Rogue (2007 film)

Rogue
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Greg McLean
Written by	Greg McLean
Produced by	Matt Hearn David Lightfoot Greg McLean
Starring	Michael Vartan Sam Worthington Radha Mitchell
Cinematography	Will Gibson
Edited by	Roadshow Films (Australia)[2] The Weinstein Company (International)[1]
Release date	8 November 2007 (2007-11-08)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English
Budget	$25 million[3]
Box office	$4.6 million[2]

Rogue is a 2007 Australian independent horror film written, produced and directed by Greg McLean, about a group of tourists in Australia who fall prey to a giant, 25 ft (7.6 m) man-eating saltwater crocodile. It stars Michael Vartan, Sam Worthington and Radha Mitchell.

The film was inspired by the true story of Sweetheart, a giant male saltwater crocodile that attacked boats in the late 1970s, although Sweetheart was never responsible for an attack on a human. Rogue received positive reviews from critics, but was a commercial failure.

It is the second and last film from Dimension Films to have the involvement of Village Roadshow Pictures, the other being 1992's Fortress.

Plot

American travel journalist Pete McKell joins a small group of tourists on a crocodile-watching river cruise in Kakadu National Park of Australia's Northern Territory, led by wildlife researcher Kate Ryan. Toward the end of the cruise, Everett spots a flare in the distance and the group head upriver to investigate. They eventually come across a half-sunken wreck when something crashes into their boat, splitting the side.

Kate manages to steer the boat ashore a small island in the middle of the river. Kate realises they are in the crocodile's territory and explains they must leave the island by nightfall, as the tide will start to rise and the island will be submerged. Moments after, Everett is pulled into the water by an unseen predator and is killed. Two locals, Neil and Collin, arrive at the island but the beast upturns their boat; Neil swims to the island while Collin is killed.

As night falls, Neil carefully swims to the riverbank in order to string a rope between two trees, creating a

to allow the group to cross the river. Everett's wife Mary Ellen crosses first, only to freeze in fear halfway across. Allen, becoming impatient and hostile, attempts to get himself and his daughter Sherry across with Mary Ellen still on the line. While trying to secure the rope, Neil is attacked and killed by the beast. The tree holding the rope breaks and the three on the line fall into the water. They manage to swim back to the island, but as Allen crawls up the shore, the beast lunges out of the water and throws him back into the river, where he is dragged under. The beast is revealed to be a giant saltwater crocodile.

Later that night, Pete suggests hooking the croc while everyone else swims to the riverbank; Neil's two dead birds replace Kate's dog named Kevin, the initial bait idea. After a long wait, the anchor is suddenly pulled and the group make a break for the far shore. The croc eventually lets go of the bait, seizes Kate and drags her underwater. Pete hurries across the river with Kevin in tow and into the bush behind the others.

As day breaks, Pete is forced to chase Kevin into the bush after he runs off. He falls down a narrow chute into a large cave, where he discovers Neil's partial corpse. The cave is the croc's lair and the dog leads him to a severely injured Kate. Pete attempts to carry her out but Kevin runs off to the head of the cave, where it is heard being seized by the croc. After several attempts on them both, the croc takes a chunk out of Pete's hand while he stabs one of the croc's eyes with a piece of a broken bone. Pete eventually props a large broken log against a boulder, with the sharp end pointing outwards, so when the croc lunges at him, it is impaled and dies. Pete escapes from the cave with Kate and finds the tourists and paramedics.

A newspaper article later details Pete's heroic battle with the beast and rescue of Kate.

Cast

Release

Home media

Rogue was released on DVD in Australia on 29 May 2008.^[4] The DVD's special features include "The Making of Rogue" documentary, four featurettes, and a theatrical trailer. The US and UK DVDs feature an additional audio commentary. As of 2013, Rogue has been released on Blu-ray in Canada and the UK. The Canadian disc features the film only, whilst the UK disc includes all of the aforementioned extras, bar the trailer.^[5]

Production

Filming took place on-location around Yellow Water Billabong,

.

Reception

Box office

Rogue debuted in the Australian box office on 11 November 2007 making A$667,194. After 11 weeks in the nation's cinemas, it left making A$1.8 million. It was released in the United States on 25 April 2008 to only 10 theaters. In its first weekend, it made US$7,711 and remained in theatres for four more days before exiting with a domestic total of US$10,452. As of 8 November 2009, Rogue has made A$5,984,448 worldwide.[6]

Critical response

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2015)

On the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 89% approval rating, based on 18 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10.^[7]

Melbourne's

Accolades

Award	Category	Subject	Result
AACTA Award (2008 AFI Awards)	Best Visual Effects	Andrew Hellen	Won
		Dave Morley	Won
		Jason Bath	Won
		John Cox	Won
Australian Screen Editors	Avid Award for Best Editing on a Feature Film	Jason Ballantine	Nominated
AWGIE Award	Best Original Feature Film	Greg McLean	Nominated
Fangoria Chainsaw Award	Best Limited-Release/Direct-to-Video Film		3rd place
Sitges Film Festival	Best Film	Greg McLean	Nominated

See also

• Cinema of Australia
• List of killer crocodile films
• Sweetheart
• Black Water, another 2007 Australian horror film about a killer crocodile
• Dark Age (1987), an Australian horror film about a killer crocodile, also starring John Jarratt

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Rogue (film).

• Rogue at
  IMDb