GATOR FACE Brings Real Alligators, Practical Gore and Drive-In Horror to Theaters September 11

Real alligators. Real teeth. Practical gore. Yeah, GATOR FACE has our attention.

Epic Pictures and Dread are taking audiences deep into the Florida swamps with writer-director Padraig Reynolds’ new creature feature, hitting select theaters September 11 and digital platforms September 15.

GATOR FACE follows a group of friends whose sunny Florida vacation goes straight to hell when they become prey for a sinister cult sacrificing victims to an alligator god. What was supposed to be an escape turns into a fight to survive the cult, its violent rituals and the very real predator at the center of its mythology.

Reynolds, whose credits include Rites of Spring, Open 24 Hours and Dark Light, is leaning hard into old-school creature-feature filmmaking. The production shot on location in Florida, worked with live alligators and used practical gore and in-camera effects rather than leaning on CGI or AI for its nastier moments.

The live-alligator sequences were created in partnership with Bellowing Acres, a North Florida alligator and exotic-animal sanctuary that provides permanent homes for rescued nuisance alligators and rehabilitated animals that cannot legally return to the wild. Experienced animal professionals worked with the production, and the filmmakers state that no alligators were harmed during filming.

That practical approach fits the movie’s whole vibe. This is creature horror, slasher energy and Southern folklore smashed together with the kind of tactile filmmaking that made old drive-in monster movies so much damn fun.

The film stars Tabitha Brownstone as Claire, Amariah Dionne as Jess and Scot Spurlock as Father Eli, the menacing leader of the cult. Ella Mosca appears as Samara, while Nikolas Kolasinski steps into the title role of Gator Face.

The cast also includes Iain Smith, Kiara Mitjans, Barron Regan and Ellie Shaddix. Reynolds wrote and directed the film, with Jason Goldberg and Wes Thomas producing and Epic Pictures CEO Patrick Ewald serving as executive producer.

GATOR FACE opens in select theaters September 11, 2026 and arrives on VOD and digital platforms September 15. The 80-minute horror thriller is distributed by Epic Pictures through Dread, the genre label that also brought audiences the original Terrifier.

If practical gore, cult madness, Florida-swamp horror and a monster with very real teeth sound like your kind of party, keep this one on the radar.

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