Lake Placid (film): Difference between revisions

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During the group’s excursion on the lake to locate the creature, Kelly and Hank’s [[canoe]] is flipped over, including the discovery of a severed human toe and a [[moose]] head. Hank’s deputy Burke is killed when his head is bitten off, which confirms Hector’s suspicions, although Hank remains skeptical. That evening, the group make camp, and prepare a plan to capture the creature.

During the group’s excursion on the lake to locate the creature, Kelly and Hank’s [[canoe]] is flipped over, including the discovery of a severed human toe and a [[moose]] head. Hank’s deputy Burke is killed when his head is bitten off, which confirms Hector’s suspicions, although Hank remains skeptical. That evening, the group make camp, and prepare a plan to capture the creature.

The next day, as Hank and Hector get into an altercation, a large [[grizzly bear]] attacks them, but a gigantic {{convert|32|ft|m|abbr=on}} long [[saltwater crocodile]] emerges from the lake, and drags the bear away. The group discover local resident Delores Bickerman, an elderly [[widow]] living near the lake, feeding the crocodile after they observe her leading a blindfolded [[Dairy cattle|dairy cow]] to the water. She reveals that she had been feeding it for years after the crocodile devoured her husband.

The next day, as Hank and Hector get into an altercation, a large [[grizzly bear]] attacks them, but a gigantic {{convert|32|ft|m|abbr=on}} long [[saltwater crocodile]] emerges from the lake, and drags the bear away. The group discover local resident Delores Bickerman, an elderly [[widow]] living near the lake, feeding a blindfolded [[Dairy cattle|dairy cow]] to . She reveals that she had been feeding it for years after the crocodile devoured her husband.

Hector, and Deputy Sharon Gare take the helicopter onto the lake to separately locate the crocodile, landing in its territory. While he is scuba diving, Hector is confronted by the crocodile, but he and Gare escape after distracting it with an inflatable raft. Hank and Jack call in the [[Florida]] Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for help with capturing and killing the crocodile. Hector suggests he should lure it out of the water and tranquilize it instead. Jack reluctantly accepts the proposal, and they use one of Bickerman’s cattle, dangled from the helicopter, as bait.

Hector, and Deputy Sharon Gare take the helicopter onto the lake to separately locate the crocodile, landing in its territory. While he is scuba diving, Hector is confronted by the crocodile, but he and Gare escape after distracting it with an inflatable raft. Hank and Jack call in the [[Florida]] Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for help with capturing and killing the crocodile. Hector suggests he should lure it out of the water and tranquilize it instead. Jack reluctantly accepts the proposal, and they use one of Bickerman’s cattle, dangled from the helicopter, as bait.

1999 film by Steve Miner

Lake Placid is a 1999 American comedy horror film^[4] directed by Steve Miner and written by David E. Kelley. It is the first installment in the Lake Placid film series and stars Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Brendan Gleeson, Oliver Platt, Betty White, Meredith Salenger, and Mariska Hargitay. In the film, a giant crocodile terrorizes the fictional location of Black Lake, Maine, while a dysfunctional group of police and scientists attempt to capture or kill the beast.

Lake Placid was produced by Fox 2000 Pictures and Stan Winston Studios (which did the special effects for the creatures) and principal photography was shot in British Columbia, Canada. The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox and released in theatres in the United States on July 16, 1999,^[2] and in the United Kingdom on March 31, 2000.^[5]

Plot

In Aroostook County, Maine, Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife officer Walt Lawson is scuba diving in Black Lake, supervised by Sheriff Hank Keough, where he is suddenly attacked and bitten in half by an unknown creature.

United States Fish and Wildlife Service officer Jack Wells, American Museum of Natural History paleontologist Kelly Scott, and Hank investigate the incident. They are joined by Hector Cyr, a wealthy mythology professor and crocodile enthusiast, who suspects the culprit to be a crocodile much to the disbelief of the group.

During the group’s excursion on the lake to locate the creature, Kelly and Hank’s canoe is flipped over, including the discovery of a severed human toe and a moose head. Hank’s deputy Burke is killed when his head is bitten off, which confirms Hector’s suspicions, although Hank remains skeptical. That evening, the group make camp, and prepare a plan to capture the creature.

