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Lake Placid [2000]
![Lake Placid [2000]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CNF7AWSFL._SL160_.jpg)
RRP: £12.99
Our Price: £2.36 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Lake Placid is total trash--and, as a result, pretty entertaining. Yet another entry in the horror sub-genre of giant animals running amok, the movie features a giant crocodile that has somehow found its way to an isolated lake in Maine. The absurdity of crocodiles in Maine sets the tone for the entire movie, which has no ambitions beyond mixing a little fright with a little humour (Curiously, this concoction was put together by David E Kelley, better known as the creator of TV's Ally McBeal and The Practice). Bridget Fonda plays a palaeontologist sent to investigate a large tooth; Bill Pullman is a fish and game warden just trying to keep the peace; Oliver Platt plays a loose-cannon mythology professor who swims with crocodiles for sport; and Brendan Gleeson is a local sheriff with a short temper and a big gun. Add a few gruesome dismemberments, Betty White as a cantankerous old broad who may have murdered her husband, and a cow hanging from a helicopter, and there you have it: Lake Placid. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com
Horrifyingly amazing!
Review date: 2008-08-29 Rating: 10 out of 10
Lake Placid is a fantastic movie.
I recommend anyone who enjoys action packed, horror flicks.
Fantastic movie, way better than the rubbish sequel.
BUY IT!
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Reviews
A Clever Little Film......................
Review date: 2008-08-14 Rating: 10 out of 10
Hardly a horror film, but it is a rib tickler. A zany, ill fitted expedition seek to find if there is indeed a killer creature in Lake Placid (not the famous one, but the other one).
The cast is outstanding with fabulous performances by Oliver Platt, Bridget Fonda, Brendan Gleeson and Golden Girl Betty White.
Jokes from Platt come hard and fast; and Ms Fonda is not short on Hang-ups.
Well worth watching, this movie has been a firm favourite of mine right from the first time I saw it. Though rated 15 in the UK, I think children would love it.
Love this film
Review date: 2008-01-16 Rating: 10 out of 10
For a B movie feature, and let's be a little bit honest here, that is exactly what it is, it has a sharp script, great cast, a very big croc and beautiful scenery. The whole thing rattles along at a good pace, there's a whiff of danger, a couple of whiffs of romance and a lot of snappy dialogue. Four completely different folk get together to catch a crocodile (some of whom won't even admit it is a crocodile for almost half the film!). It isn't great literature, it doesn't have dramatic pauses between each sentence in an attempt to lend the words more profundity than they possess. It's a creature feature. Pure and simple. As a creature feature I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up.
Snap
Review date: 2007-11-14 Rating: 4 out of 10
Sometimes you can play comedy and horror off of each other to create something witty and creepy, but sometimes it doesn't work and you get this.
The film tries to be clever by constantly entwining darker aspects of the film with light hearted humour, but instead of complementing each other or giving the film a unique stylistic feel - it just feels a bit naff.
Presumably the budget required to get visuals on the crocodile were considerable, which would explain why it gets so little screentime. Jaws managed to use the small amount of actual shark visuals to build tension, but that doesn't happen here.
I never felt much for the characters and found myself cheering for the crocodile, the film makers wanted to get some stunts involving the crocodile and they got them into the film, they look impressive but they just add to the implausibility of the feature overall.
This was released at a similar time to Deep Blue Sea, neither were fantastic, but Lake Placid failed at the box office, and failed with the critics as it seemed too clumsy, if you want to watch a good comedy horror film then you're best off sticking with `Tremors' or `Critters'! The funniest aspect to this film is the tagline: "Part Mystery. Part Thriller. Parts Missing." which is actually pretty funny, as far as taglines go - it's genius.
GIVE IT A CHANCE, YOU MIGHT LIKE IT
Review date: 2007-11-04 Rating: 8 out of 10
In an isolated lake in Maine, a series of accidents has plagued the local police and garnered the interest of the NY Museum, who sends Paleontologist Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda) to the lake on the pretense of an ancient tooth found there. Unknown to Kelly, the police have also called in wildlife expert Jack Wells (Bill Pullman), who is immediately attracted to her. Meeting with Sheriff Hank Keough, (Brendan Glesson) the three of them, as well as several of Hank's deputy's, go out into the mysterious lake, but one of the deputy's dies in a freak accident, as no one can figure out what happened. This series of events has sparked the interest of Hector Cyr, (Oliver Platt) an eccentric tycoon who believes that what they are dealing with is a crocodile. Because he believes that crocodiles are sacred animals that need to be preserved, he buts heads with everyone on the expedition, but since he proves handy with traps, he is allowed to stay. They prove that it is a crocodile in the lake, and that a local living in the area (Betty White) has been feeding it for several years. With Hector now convinced that the croc has to be destroyed, he teams up with the rest to hunt down the croc.
The Good News: I just want to get this point across before I do anything else: those of you who are worried that the croc may not be lifelike need not to fear. The croc in here is so lifelike that many times through the film I wondered if they were able to get a live croc to do those stunts. I know they can't, but the croc looked so realistic you wonder that yourself. It's nothing like in 'Crocodile' or the sequel 'Crocodile 2,' where the monster is so fake that it turns you off. On the contrary, 'Lake Placid' uses the CGI and what I can hope is an animatronic so seamlessly it looks like one monster throughout, without the annoyance of knowing when it's fake or not. For me, what really turned me on to this film was its humor. I like a movie to do that, be serious when it needs to be and funny when seriousness has run its course. The film has several really good one-liners, which is a part of another reason why I like this film. The banter between everyone is finally a part of a movie and brought out, instead of being glossed over and forgotten. Everyone has a few good put-downs on every else a trait that I felt showed real tension between everyone. This is something that has been really missed in this kind of film, as the characters have their own individual quirks and habits, and when in close contact with others who have a different method of doing things, the personalities come out and bickering ensues. This was a great and relatively refreshing thing to see in a horror film of recent years, as the situations could've demanded that could happen, but instead the characters try to be PC in how they deal with everyone. I really hope that disappears soon, since they are some people who do need to be insulted every now and then. I also really like that they never skimped on the gore here, as it is pretty ample. We see one person decapitated, another ripped in half with his lower half missing and the guts spilling from his exposed ribcage, and we see a bleeding, severed finger. That was the body count in the film, so there wasn't a whole lot of opportunities, but they did deliver, as those few deaths left me satisfied more than happily in the gore department.
The Bad News: As I mentioned above, there were hardly any deaths in the film, so there wasn't any real chance to spill on the gore, as in other creature films. That could be the result of the time it was made, right around the Columbine shooting, so it could've been watered down. They could at least still have more deaths in the film. I also want to clarify something here: Yes, there is a scene of an animal being feed to the crocodile and another of the croc attacking an animal, but the attacks are nothing more shocking than footage that could be seen on Animal Planet. It is not that bad, but I felt that statement would be effective here. I don't have a problem with the scenes, but I put it here because those animal-friendly people should be warned about the scene.
The Final Verdict: Put in a few more kills and ignore the fact that the croc does kill something other than people (twice), this is a good move nonetheless. Despite those two grievances, this is a smart, funny and entertaining killer monster film. You could do a lot worse than this film.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Bridget Fonda
Oliver Platt
Bill Pullman
Betty White
Brendan Gleeson
Creators:
Bill Pullman (Primary Contributor)
Bridget Fonda (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
EAN: 5039036004879
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2004-08-02
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 78 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1999-07-16
Language: English (Original Language)