Lake Placid
Directed by Steve Miner
- horror
- comedy
- action
- science fiction
- thriller
The story
When a man is eaten alive by an unknown creature, the local Game Warden teams up with a paleontologist from New York to find the beast. Add to the mix an eccentric philanthropist with a penchant for "Crocs", and here we go! This quiet, remote lake is suddenly the focus of an intense search for a crocodile with a taste for live animals...and people!
What it’s like
Bright, sun-struck daylight over a dark, still northern Maine lake, with pine shorelines, wooden docks and sputtering motorboats, all shot in a glossy, late-nineties studio palette. The camera moves briskly between wide establishing views of the water and tight, comic two-shots in the sheriff's office and the local diner, and the score bounces along with a jokey, brassy energy. A deputy game warden and a New York paleontologist team up in the search for a huge crocodile in the lake, and the vibe is goofy creature-feature fun, a mix of wisecracking banter and scares that often tip into slapstick. The violence is frequent and graphic: people are snatched and dragged under, and there are bloody bites, dismemberment and a severed head shown plainly, though much of it is played for laughs and the gore is more splashy than lingering. It suits a lazy Saturday night with friends, a comfort-horror pick, or a playful monster movie for someone who doesn't mind bloodshed. It is not gentle, and it works best for viewers who enjoy horror-comedy over psychological dread.
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