Details of Lake Placid (Miner, 1999)
Movie: Lake Placid
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Companies: Fox 2000 Pictures & Phoenix Pictures
Director: Steve Miner
Producers: David E. Kelley, Michael Pressman, & Peter Bogart
Scriptwriters: David E. Kelley
Main Cast: Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt, Brendan
Released: 16th July 1999
Running Time: 82 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Intro
I have forever been a fan of creature features and nature horrors for as long as I can remember. My top 3 being Jaws, Lake Placid, and Tremors. When noticing this is one of the nature horrors, I haven’t reviewed yet I thought it was about time. Time to travel to the Black Lake and go searching for a monster crocodile!
Story of Lake Placid
Lake Placid follows a palaeologist, Kelly Scott (Fonda), that gets shipped off to investigate some teeth due to her boss (and at time boyfriend) cheating on her with her best friend.With them wanting rid of her to ease their uncomfortableness due to their sly actions. Upon arrival she starts investigating recent attacks with Sheriff Hank Keough and Fish and Game officer Jack Wells.
They soon discover a monster croc is the owner of the teeth, one that has no right in being in Maine nor as being as big as it is. After discovering the crocodile croc expert Hector arrives via helicopter. With the team now complete they try out various plans to try to kill the croc, with them ultimately trapping it in a helicopter and deciding not to shoot it.
Analysis of Lake Placid
For starters the crocodile in Lake Placid holds up remarkably well. For example the scene with the bear getting dragged into the thick black water by the crocodile is truly bone chilling. The quickness of the attack really gets the nerves going. The finale involving the crocs and the helicopter is also really well shot and edited. It’s truly spectacular for the budget and the genre of film.
The twist of not actually killing the monster at the climax of the movie is a subversion of stereotypical creature feature stories, and one I wish more movies would follow. The Meg kind of used the whole its not one its two of them switch out, yet both have you on the edge of your seat when you realise the is still another predator out there. The explosion practical effects of the second croc’s death scene is also really well created, the effects hold up well for a movie made 24 years ago.
Cast of Lake Placid
The cast as a whole are three dimensional with all of them having both favorable traits and annoyances. The main female protagonist Kelly is a good example of this, her goals are pure, yet she can’t help but fight with everyone verbally and for no reason lash out due to her circumstances. After she tells Jack Wells of Fish and Game about the circumstances that led her to Black Lake, she becomes a lot more human and opens up more. Their chemistry and dynamic is fun to watch and is more wholesome than erotic which is a nice change of pace of this genre of film.
The croc expert Hector is actually really enjoyable to watch. You see him go from the egocentric baboon who you can’t help but find annoying, to someone who actually respects the crocodiles so highly he sees them as gods. Showing his morals in the later parts of the film, with him being the initial protester of killing the majestic creature.
The Sheriff is quite enjoyable, he provides most of the comedy relief of the film. With him finally getting to shoot his “big gun” he gets the most rememberable action scene besides those of the monster croc.
Then of course you have the late great Betty White who appears as a mad old lady that has nurtured the croc for several years. With the big cliff-hanger at the end being she is nurturing the babies of the two that appear in the film. Setting up several straight-to-dvd sequels.
Summary of Lake Placid
To summarize Lake Placid is one of the greatest creature feature/nature horrors of all time, with it being personally my third favorite of all time. Lake Placid is the king of all crocodile films just like Jaws reigns supreme over any over killer shark film. Despite the sometimes poor dialogue, and acting… The story is well written and flows well, the twist ending and the subversion of killing the main creature means Lake Placid has made its own unique mark on the genre and the medium as a whole. It is well worth a watch, even now 24 years after release!
Overall Rating: 8 – Very Good!
recommendation: YES!
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