The Real PrimEval (WARNING SPOILER BELOW)

When I first saw this movie trailer, I was intrigued.
I'm very interested in true crime and Crime Science in general.
I could not imagine a serial killer that murdered over three
hundred people and was never caught. I was racking my brain t
rying to figure out how Touchstone pictures was able to
develop a movie around such an infamous serial killer in
Africa when there is literally no information on such a person.

According to the research I did, the only such person was
nicknamed "Monster of the Andes." His real name is/was
Pedro Alonzo Lopez and his story is truly one of the most
disturbing ones I've ever read. I will have to come back to
this, because his story is truly the answer to the question "
how are serial killer's created." It also raises the question of
mental welfare of the children of prostitutes. That aside, the
only thing that didn't make sense was the geography. Lopez
stalked Columbia, Ecuador and Peru. Not a remote part of
Africa, but a fairly large sparse section of South America.
I wouldn't think that the people at Touchstone were that bad
with their geography especially with millions of dollars at stake.

Upon further research I learned that this movie is really about
the enormous crocodile named Gustave who stalked Lake
Tanganyika in Burundi. A few years ago I caught a special on
PBS called "Capturing the Killer Croc." I have to admit, that
documentary was pretty damn good and engaging. Possibly
the best PBS special I've ever seen, then again I've only seen l
ike five PBS specials (if you are including Sesame Street).
Either way, there was one scene where I thought I was looking
at a sand bar, but as it turned out, it was Gustave the enormous
crocodile. That thing was at least 20 feet long weight over
1,000 pounds. It's size was/is of prehistoric proportions.

Crocodiles and alligators roamed the earth when it was
inhabited by dinosaurs, one of the few creatures
(roaches-ewww-being another) to have survived and
adapted. Millions and millions of years have only resulted
in these lizards change in size. At one point they were over fifty
feet. Now the average is about 14 feet. The discovery of a beast
over twenty feet and nearly a hundred years old was a mighty
big find! However, this croc was in fact stalking and tormenting
the people in Burundi. For those who have never seen "Hotel Rwanda."
A matter of years ago a civil war broken in Rwanda and an
ethnic cleansing/genocide began. The Hutu began to lash out
and spill the blood of the Tutsi. Both groups were living in Rwanda.
The massive bloodshed, pillage and rape of men women and
children (By the way-a similar Genocide
CONTINUES today in the Darfur region as I type) forced the Tutsi
into neighboring Burundi and Uganda.

For those cornered in Burundi were literally stuck
between a rock and a hard place. While they were
unable to move any further out of Burundi because of patrolling Hutu
rebels, they couldn't move in the other direction because there was a
twenty foot, mammoth crocodile looking for lunch! I cannot imagine
how difficult it made life. Getting clean water and or bathing was a
life and death situation.

While the movie Primeval credits Gustov with over 300 murders
it's really not clear if all those deaths can be attributed to the beast.
Remember at this time there is a civil war going on! Though likely
Gustave snacked on many human beings another debate is whether
he was forced to. Most animals are not a big fan of human flesh
(minus Jeffrey Dohmer of course). I understand we are rather
stringy and salty! I kid...or do I?

Many years back in Kenya, while laying tracks meant to
bridge Lake Victoria and Mombassa 135 workers were taken out
by these lions. Naturalists surmised that these lions ate humans
not out of want but out of need. The construction of the railroad
frightened away these lion's normal pray forcing them to eat the
only substance available, humans. Humans mad for a relatively
easy pray, preoccupied with laying tracks and relatively helpless
without a firearm.

Naturalists also suspect this theory of eating humans
because other environmental conditions forced out normal
pray can applied to Gustave. No doubt the thing is enormous!
It's been shot twice and remains at large. The naturalists
who put together the PBS special were unable to catch him
even with the helped of thirty men. The idea was to capture
Gustave and then transport him to a preserve where he
could not harm any more people and could be studied.
Unfortunately, the present day dinosaur provide to smart
for the many traps set. I myself am on the fence on whether the
best should have been killed. It is an interesting debate though.
Should he be killed, I mean haven't the people occupying that part
of Burundi been through enough? Should the present day dinosaur
be moved to a wildlife preserve? Or should the elusive lizard be
permitted to roam free?

In any event I find these topics much more interesting that
what promises to be a Primeval waste of money. I suspect that
there is as much truth to the film as there was in the advertising of it!
FYI-I noticed that they recently changed their trailer to read
"It's not human" at the end of it.