Rogue is a 2007 Australian independent horror film written, produced and directed by Greg McLean (Director of Wolf Creek). The movie stars Michael Vartan, Radha Mitchell, Sam Worthington, Stephen Curry and John Jarratt.
In the Australian outback, a group of tourists join a river cruise for crocodile watching. But when responding to a distress signal, a 25ft (7.62 m) saltwater crocodile attacks them and forces them on a small islet in the middle of the river. With the tide rising, they are forced to confront the monstrous crocodile if they want to survive.
Swim through these tropes:
- Action Survivor: Pete, a white collar travel writer who has to grow a spine to keep alive.
- Blood Is Squicker in Water: When the croc attacks Kate.
- Canine Companion: Kate's dog Kevin. She is not happy when someone suggests using him as bait,
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: For Pete, as they found the other survivors in the forest when he was battling the crocodile.
- Closed Circle: The islet. The cast could take a swim, but there's a giant croc under the surface.
- Cue the Sun: After the night of horror, sun shines on our protagonists.
- Disney Death: After Kate seemingly dies, Pete later on finds her barely alive in the croc's lair.
- Don't Wake the Sleeper: Pete attempts to carry Kate to safety as the crocodile is laying down for a snooze.
- Dwindling Party: By the final act of the film, only Pete and Kate are facing the crocodile. However, this is only from their perspective as most of the tour group survives the film and Pete and Kate are separated from the rest of survivors instead of everyone else being killed.
- Exploring the Evil Lair: Pete winds up led to the crocodile's den by Kevin. For bonus points, the crocodile shows up at the same time and goes to sleep there.
- Everything's Better with Rainbows: One can be seen during a Scenery Porn moment.
- Eye Scream: Pete jams a bone into the beast's eye in the climax, earning him a brief respite.
- Fingore: The croc bites off two of Pete's fingers in the climax. He retaliates by stabbing one of its eyes.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Pete finds the upper half of Neil's body in the croc's lair.
- Hope Spot: After spending little time on the islet, our cast sees Neil and Collin arriving. Then they are attacked too.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Simon notices some beer in Neil and Colin's boat, and risks going to the water's edge to retrieve and guzzle it.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Pete defeats the crocodile by placing himself against a rock, big sharp stick in hand and having it attack him, impaling itself through its head in the process.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Neil, who's an asshole but steps up and acts bravely when the situation calls for it.
- Jump Scare: Largely averted; the fear comes from the growing tension and sense of danger. There is one effective jump scare, when the crocodile suddenly leaps out of the water and snaps up a character.
- Kick the Dog: The croc eats the dog. It's the most graphic death in the film.
- Laser-Guided Karma: When one of the group freezes up trying to cross the rope to the riverbank, the British father freaks out, gets his daughter to climb on, and then climbs on himself over everyone's protests. The rope inevitable breaks from the extra weight, leaving all three in the water and frantically swimming back to the islet. The father has enough time to realise how badly he fucked up before the crocodile takes him.
- Leave No Man Behind: The British mother is dying from an unnamed disease, can barely swim, and is reeling from seeing several people killed including her husband, so when they come up with a plan to swim to safety, she sinks into a depression and refuses to go. One of the other tourists tells her that if she doesn't, they will both be in danger, as he will not leave her behind.
- Men Are the Expendable Gender: Only male characters are killed by the crocodile. Kate is the sole female character to be attacked, but survives.
- Mooning: Neil's buddy Collin moons the tourists when they pass them on the river.
- Never Found the Body: Everett and Collin who are taken by the alligator offscreen.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: The film even has the trope naming song playing in the credits.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The tour boat only travels into the crocodile's territory because one of them happened to spot a distress flare, which Kate is required by law to investigate, so the ensuing deaths are solely due to them trying to save other people. Additionally, the man who spotted the flare was the only one to notice it, and he's the first to be killed.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The crocodile doesn't physically appear in several scenes; victims either vanish or fall prey to Gory Discretion Shots. It's remarkable how terrifying just the shot of a tail disappearing into the water can be. Even when on screen, the crocodile is not scariest when it's thrashing about attacking characters, but silently and slowly floating in the water towards its target, waiting to ambush.
- Oh, Crap!: Neil silently climbs out of the water in the dead of night, when he hears a reptilian growl nearby. His expression is perfectly captured in the torch light.
- One-Word Title: Obviously.
- Say My Name: Everett's wife starts screaming his name when he's snatched by the crocodile. Pete later does it when it's Kate's turn to become croc chow, followed by him yelling some more names in his search for the others.
- Scenery Porn: The film showcases Australia beautifully. Many scenes are just gorgeous to look at.
- Super-Persistent Predator: The crocodile is defending its territory, which the humans have gotten trapped in.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: Everett. The group are looking at the radio when there is a splash, and he is just gone. No scream, no chomp, nothing except the croc's tail vanishing back into the water, and no background music to foreshadow the event either.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: When the bar owner hears Pete saying "The service here is terrible" on his cellphone (he meant the phone service), he puts a dead fly on his cappuccino in retaliation.
- Trapped-with-Monster Plot: Stuck on a tiny islet with a rising tide and a big angry territorial crocodile.
- Title Drop: There are plenty of mentions of "territory", but no "rogue".
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: According to
Word of God, the plot was inspired by the real-life story of Sweetheart, a female saltwater crocodile who became infamous for attacking boats in Australia's Northern Territory between 1974 and 1979. Wildlife rangers tried to capture her alive, but she became trapped underwater and drowned in the attempt. Her preserved remains are now on display at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. - Why Are You Looking at Me Like That?: When the group needs bait to distract the crocodile so the rest can flee, this comes up. In a variant, they're not looking at each other, but at Kate's dog. Kate is understandably mortified, but Simon prevents it from going further by finding some dead birds the locals had caught earlier.
- Working-Class Hero: Played straight, but ultimately subverted. Kate is a down-to-earth tomboy who knows how to survive in the outback in opposition to resort-loving white collar Pete. They both eventually get opportunities to show that they're largely competent. In the end Pete is the one to face the crocodile in the final fight.
