'Gator Bait 2: Cajun Justice (1988 Video) User Reviews

An agreeable sequel.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 18 April 2013]

Filmmakers Ferd and Beverly Sebastian follow up their original Hicksploitation classic with this similarly sleazy sequel. As could be expected, it's not as much fun as the first "Gator Bait". For one thing, Claudia Jennings is sorely missed. For another, it's pretty slow to really get started and the climactic action just isn't as satisfying overall as it ought to be.

It plays rather like an imitation of "I Spit On Your Grave", as a gang of drooling redneck horndogs decide they're going to have their way with Angelique (Jan Sebastian), the city-gal wife to Big T (Tray Loren), who's all grown up since the events of the original. The leader of this gang is Leroy (Paul Muzzcat), who's determined to keep an old family feud going. After the inevitable defiling of the pretty Angelique, she gets her chance for escape and ultimately plans on revenge.

The gritty look of the film is just perfect for these sordid goings-on. The almost nonstop Cajun music is likewise the perfect accompaniment. Unfortunately, as already said, this movie takes a long time to get to the good stuff. The final half hour has its moments, especially a lengthy river chase featuring some good camera-work. But the revenge portion of "Gatorbait II: Cajun Justice" just doesn't hit the spot as well as it should. The only truly amusing punishment doled out is a head sealed inside a bag that happens to contain some rattlers.

She may not make anybody forget the legendary drive-in goddess Ms. Jennings, but Sebastian does do a creditable job and also looks quite nice in (and out of) her revealing primary outfit. Loren is very affable as the swamp dwelling Big T who does his best to toughen up his wife. The guys playing the antagonists are appropriately loathsome; Muzzcat is a hoot as the depraved ringleader.

This is basically enjoyable for fans of trash even if it can't quite compare to its predecessor. If you enjoy anything with hot babes and backwoods boors, you're sure to get some entertainment out of it.

Six out of 10.

Cajun Justice has been served

[Gweedo Todd · 20 August 2002]

Hello folks Gweedo here, Today I will be talking about Gator Bait 2: Cajun Justice. I never saw part one and after reading about these movies I wanted to see them, but at the local video store all they had was part 2. Still its a great film. There might be a few SPOILERS ahead but nothing to much. It starts off with the wedding of Angelique ( Jan Mackenzie in her first film ) and Big "T" ( Tray Loren ). Not long into the after party a group of five backwood hicks try to trash it untill Big "T" and his boys beat them boys down. Well after the hicks are beat down they want to get revenge so the shoot Big "T" and they take Agelique rape her. she soon escapes. After her Escape she goes for revenge and starts taking out the boys one by one. A great film okay special effects good acting all and all a great film. One of the best endings around. two thumbs up!

Worthy of it's Obscurity

[Steve_Nyland · 3/10 · 1 January 2007]

First off let's call it like it is: If someone were to dig a six foot deep pit out in the middle of nowhere, toss the original elements for 'GATOR BAIT 2: CANJUN JUSTICE into the hole and shovel it under, nobody would care. The world would continue as it is now, unaware of the loss and unmoved by the film's absence from our culture. It is vile, degrading, misogynistic garbage that does not deserve any kind of consideration. There is nothing in the film to deconstruct, no subtext to understand, no message beyond the hatred, suffering and contemptible pandering to the basest side of the human condition. It is a geek show populated by people who may not have known better, though it's producers should be ashamed of themselves.

The only useful purpose the movie has is to show what a better production the original 1974 film 'GATOR BAIT is in comparison. Which is something of a feat. That movie was scummy, sleazy, misogynistic and exploitational to be sure, but it had the distinction of being entertaining and was made with a certain amount of craft. Lead actress Claudia Jennings was fun to watch as a bayou poacher in tight, tattered cutoffs, pursued across the swamps by veteran character actor Sam Gillman and a motley assortment of backwoods cracker types. The film had some laughs with the "Hicksploitation" angle, knew when to back off, and was more of an exercise in bad taste deliberately applied for effect.

By comparison, this 1988 "follow-up" effort is distasteful, tacky, lurid and unwholesome -- not for effect, but by it's very nature. Apparently inspired more by LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT than it's original namesake, 'GATOR BAIT 2 tells the tale of poor Angelique (Jan MacKenzie, whom I feel sorry for), a willowy redheaded city girl who marries the now grown up boy from the original film (Tray Loren, providing the only tenuous link which is never even discussed) who lives a simple life in his clap-board bayou house complete with a cage of water moccasins and a rack of $750 shotguns. Right. The big boy earns his keep by trapping crayfish, apparently, though how he met his bride is never explained. The film opens with them getting married, the reception is crashed by a bunch of white trash crackers who are promptly beaten senseless for their efforts, and for whatever reason their dirtbag leader decides to take revenge on Junior & his wife rather than the good rednecks who pounded the stuffing out of them. Right.

