(2002)

Submitted by Evan B

Pooper:
Zach finds Mia and the pair escape the robbers, kill the crocodile, and make it out of the swamp alive (though Mia suffers from PTSD as a result).

Long Ending:
We open on a bank heist in progress. It is bloody and violent, but four of the five robbers escape with the gold and money stored in instrument cases. The four robbers are led by Max (Darryl Theirse), computer hacker Squid (James Parks), and psychotic gunmen Pete and Sol (Jon Sklaroff). The foursome then board a plane on its way to Acapulco. On that plane is flight attendant Mia (Heidi Lenhart), who is going to meet her ex-boyfriend Zach (Chuck Walczack) in hopes of rekindling their relationship.

The plane encounters a storm and is ordered to turn around. The four robbers whip out guns and take control of the plane, ordering it to continue. The co-pilot struggles with the gunmen and the struggle leads to the plane crashing. Only a handful of survivors are left, including Max, Squid, Sol and Mia. The other survivors include an injured passenger (whom Max quickly kills), the pilot, the other flight attendant, a lawyer, and a trivia champion. Mia and the pilot secretly retrieve the plane’s black box so that they can be tracked via the emergency signal it emits. The gunmen then order the survivors to retrieve their luggage containing the cash and gold. In the process, a crocodile eats the pilot and the crocodile is then shot to pieces by the robbers. The three gunmen order the remaining survivors to carry their luggage out of the swamp. They also discover that the swamp is full of natural methane geysers (all of which are very flammable).

Zach hears about the plane crash and convinces a tracker named Roland (Martin Kove) to help him find Mia. Roland flies them into the swamp with his helicopter.  Meanwhile, a thirty-foot mama crocodile (from the first film) finds her baby’s carcass full of bullet holes (her baby was the one shot by the robbers) and lets out an angry roar.

That night, Mia drugs some alcohol bottles she recovered from the plane and manages to successfully drug Squid, who was standing watch over them. The survivors flee into the swamp, where they are attacked by the angry mama crocodile. The crocodile eats the other flight attendant and the black box. The survivors are eventually found by the gunmen and again pressed into service. Meanwhile, Zach and Roland track the group using an inflatable boat and following the signal from the black box. This leads them face to face with the crocodile, an encounter from which they barely escape.

Eventually, Zach and Roland manage to cross paths with the group. A standoff ensues until the crocodile shows up and eats both Squid and the lawyer. The rest of the group takes cover in an abandoned house, where Sol and Max manage to overpower Roland and Zach. Roland explains that the crocodile hunting them is one of legend, rumored to have existed since the time of the conquistadors. The robbers take the boat and their loot and leave the others for the crocodile (who ultimately eats the trivia champ). Roland, Zach and Mia then set out to make it back to Roland’s helicopter. In the meantime, Max and Sol have a falling out and Max wounds Sol before Sol is eaten by the crocodile.

The threesome reach Roland’s helicopter where they find Max waiting for them. Max offers to split his loot with Roland if Roland will fly him out of the swamp. Roland agrees and abandons Zach and Mia, who set off in a spare boat to escape the swamp. Later, Roland double crosses Max and throws him out of the helicopter to his death. He turns around the copter to get Zach and Mia, but the crocodile jumps out of the water and destroys the helicopter with Roland inside.

The crocodile then begins swimming towards Mia and Zach’s boat. Mia notices they have just passed by a series of methane geysers. She manages to ignite the methane while the crocodile is swimming through them, thus blowing up the crocodile and saving her and Zach’s life.

We jump ahead to see Zach and Mia relaxing at a palatial resort. The pair have clearly reunited and are deeply in love. Zach jumps into the pool and invites Mia to do the same. She does, but the crocodile jumps out of the pool and eats her. Mia then wakes up from this nightmare in a cold sweat. Zach tries to comfort her, though she is clearly suffering from PTSD due to their ordeal with the crocodile.

Order of Deaths: