Alligator

Alligator (1980) is an American sci-fi horror directed by Lewis Teague that you can watch online on iFILM, starring Robert Forster as detective David Madison. The script is by John Sayles — an unusual pedigree for a creature feature — and it shows in how methodically the film lays out its premise: a baby alligator flushed into the Chicago sewer system spends years eating discarded lab animals dosed with experimental growth hormones and comes up a twelve-meter predator.

When it surfaces, Madison has the thankless job of convincing anyone that something monstrous is living under the city. The pharmaceutical company responsible for the hormone-laced carcasses has no interest in that conversation going public, and his superiors are marginally more helpful than the alligator. Teague keeps the tone dry and self-aware without winking at the camera — the film knows exactly what it is and moves at a good pace. For fans of late-70s and early-80s creature films, this is one of the more competently made examples of the genre. Stream Alligator (1980) on iFILM.