We get some expository scenes of Junior and Angelique shagging, his lessons to her about survival in the bayous, and eventually he heads off to collect his crawdad traps while Angelique takes a bath out on the dock that serves as their front yard. Right. The dirtbags creep up through the swamp (one with frosting from the wedding cake he was pushed into still clinging to his greasy hair), enjoy watching her bathe, then force their way into the cabin and proceed to abuse her. Junior returns, manages to free his wife, gets shot in the process, urges her to run for her life, and is left tied to a stump in the swamps. The rednecks then proceed to track her down, take her to an abandoned mission that they use as a kennel for fox hunting dogs, chain her up like an animal, and then take their turns raping her (off camera).

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?? One of the scumbags decides he can't bear it, slips her the key to the chain and the chase begins anew as she scoots off in Junior's bayou skimmer which does indeed have the phrase "Pop That Cherry" spray painted on the side. The film then devolves into an extended pursuit of Angelique by the pack of hicks who are killed off one by one as Angelique uses the bayou skills Junior taught her starting at about the one hour mark, and for 25 minutes or so the film resembles the first 'GATOR BAIT movie -- though the winsome willowy redhead playing Angelique is no Claudia Jennings. She has a killer body to be sure and doesn't mind displaying it for the camera, but half of the appeal of the original film was centered around Ms. Jennings cutoff jeans encased derrière. Her derrière in specific, not just *ANY* derrière, and that is where the 'GATOR BAIT 2 producers made their most crucial mistake.

Ms. Jennings of course was not on-hand to reprise her role having tragically died in 1979, but by simply selecting some random buxom redhead who knows how to drive a motorboat the producers made a grave error in judgment. It could have been anyone in the role, where the first film is all Claudia. By removing that sense of identity the 2nd film has none and exists only as a kind of vicarious rape and revenge fantasy for people who are seduced by Angelique's leggy form on the video box cover. If rape and revenge thrillers are not your bag there is nothing in this film to recommend it.

Sure you can throw this on and slug down a stack of beers with the guys and perhaps have a few unintentional laughs, but in the end you will sort of wonder what else you could have spent your time watching, life is short and nobody is giving out prizes for endurance tests like making yourself watch this. The only reason to see it is to sort of bring the 'GATOR BAIT franchise to it's conclusion, and since the film was relegated to home video status and now out of print you probably won't encounter it in real life unless you bother looking for it. Here for once the obscurity is perhaps deserved.

3/10

Swamp growth

[lspeth · 2/10 · 13 April 2001]

I rented and watched these -- once -- because the Louisiana swamp mystique attracted me. Both pretty bad, though not without some rousing action.Part II has a two-track standard not unique to these films, the use of rape to define the bad guys and also as porn. But the weirdest thing about the sequel is that our hero, "Big T", can talk. In the first movie, when he was a sturdy kid, he was mute and it was stated that he had no tongue. Apparently all sorts of unexpected things grow in swamps.

Bottom of the barrel garbage

[jens.karlsson · 1/10 · 16 October 2000]

This piece of garbage is unbelievably bad. It is really bottom of the barrel kind of stuff. There isn't one exciting thing in the whole goddamn movie (except, perhaps, Jan MacKenzie's bosom -which really amounts to two things- if that's what you're looking for). There are many ingredients in this movie that make you uneasy and disgusted too, like e.g. the almost pornographic rendering of imminent rape. The director and camera guys seem to be drooling when making that particular scene. Jan MacKenzie features for one basic reason: as a Centerfold with big tits. An immature, disgusting, pointless movie.

Followed the Same Pattern as the First Movie

[Uriah43 · 3/10 · 21 May 2015]

"Angelique" (Jan Sebastian) is a city girl who has moved to the swamps of Louisiana to marry a Cajun by the name of "Big T" (Tray Loren). As it turns out Big T is the young brother of "Desiree Thibodeau" (played by Claudia Jennings) who killed several members of the Bracken clan for raping and killing her sister some ten years earlier. Although Big T was quite young at the time, he was present when it all happened--as was "Leroy Bracken" (Douglas Dirkson) who Desiree castrated and left for dead. In any case, Big T is about to be married and Leroy Bracken wants revenge in the worst possible way. So in order to get his revenge he plots with four other men to kill Big T and to then rape and kill Angelique too. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this movie is the sequel to "Gator Bait" which was produced 14 years earlier. That said one would think that the producers plenty of time to come up with something that might be entertaining--or at the very least equal to the original. Unfortunately, this was not the case as the first 30 minutes were extremely slow and the rest pretty much followed the same pattern as the first movie except that Jan Sebastian is nowhere near as attractive as Claudia Jennings was in "Gator Bait". Likewise, I thought that the fake Cajun accent used by Tray Loren was just plain annoying as well. In short, I personally didn't care for this film and I rate it as below average.

