Lake Placid (1999)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

A-Z Horror Movie of the Day..."Lake Placid" (R - 1999 - US)Sub-Genre: MonsterMy Score: 6.7Cast=7 Acting=6 Plot=5 Ending=7 Story=6 Scare=7 Jump=6 F/X=8 Monster=9 Gore=6Three people attempt to stop a gigantic crocodile, who is terrorizing residents in Black Lake, Maine. "I brought a pork chop for luck. Maybe you could hang it around your neck." This was simply played out, but a solid monster movie!! I mean c'mon...a GIANT CROCODILE...That got the old adrenaline pumping. This led to a bunch of killer croc movies and two sequels to this one. While they suffered by comparison, this was a lot of fun to watch. I don't know about you, but I found myself rooting for the Crocodile...and Betty White!!

Lake Placid (1999): Dir: Steve Miner / Cast: Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt, Betty White, Brendan Gleeson: Mindless muck with a gigantic crocodile and moron people who fall victim to its jaws. Bridget Fonda works at a museum where a large tooth is brought to her attention. She can hardly contain herself when witnessing the remains of a human body that was bitten in half. Bill Pullman plays a ranger investigating the incident who won't hit it off with Fonda at first but will eventually win her over. Director Steve Miner is already accomplished in horror films having made the underrated House as well as the first two Friday the 13th sequels. Pullman does what he can with the cardboard role. Oliver Platt plays off humour, which doesn't take away from the fact that his role is equally cardboard. Fonda is weak casting and seems to play off the humour as overacting. Betty White plays a senile elderly woman who feeds the croc that ate her husband. That has got to make this lady the dumbest idiot in the whole film. Watching White attempt to master this creature is a massive suspension of disbelief in itself. Brendan Gleeson plays a Sheriff who likely wishes the wildlife programs were filming this so that he can link tourists. Dreary and pointless monster flick with a convincing croc that is the film's one selling point. Otherwise this film should be fed to crocodiles. Score: 2 / 10

An idiotic film if ever there were. Crocodiles come to a lake in Maine and wreak death upon the citizenry and in many cases, the film becomes a comedy. It's a comedy in the sense that it's so bad that it's almost laughable.The Oliver Platt part as Hector is questionable. He is a college professor? The guy is a real nut in every sense. We know that Betty White is an animal lover in real life, but this is ridiculous. She plays Mrs. Bickerman, the latter could have been a golden girl. She feeds animals including the crocodiles and then admits that her husband was killed by one.A senseless production, inane and beyond the realm of human comprehension.

In Maine, Sheriff Hank Keough (Brendan Gleeson) pulls out a Fish and Game officer ripped in half. They pull a fragment of a tooth and American Museum of Natural History sends paleontologist Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda) to examine the tooth. She is not happy to go out to the backwoods but once there, she is not too eager to return to her ex-boyfriend boss who just dumped her and is now dating her best friend. Fish and Game officer Jack Wells (Bill Pullman) is not happy to have her along. Crocodile enthusiast Hector Cyr (Oliver Platt) arrives hearing of the discovery. Mrs. Delores Bickerman (Betty White) is a delusional neighbor who claims to have killed her husband.This is a very simple creature feature. Oliver Platt is weird having some fun making Brendan Gleeson angry. Bridget Fonda is the flighty city dweller and does the screaming. If the attempts at joking around do not annoy you, then there is some fun to be had. There's a giant crocodile taking down a bear and a cow. The joking around keeps the tone relatively light. This is light weight B-horror movie and it knows it.