Those who have seen the “Primeval” trailer should know by now that the new horror film is promoted as being based on true events surrounding a serial killer that has claimed more than 300 victims. The title “serial killer” was used in such a way as to convince some into thinking the one committing these atrocities was human. Instead, it was a shining example of a misleading movie trailer – something that currently runs rampant through the industry.

So, if it isn’t human … what is it?

As in the real world, his name is Gustave, and he is an estimated 20-foot long, 2,000-pound freshwater crocodile that has allegedly eaten hundreds of villagers surrounding the Rusizi River and the northeastern portion of Lake Tanganyika in Burundi, Africa. And also true to the real world, despite many attempts to take his life or take him prisoner, Gustave lives free. In the film, a news team is dispatched to Burundi to search for and capture Gustave alive.

Once the news team sets foot into Gustave’s territory, they get more than they bargained for.

If thoughts of “Lake Placid” begin to surface from the black lagoon of your subconscious, let’s squash those right now. “Lake Placid,” while having a similar monster as its main attraction, was simply full of fromage, a B-horror flick at its very best, from cast to creature. With “Primeval,” however, a third, heart-wrenching and true-to-life dimension was presented.

The most striking thing in this film has nothing to do with the killer crocodile, shocking though it may be. Instead, it is the focus on the slaughter of innocent lives in Africa, and outsiders’ reactions to it. Characters in the film remark none too subtly that people (the American public was named specifically) do not seem to care about what is happening, and restate this fact throughout the course of the movie. In that same vein, the most intense situation that is presented has nothing to do with Gustave’s jaws, but with the main characters coming face-to-face with the barrel of an AK-47 in the hands of their fellow men.

In all honesty, the makers of this film would have done well to choose decisively what it was going to be about, and what mood to keep it at. The audience cannot help but wince all the way through, either from painfully tacky jokes and a giant crocodile soaring through the air, or from the real-life politics and violence. This could have either been a horror movie with intensity and suspense a la “Jaws,” or it could have been a very important drama (perhaps even a documentary) about what is happening overseas. Instead, both concepts were thrown haphazardly together to create this somewhat confusing, but altogether upsetting and unlikable hybrid.