Doesn't even live up to the awful standards of the original.

[Anonymous_Maxine · 3/10 · 2 April 2001]

‘Gator Bait 2 picks up ten years after part one left off, and the little boy from the original movie has grown up and is marrying a girl from the city named Angelique. The wedding is a particularly amusing part of the film, because not only do the bride and groom inexplicably wear dollar bills on their outfits, but the fancy wedding feast consists of a huge pile of some kind of crustacean, poured carelessly onto a folding table out of a garbage can, for crying out loud. And then for their honeymoon, this true romantic takes Angelique out into the swampy woods and teaches her how to be a redneck. But then again, this kind of thing would be expected, because on one side of the aluminum boat that took the place of the post-wedding limo is painted the old saying, `Just Married,' while the other side bears the charming phrase, `Pop that cherry!!'

(spoilers) As was the case in the first film, the script is absolutely horrendous, but here, the performances were pathetic as well. It's strange that Big T's (the little boy form part one) new bride would have an exotic sounding name like Angelique, because this guy can hardly speak intelligibly. And how did he meet a city girl, anyway? This guy could not possibly have been out of the woods for more than a day of his entire life, and even then only to discover that he could never survive in the civilized world. It's weird that all of the evil rednecks in this film come off as more intelligent than the supposed hero.

And, as was also the case in the first film, these are some SERIOUS rednecks. Again, these people are so ugly and dumb that it's difficult to believe that they're real humans. Yes, these are the true bottom feeders of the human race, a group of men so idiotic that the leader of them, Leroy, states that `the only way to reckon with these people is to kill them.' They are once again the brainless, horny rednecks that we saw in part one, and evidently their goal is to murder Big T and take his city wife out into the woods and rape her – spurred on by the fact that it was Big T's sister, Desiree, that killed Leroy's brother in part one, and also left Leroy himself out in the woods to die. So they shoot Big T and, in true James Bond form, leave him alive for some unlikely force to finish him off. It's fine that we know he won't die, but all that happens is we see him thanking some witch-doctor looking man `for saving my life,' as he borrows the 80-something year old man's shotgun and heads back into the woods, paddling around in circles one-handedly in another aluminum boat.

The chase scenes were entertaining enough, especially given the incessant banjo soundtrack, and Angelique's nudity is still exploitative but not as much as in the original film. At least here, she's half naked because the rednecks interrupted her while she was dressing and she was forced to run wearing what she had on. Also, the way that she killed one of the rednecks with a bag full of rattlesnakes (by far the most inbred one of the whole bunch – except maybe for Big T) was pretty creative, but it's strange how heartbroken Leroy was about that, seeing how he had just ruthlessly cut the throat of one of his own men.

With ‘Gator Bait 2, you pretty much get what you expect. Part one actually had several redeeming values, but this one had virtually none. Everything about the relationship between Big T and Angelique is totally unconvincing, and the sheer idiocy of every single character in the film, good or bad, prevents the development of any feelings for anyone, leaving you not caring about what happens to any of them, and even more disappointed at the ending.

I never expected it from her...

[leeof-29740 · 7/10 · 28 November 2023]

I bought this as a fan of modern day Jan Sebastian (then Jan Mackenzie), now a beloved writer on Medium. She plays the lead, Angelique, as seen on the cover, scantily clad, looking at the camera, holding a shotgun and a snake.

Disclaimer: I haven't seen the first one (yet), so there'll be no comparison here. Neither have I seen 'I Spit on Your Grave', or a whole ton of other movies (I was born in the 90s, my Christian extremist family was anti most entertainment, and I don't go out of my way to catch up; get over it, I'm only reviewing this one).

Firstly, what surprised me the most, was how the story time was split. I was ready for similar pacing as to the first John Wick, with the inciting incident at the very beginning of the movie and the rest dedicated to revenge, but it was entirely the other way around. This in itself could have worked, as it really builds up the viewer's need to see the aggressors brought to justice, but the final revenge, while off to a good start, ended being quite underwhelming, especially as the last kill was given over to the husband (played by Tray Loren), who just so happened not to die gruesomely all along.