The next day, as Hank and Hector get into an altercation, a large grizzly bear attacks them, but a gigantic 32 ft (9.8 m) long saltwater crocodile emerges from the lake, and drags the bear away. The group discover local resident Delores Bickerman, an elderly widow living near the lake, feeding a blindfolded dairy cow to a crocodile. She reveals that she had been feeding it for years after the crocodile devoured her husband.

Hector, and Deputy Sharon Gare take the helicopter onto the lake to separately locate the crocodile, landing in its territory. While he is scuba diving, Hector is confronted by the crocodile, but he and Gare escape after distracting it with an inflatable raft. Hank and Jack call in the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for help with capturing and killing the crocodile. Hector suggests he should lure it out of the water and tranquilize it instead. Jack reluctantly accepts the proposal, and they use one of Bickerman’s cattle, dangled from the helicopter, as bait.

By nightfall, the crocodile ambushes and attacks the helicopter. Hector pulls up as the crocodile lunges, and Jack fires a tranquilizer dart into its neck. Hector loses control, and crashes yards offshore. The crocodile then comes on land, and pursues the group. Kelly is knocked into the lake by the crocodile’s tail. Kelly manages to swim towards the downed helicopter, before the crocodile attacks and becomes trapped. With the tranquilizer neutralizing the crocodile, Jack, Hector, and Hank argue about whether to kill it or not. Jack eventually grabs Hank’s gun and shoots it, but the firearm turns out to be another tranquilizer. As Hector comes out of the water, another crocodile attacks, but Hank blows it up with a grenade launcher. Soon after, Florida wildlife officers arrive to load the neutralized crocodile onto a truck, and take it to Portland, Maine, deciding what to do next with it.

One week later, Bickerman feeds bread crumbs to many baby crocodiles, revealing the two adult crocodiles were actually a mating pair. The surviving crocodile is seen tied to the back of a flatbed trailer travelling down the highway.

Cast

Production

Lake Placid was produced by Fox 2000 Pictures, Phoenix Pictures, and Rocking Chair Productions.^[6] The 32-foot (9.8 m) long crocodile was created by Stan Winston Studios and was operated by aquatic hydraulics.^[7]

Some of the film’s scenes were shot in Vancouver and Surrey, British Columbia. Three different lakes in British Columbia stood in for the fictional “Black Lake”: Shawnigan Lake, Buntzen Lake and Hayward Lake.^[8]

Music

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the film was composed and conducted by John Ottman, and released by Varèse Sarabande.^[9]

Track listing

1. Main Title (2:25)
2. Hector’s Here (1:11)
3. Close Call (3:59)
4. Udder Preparations (4:02)
5. Love Games (2:25)
6. Reluctant Passengers (1:46)
7. Morgue / Scary Beaver (4:11)
8. Scouting (2:22)
9. Here He Comes! (4:57)
10. Making a Move /Jack (2:11)
11. Swimming With Croc (3:36)
12. Hector’s Mind (2:48)
13. Weird Things / Dinner Time (2:51)
14. Ground Rules (1:43)
15. Trapping Croc / Resolution (5:30)
16. The Lake / Hitching a Ride (1:03)

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 47% based on 95 reviews, with an average rating of 5.10/10. The site’s critics consensus reads, “Betty White’s delightful supporting turn may be worth the price of admission alone, but Lake Placid is swamped by a smarmy script and inability to deliver on the creature feature mayhem”.^[10] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 34 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating “generally unfavorable” reviews.^[11] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “C” on an A+ to F scale.^[12]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film one out of four stars, describing it as “completely wrong-headed from beginning to end”. He put it on his list of the 10 Worst Films of the Year.^[13] Andrew Collins of Empire gave the film four out of five stars, writing that “you can enjoy Placid as a straightforward camping-holiday nightmare, or as a sly, ironic take on the same. It works deliciously as both”.^[14] Public reaction to the film mirrored the critics’ issues and critiques as Lake Placid grossed $56.9 million worldwide.^[15] Subsequently, the film was followed by five low-budget made-for-television sequels, starting with Lake Placid 2 in 2007.

See also

References

External links