Lake Placid(1999)(Review)[Weirdo Wednesday)

A few weeks ago I went for a small family vacation to a Lake. So the night before we departed, I decided to watch this movie for the very first time. A story about a massive gator that lives in a lake and is suspected of being the root of a bunch of missing tourists & locals.

Nobody had prepared me for how much fun this was. It had a list of sequels that were from SYFY – and they certainly looked like it. But this was directed by Steve Miner (Friday the 13th 2 & 3, House) who had a hell of a vision. Yes, it’s about a monster-sized gator that eats people and lives in a lake, but he approached this with as much heart and as many good intentions as you could possibly have for a low-budget monster movie. But the film itself looks clean, the acting is totally fun (including performances from Oliver Platt & Betty White…), and the script is fantastic.

There are some jokes that are spit-take worthy, and there is some gore effects that give you the same response on the same level. But all of it works, yes you have to use your imagination and lower your standards a tiny bit, but the reward is super fun. And amazingly, the gator effects are pretty well done! It’s a hybrid of practical effects, camera tricks, and CGI that is almost as equivalent to what Jurassic Park was like years before it.

I have no intentions of seeing any of the sequels, but I was happy to have added this one into my collection. Underrated is an understatement.

4/5
“Lake Placid” is currently streaming on Hulu & Amazon Prime.

‘Til Next Time,
Mike Cleopatra