I don't know, maybe I'm biased, but I really wanted to see Jan do all the important killings.

The second factor to shock me were the underfed dogs (and fox) in one scene, which I'll admit added realism of the movie, but for me it was too much. Maybe there's more to that story I don't know about, like they were rescues or something, but my assumption is Ferd and Beverly starved some animals for the part, and that makes me uneasy.

That said, Jan is a fantastic actor, and I'm honestly pretty disappointed not to see it said more often. Especially for depicting either end of the emotional spectrum, she's a natural. I'll have to reach out to learn if she was really able to make herself cry like that... she also has a strong, very clear and attractive voice, which is a shame she lost after her stroke in later years.

All the parts were well played, except for maybe one, I'll let you decide who, but it fits in with the B-movie vibe anyway.

I also want to compliment the filming (camera shots, angles and all that). The boating scenes particularly are superb, and I really enjoyed the various nature closeups. One spider near the end really stuck with me. Suffice it to say I'll never choose to visit such areas of my own free will... but I've always found the American bayous terrifying.

This movie isn't probably going to please most people, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it in general, but it's artful, in its own way, and Jan is awesome.

7/10 stars from me!!!

Gator Bait II deserves a 10 !

[studebk · 10/10 · 26 May 2006]

If only for being the only drama performance of Jan MacKensie !Where is she now ? In my humble opinion ,she is one of the hottest babes ever in movies (if only B exploitation ).That's why they put her on the cover .As far as plot development ,what do you expect for a hit and run cheapie ,it's better than porn videos from the "valley " .The same Eurotrash reviewers ,who trashed this movie ,probably love "I am Curious "(blue ) in 8 mm !None of them has been to Loosiana where this s**t goes on under Mayor Nagin and Gov.Landrieu .La France doesn't even recognizes "cajuns" as their progeny .Well ,back to Jan Mackensie ,where is she now (just curious ).

Humiliation,rape and revenge

[Fox-65 · 4 July 1999]

This one reminds me of the cult classic ''I spit on your grave. A beautiful girl gets married but on the party some savage rednecks interrupts and a big fight take place. The bride and her husband gets away but the rednecks dosen't forget it. They search the swamp,finds them,shoots the husband and taking her away just to rape and humiliate her. Quite graphic. But one of the psycos gets too emotional and gives her the key to the chains they tied her up with. She get's away,arms herself and taking them down,one by one.

This is not exactly a masterpiece,but it's not that bad either. If you like films like these,see it. There's a lot worse movies than this.

An enjoyably sordid slice of hicksploitation junk

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 20 January 2015]

Sweet city gal Angelique (a solid and appealing performance by gorgeous and voluptuous redhead knockout Jan Sebastian) settles down in the Louisiana swamp after marrying kindhearted Cajun good ol' boy Big T. (a likable portrayal by Tray Loren). In the wake of being abducted and defiled by a bunch of vile hillbilly scumbags, Angelique is forced to use the survival skills Big T. taught her in order to exact a harsh revenge on the wholly deserving redneck swine.

Writers/directors Ferd and Beverly Sebastian offer a flavorsome depiction of the colorful local Cajun culture, maintain a pleasingly sleazy atmosphere throughout, make nice use of the backwoods bayou locations, don't pull any punches with the ugly and protracted rape set piece, and stage an exciting boat chase with a reasonable amount of skill and gusto. The hick bad guys are quite scuzzy, disgusting, and detestable, with Paul Muzzcat in particular a slimy stand-out as vicious and repulsive ringleader Leroy. In addition, Reyn Hubbard contributes an amusing turn as stuttering idiot Geke while Sebastian and Loren display an engaging on-screen chemistry. As a yummy extra bonus, the delectable Mrs. Sebastian shows off a lot of her eye-popping full figure. George H. Hamilton's twangy score further enhances the overall downhome tang. Ferd Sebastian's fairly polished cinematography boasts a few neat stylistic flourishes. A satisfying serving of pretty nasty trash.

Swamp silly

[Fireman-10 · 26 August 1999]

Your basic rape revenge sort of thing. Nothing terribly graphic . Very little skin. Extremely low budget. However it does have three redeeming points.

It is so bad it is funny.

A good boat chase scene (No, not comparable to Face Off or either of the two Bond movie chases, but hey, they're little aluminum boats).

Jan MacKenzie is a very cute redhead and her "attire" really does make the above chase scene special.