Okay, so I unscrewed by brain jar and removed the grey cells then sat down to enjoy some good ol' creature feature movie madness. And... Enjoy it I did.
Judging by the low score on IMDb, I must be the only one.
So, the basic premise (if anybody cares in movies of this nature) is a group of scientists are still trying to make the fountain-of-youth serum from the Blood Orchid (this is the basic concept of the Anaconda film series). Well, they have a new lead on the missing ingredient that should make the magic work. You guessed it, the crocodiles from Lake Placid (Clear Lake). Enter the car full of lovely ladies... or should I say snacks... The lonely dad who works for Fish and Game and whose daughter might be on the menu. The harassed and hard-worked Sheriff who has to save the day, the town, and the snacks... oh, I mean, ladies. And the bad-guys of the tale, the evil conglomerate run by a sociopath. So what is there not to like?
Okay, the drawbacks are the lovely ladies scream way too much instead of running away. But, hey, if they ran we wouldn't have the satisfaction of watching them get munched. Tha hazing queen, Tiffani, is so stereotypical it isn't funny. The special effects range from okay to terrible. There's a nice scene when a car crushes the head of a croc' and knocks another onto its back. This is from a high viewpoint looking down and works well. Then when one of the girls is chomped you get to see it in a series of still shots, flashing backwards and forwards between dinnertime and the screaming girls. It's like they either ran out of budget or time to make the scene animated. The crocodiles and anacondas are a hodge-podge of rendering techniques.
So what works. The humour, on the whole, is above average and made me laugh a couple of times. The crocodile under the bed was a favourite scene. A few of the sarcastic lines the characters say are funny. The best for this was Ali Eagle's character, Margo. She goes on the pledging trip to study the entire routine for her psych major. The car crushing sequence is good and the punchline made me giggle. I even liked the situation between the Sheriff and her deputy when he tried to use the radio communications. Me, I would've just shot him. Robert England as the amputee tracker and pathfinder, Jim Bickerman, also adds a little humour to the events.
The direction, though mainly average does have some good points too. A B Stone, does a good job of working tension into some of the scenes, though not all of them. Stone is also good at setting the pace. The film trips along at a speedy pace and as a viewer, you're caught in the flow. Stone then ramps up the speed for the action and slows it down for the hunting scenes. However, there's a scene I don't understand. I thought it was out of sequence and should have been the mandatory cliffhanger ending. It's the father and son poachers who get attacked by a swarm of baby Crocodiles, which we never see again. It felt out of place in this cut of the movie. Nice sequence though! - shame this concept wasn't expanded upon.
The acting is above average for most of the characters. Though, Corin Nemec as Tull looked to be sleepwalking through some of his sets. A few of the lovely ladies were too air-headed for my taste. But hey, they can only do what the script and the director ask for. Yancy Butler as the Sheriff, Reba, nails it. She gives her cop the right amount of attitude to make her hard... but human.
After watching some of the other Lake Placid flicks this was a happy surprise to me. Not as good as the original, but better than most of the sequels (not watched them all yet). I found it to be an enjoyable way to waste an hour and a half while eating breakfast on a Sunday morning.
Would I recommend it? Only if you watched the original Lake Placid and you need a killer croc flick fix... or if you just like mindless fun.
Judging by the low score on IMDb, I must be the only one.
So, the basic premise (if anybody cares in movies of this nature) is a group of scientists are still trying to make the fountain-of-youth serum from the Blood Orchid (this is the basic concept of the Anaconda film series). Well, they have a new lead on the missing ingredient that should make the magic work. You guessed it, the crocodiles from Lake Placid (Clear Lake). Enter the car full of lovely ladies... or should I say snacks... The lonely dad who works for Fish and Game and whose daughter might be on the menu. The harassed and hard-worked Sheriff who has to save the day, the town, and the snacks... oh, I mean, ladies. And the bad-guys of the tale, the evil conglomerate run by a sociopath. So what is there not to like?
Okay, the drawbacks are the lovely ladies scream way too much instead of running away. But, hey, if they ran we wouldn't have the satisfaction of watching them get munched. Tha hazing queen, Tiffani, is so stereotypical it isn't funny. The special effects range from okay to terrible. There's a nice scene when a car crushes the head of a croc' and knocks another onto its back. This is from a high viewpoint looking down and works well. Then when one of the girls is chomped you get to see it in a series of still shots, flashing backwards and forwards between dinnertime and the screaming girls. It's like they either ran out of budget or time to make the scene animated. The crocodiles and anacondas are a hodge-podge of rendering techniques.
So what works. The humour, on the whole, is above average and made me laugh a couple of times. The crocodile under the bed was a favourite scene. A few of the sarcastic lines the characters say are funny. The best for this was Ali Eagle's character, Margo. She goes on the pledging trip to study the entire routine for her psych major. The car crushing sequence is good and the punchline made me giggle. I even liked the situation between the Sheriff and her deputy when he tried to use the radio communications. Me, I would've just shot him. Robert England as the amputee tracker and pathfinder, Jim Bickerman, also adds a little humour to the events.
The direction, though mainly average does have some good points too. A B Stone, does a good job of working tension into some of the scenes, though not all of them. Stone is also good at setting the pace. The film trips along at a speedy pace and as a viewer, you're caught in the flow. Stone then ramps up the speed for the action and slows it down for the hunting scenes. However, there's a scene I don't understand. I thought it was out of sequence and should have been the mandatory cliffhanger ending. It's the father and son poachers who get attacked by a swarm of baby Crocodiles, which we never see again. It felt out of place in this cut of the movie. Nice sequence though! - shame this concept wasn't expanded upon.
The acting is above average for most of the characters. Though, Corin Nemec as Tull looked to be sleepwalking through some of his sets. A few of the lovely ladies were too air-headed for my taste. But hey, they can only do what the script and the director ask for. Yancy Butler as the Sheriff, Reba, nails it. She gives her cop the right amount of attitude to make her hard... but human.
After watching some of the other Lake Placid flicks this was a happy surprise to me. Not as good as the original, but better than most of the sequels (not watched them all yet). I found it to be an enjoyable way to waste an hour and a half while eating breakfast on a Sunday morning.
Would I recommend it? Only if you watched the original Lake Placid and you need a killer croc flick fix... or if you just like mindless fun.