Lake Placid


Kelly: "We're doing the right thing."
Jack: "Things may be a little different if we get EATEN."



release year: 1999
genre: horror/drama
viewing setting: home DVD 4/18/23 and 5/7/16 and theater 7/16/99

synopsis: A remote lake in Maine has a giant crocodile problem.

impressions: Well...on the plus side, it was consistently entertaining. The croc was big - big enough to fit on the bed of an 18-wheeler - and it looked real, and it did cool things like chase people and eat people and leave pieces of their bodies lying around. There was a cute female deputy and a worm-infested toe and a severed head and a snake and even a bear! There was sufficient humor and mystery and even a few surprises, and the cast worked well together as a bunch of disparate personalities thrown together in a strange situation. Some things you can learn from this film: 1) when you know there's a giant hungry crocodile roaming around, common sense would dictate that you stay OUT of the lake, and 2) the crocodile didn't take advantage of some of its chances to feast. The body count could have been so much higher. Just saying. (But if you have the need to see a similar giant animal wreak some real havoc, there's always Alligator.)

body count: 2 humans, 1 moose, 1 bear, 1 cow, 1 giant croc

acting: Bill Pullman is the wildlife cop, who keeps a level head amidst all the chaos. Bridget Fonda is fairly irritating as the city girl who hates being in the woods (and also hates bugs, worms, severed heads, and all the other things this situation throws at her.) Brendan Gleeson is the sheriff, who's fairly serious and lends a certain odd levity to things with his short but pointed comments. Oliver Platt is an eccentric crocodile expert who has some funny lines. But the best lines belong to Betty White, who gets some great R-rated zingers to fire at everyone else.

final word: Entertaining, but needed a higher body count.

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