Lake Placid

Lake Placid; Horror comedy, USA, 1999; D: Steve Miner, S: Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt, Brendan Gleeson, David Lewis, Tim Dixon, Betty White

A 9 yards long crocodile kills a scientist in a lake, so the local sheriff Hank calls a crocodile hunter for help. But then many other people find about the incident which causes the rich Hector to show up, a man who adores crocodiles, and Palaeontologist Kelly whose boss removed her from New York because he has an affair with her coworker. While on a ship, they witness how the monster kills their assistant. Jack discovers a nearby old lady was feeding the crocodile with cow, but Hector decides to capture the monster alive. They plant a trap and capture it. Another crocodile shows up so they kill it. Kelly and Jack become closer, while the crocodile is brought to a safe place. But the old lady continues feeding

Conventionally made horror film, with a running time of only 75 minutes, doesn't manage to satisfyingly develop it's story, unlike the similar cult movie "Alligator", and the most troublesome thing are narrowed down relationships of the characters including the thin love relationship between Kelly and Jack, despite all the efforts by solid Bridget Fonda and Bill Pullman, but also the lack of humor because the screenplay from David E. Kelley doesn't reach the quirky charm of his amusing show "Ally McBeal". The 9 yard long monster crocodile is terrifying, but even it is stiff while the movies build around it doesn't manage to create a satisfying adventure tone. Except for copying a poster of a famous shark movie from the 70s, "Lake Placid" holds little to no connection with the best monster movies of all time, but one most admit it has a few original ideas: for instance, in one scene the rich Hector, played amusingly by Oliver Platt, finds a bitten toe, lifts it up and asks: "Is this the man that was killed?" or when the old Mrs. Bickerman flat out admits to the protagonists: "I'm rooting for the crocodile. I hope he swallows your friends whole", which is a wonderful satirical jab at the old cliche that the viewers always have to care for the human characters in horrors, and never for monster characters.

Grade:+