| Year of Release | 1991 |
| Starring | Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Betty White |
| Director | Steve Miner |
OK. Winter is settling in here in Australia, so you know what? Time to crank up a couple of movies. This time it’s Lake Placid on the guillotine’s edge waiting for judgement. I’ve not seen or heard much about the movie before, so let’s see how it goes.
Upon loading this one up in the old VCR I noticed that this one was directed by Steve Miner. Miner is the veteran of what could be a million horror films. Realistically you know this film is going to be decent, if not pretty darn good. He doesn’t have the same prestige as the top tier directors but he has been doing a lot of the sequels to big movies (such as Friday 13th, Warlock and even *cough cough* Dawsons Creek). In all seriousness though, I didn’t realise that this guy had directed so many films until I went back and re-edited this site for advertising revenue. Whilst not starring any particularly huge Hollywood A listers it does have Bill Pullman and Bridget Fonda in it as well.
THE PLOT
Anyway the movie starts with a crocodile attack on late Placid and then jumps back to a couple of scientists trying to work out what killed him in the resulting autopsy. The museum curators ( think they were paleontologist) decide to investigate in more detail by going to the lake. Of course they do. They send Bridget Fonda’s character Kelly Scott over, and from the start she basically pisses everyone off. At this point you’ ve got a killer croc, some sexual tension, a smart ass museum worker and the people she’s relying on to keep her alive. A great combination for some classic action. Despite Fonda’s character being rather cute, its not long before you’re hoping the crocodile gets her first.
Anyway it’s unclear whether the croc is a throwback to dinosaur times, as it is freakishly large. But a little further into the film Kelly drops the attitude and things start to go a lot smoother in their quest to figure out what’s really going on.
THE VERDICT
There’s some great killings and while the movie really isn’t a gore-fest the visuals and horror effects are really good. There must have been some serious money thrown into this film. There’s also some great gutter level humour. I don’t think it felt forced but some might disagree. Overall, I had a great time watching this film and I’m glad I finally found time to put this on for a viewing.
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