there.

"Dark Age" is a rather impressive creature-feature from Down Under, professionally directed and surprising NOT featuring the dreadful clichés of other over-sized-animal flicks. It has style and brains and still the movie is pretty bloody and vile, which is a unique combination already. And even when the story tends to get a little tedious, you can always admire the lovely outback filming locations as well as the typical Aussie accents, which I personally find really cool. The hungry reptile eating his way through the Australian outback is referred to as Numu…Nuwamu…BIG FREAKIN' CROC! He's some sort of ancient and spiritual deity to the aboriginals, but since the protected saltwater croc already consumed quite a few people, local park ranger Steve Harris is under a lot of pressure to destroy it. He cooperates with the leader of the aboriginals to keep the beautiful animal alive, but there are loads of angry poachers that want its head as a hunting trophy. About 15-20 minutes into the film, there's a sequence that every single horror fanatic on this planet will love or at least respect… The croc leaves his territory and heads for the populated areas where it immediately attacks & devours a defenseless child. This scene genuinely surprised and shocked me and I got hooked to the film until the end. It's the only REAL shock-moment, but it's great enough to recommend the entire movie. The climax is also very spectacular and fairly original. The big plastic croc-creation looks convincing enough and, as said, the locations are often breathtaking. It's quite a challenge to come across a copy of this obscure Aussie adventure/horror movie, but it's definitely worth it.