LAKE PLACID

Crocodile creature features are super fun. There's been a whole lot of them over the years with only a handful actually being of great quality. Lake Placid is one of them (so says I). Written by David E Kelly, its a typical Jaws-inspired suspense flick. What makes it affective is the humous. Brendan Gleeson, Bill Pullman and Oliver Platt are all cast well and play off each other brilliantly. Wise cracks are bandied around and sudden fright scenes are thrusted at the audience. The humour/scare ratio is spot on. Also adding a lot of cred is the croc itself. It's no cheap effect. The movie is 13 years old now and the creature still looks as realistic as we could expect. A lot of love was put into creating it and the pay off is on the screen for all to see. I also love David E Kelly's writing style. Aside from his many tv credits he's only written two movies, this and Mystery Alaska. Both have a small-town charm about them and the humour is different to the usual city flick. I love this movie. Sadly they have made 3 sequels (the 4th one in production) and they really suck. Don't bother with 'em.

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