{"id":18355,"date":"2014-07-22T13:50:32","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T17:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=18355"},"modified":"2016-01-03T13:54:01","modified_gmt":"2016-01-03T18:54:01","slug":"lake-placid-collectors-edition-1999-blu-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/22\/lake-placid-collectors-edition-1999-blu-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Placid: Collector’s Edition (1999) [Blu-ray]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Director Steve Miner and writer David E. Kelly\u2019s \u201cLake Placid\u201d is a B monster movie that knows what it is, and almost works against its type to offer something of substance. The harder it tries for satire and meta-storytelling, the more absurd \u201cLake Placid\u201d is, thus more surreal. I wouldn\u2019t classify \u201cLake Placid\u201d as a great monster movie, but it has a strange energy to it that elevates it above usual monster movie tropes, but also keeps it firmly planted in the corner of a horror comedy bordering on a spoof quite often.<\/p>\n

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Is it intentional that the romance between Pullman and Fonda\u2019s character is lackluster and fruitless? Is the Laurel and Hardy buffoonery between Brendan Gleeson and Oliver Platt all tongue in cheek and intentional? Is the over the top xenophobia between Fonda\u2019s New Yorker and Gleeson\u2019s small town bumpkin from Maine on purpose? Surely, placing a giant crocodile in a New England lake had some semblance of tongue in cheek satire somewhere within writer Kelly. In Lincoln County Maine, the investigation of the local lake leads Sheriff Hank Keough to come face to face with a gruesome underwater animal attack that leaves a Fish and Game officer\/diver partly eaten.<\/p>\n

Called in to investigate the incident and evidence are Fish and Game officer Jack Wells, and uptight paleontologist Kelly Scott, who travels from the Museum of Natural History to investigate the weird murders of animals that lead her to the tooth of a gigantic reptile. Interrupted by eccentric mythology professor and crocodile enthusiast Hector Cyr, the group has to figure out not only how the gigantic crocodile got in to the lake, but why it\u2019s there in the first place. The casting and mixing of said performers is just about as surreal as the movie itself, often leading me to wonder what the thought process of the story was. Bridget Fonda underplays her sexual appeal poorly as a tightly wound paleontologist, while Bill Pullman– typically a romantic lead–plays heroic officer pretty well. There\u2019s also Oliver Platt playing Oliver Platt as a more comical Quint, prone to worshiping the croc more than hunting it.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the talented Brendan Gleeson who is fun as the stern Sheriff who plays bafflement and slow wittedness with a wry sense of humor. Not to mention there\u2019s Betty White who plays a key role. \u201cLake Placid\u201d is an unusual beast of a horror comedy, and one that loses its marbles and never tries to remotely salvage what is such a demented and odd monster movie based around the simple premise of a giant crocodile wreaking havoc in the wilderness of New England. It\u2019s never particularly scary or suspenseful, but revels in its absurdity, playing more to wit and one liners than raucous action and gore. What gore there is is used with a tongue in cheek motif, ala character Kelly\u2019s anger at being hit with severed heads on an almost regular bases. \u201cLake Placid\u201d is well worth the watch if only for its attempts to inject levity in what\u2019s just a simple nature run amok horror comedy.<\/p>\n

Scream Factory delivers as usual with a thirty minute \u201cMaking Of\u201d featurette garnering interviews with key cast members, as well garnering anecdotes and looks in to the production of the film. There\u2019s the original theatrical trailer, as well as a vintage promotional piece for the film clocking in at over five minutes in length. There\u2019s the original TV Spots, as well as a Behind the Scenes Gallery. Finally, there\u2019s a seven minute reel of \u201cCroc Test Footage\u201d that displays how Stan Winston and his company created the crocodile for major action scenes.<\/p>\n