Dark Age (1987)

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What I like about the Australian killer croc movie, Dark Age, is that the giant crocodile of this movie is not presented just as a dangerous animal, but as a god-like beast, the Aboriginals in the movie, always a spiritual culture with a shroud of mystery around them, further emphasizing the creature’s mythos.

Numanwari is the Aboriginal name for the crocodile of Dark Age, a humongous specimen who seems to cooperate with the “blacks” while the “whites”—that is those who poach and kill crocs and are racist towards the Aboriginals—seem to irritate it quite a bit.




John Jarrett is a crocodile conservationist who is at peace with the Aboriginals, good friends with the “blacks” while certain “whites”, such as a loathsome bastard named John Besser, treat his love for these animals with scorn.

“No white fellow can kill Numanwari, we go now.”



I did mention above that the Numanwari of this film seems to *cooperate* with Aboriginals, but this is somewhat of a misnomer, as evident in one horrifying scene which even had my mouth open agape with eyes bugging—reminiscent to Jaws, the croc arrives for a snack, finding little Aboriginal kids playing in the shallow water, one who ventures out too far is caught in the beast’s mouth and eaten! Holy shit, was this a surprise! The director goes one step further by showing a little toy boat floating about without an owner!

Before Rogue, Dark Age has a thirty foot crocodile(the head about two meters) which poses a major threat wherever it goes and, despite being a specimen worthy of study, will have to be killed or else. The white hunters gather, machine guns and rifles in hand, expecting to catch and destroy the terror, but the crocodile is rather elusive despite its massive size.

The hunters begin a senseless slaughter, wiping out a slew of regular sized crocodiles, unable to find or kill the giant they are after. The protection of salt water crocodiles is a subject Jarrett’s passionate about, but if the Numanwari continues to lunch on humans, this desire to keep them from being extinct will fail.

There’s no doubt that Dark Age is a killer croc Jaws. Jarrett’s Steve Harris and two Aboriginals, Oonabund (Bumham Bumham) and Oonabund’s son, Adjaral (Aussie great, David Gulplil), hunt the great ancient crocodile just as Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw went after the great white shark in Jaws. Where the movie differs is that the hunters in Dark Age want to find the crocodile and take it to place where the animal will not harm anyone else.

The true villain of the film is Max Phipps’ poacher, John Besser, who is Harris’ nemesis, a croc hater considering those who want to keep them safe an aggravation. Besser tries time and again to catch the Numanwari but eventually loses an arm which only fuels his rage further. Besser and some of his cronies invade Harris’ croc farm, obliterating the animals that are within the reserve, a particularly heinous reaction to the knowledge that the Numanwari was captured by him and the Aboriginals. The film will finish with Besser and his men chasing after Harris and the Aboriginals who are transporting the croc to a certain destination chosen by Oonabund.

I believe there will be those same critics who often complain about the alligator in Tobe Hooper’s Eaten Alive who will bitch and belly ache about the croc in Dark Age, how it doesn’t look real enough for them. I personally prefer a man-made croc than some digital creation you can whip up on a computer, although the one in Rogue was pretty cool. I loved the croc in this picture, its size and girth quite impressive. John Jarrett will be familiar to those who have seen him as the psychopath in Wolf Creek. The lovely Nikki Coghill is Jarrett’s love interest, Cathy, quite spunky and spirited who lends support to Harris and the Aboriginals when Besser starts raising hell.

I imagine it will not be easy to find a copy of Dark Age just anywhere, but thanks to Not Quite Hollywood, about "Ozploitation", I was introduced to it for the first time, luckily acquiring a VHS version of the film.