Lake Placid (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
| Lake Placid | |
|---|---|
 Lake Placid film poster |
|
| Directed by | Steve Miner |
| Produced by | Michael Pressman David E. Kelley |
| Written by | David E. Kelley |
| Starring | Bill Pullman Bridget Fonda Oliver Platt Brendan Gleeson Betty White |
| Editing by | Marshall Harvey Paul Hirsch |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | July 16, 1999 |
| Running time | 82 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $27,000,000 |
| Followed by | Lake Placid 2 |
| IMDb profile | |
Lake Placid is a 1999 comedy horror film. It was directed by Steve Miner and was released in the United States on July 16, 1999. The music was composed by John Ottman.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
A scientist researching beaver populations in a lake in Maine is savaged by something unseen in the water while diving. The lower part of his body is eaten.
A tooth found in the remains is sent to a museum for analysis. Paleontologist Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda) gets the job, mainly because her boss, with whom she has had an office affair, wants her out of his way. The tooth resembles that of a crocodile. Fish and Game officer Jack Wells (Bill Pullman) and sheriff Hank Keough (Brendan Gleeson), who witnessed the fatal attack, take her to the campsite and brief her on the incident, and the three are out in a boat on the lake to familiarise her with the habitat.
Back at the camp they are joined by her colleague Hector Cyr (Oliver Platt), a millionaire crocodile expert who believes the creature is a crocodile, who arrives by helicopter. While the four are out exploring the lake, the creature is shown settling under Kelly and Hank's canoe. Hector's radar begins to pulsate as Kelly and Hank are thrown off their canoe and into the water.
That night, Hank and Hector get into a fight. Kelly tells Jack that Hector believes crocodiles are godly creatures. They also meet Delores Bickerman (Betty White), one of few people living on the lake, who claims to have killed her husband.
The next day Jack and Hector go diving in the lake to find the creature. The creature is shown sneaking up on them. It pulls the boat anchor, but Hank order his deputy to cut the anchor cable and the boat escapes. Kelly falls overboard, but is saved from being eaten. Jack and Hector come back up but, in helping Hector aboard, Hank's deputy is attacked by the creature and his head is bitten off.
Hank mourns the deputy and blames himself for his death. Hector's attempts to console him backfire and anger him, and they get into another fight. During the brawl as Hank chases Hector to the lakeside and the other follow, a bear appears. Jack pulls Kelly out of the way, but the bear looms over them. Suddenly a giant crocodile leaps out of the water and drags the bear back into the lake.
Kelly and Jack share a moment of awkward intimacy as Kelly dresses Jack's cut. Jack, Kelly, and Hank visit Delores again. They find her feeding the crocodile by bringing a blindfolded cow to the edge of the lake. She is placed under house arrest for feeding the crocodile and letting it live to kill people.
Hector has shared a relationship with one of Hank's deputies and decides to take her on a trip in the helicopter. Hector lands the helicopter in the cove where the crocodile lives. While he is diving it attacks him but he escapes by throwing an inflatable raft which it chases while they escape in the helicopter.
On their return, Jack berates Hector for foolishly risking the life of his deputy. Hector sulks in his tent, where Kelly consoles him and he regains his confidence. Jack and Hank plan to blow the crocodile out of the water but Hector stops suggests instead that he, Hector, lure it in and drug it. Jack reluctantly accepts the proposal and they use one of Delores' cows, dangled from the helicopter, as bait.
After a few hours of trying this without success, when they are about to give up the crocodile turns up and begins to feast on the cow. Hector's helicopter is pulled down into the lake by the weight of the crocodile, but he lands safely. The crocodile then comes on land and attacks Jack and Kelly, and Kelly is knocked into the lake by its tail, but after some struggling she makes it to the helicopter.
The croc then jumps into the cockpit and gets wedged in, and Hector and Kelly dive into the water and swim to the shore. Despite Hector and Kelly's cries to let the animal live, Jack shoots it with a tranquilizer rifle. As Hector comes out of the water, a second crocodile attacks him, but Hank kills it with a grenade launcher.
The last scene shows Mrs. Bickerman feeding bread crumbs to what appears to be many baby crocodiles implying the two adults were a mating pair.
[edit] Cast
- Bill Pullman as Jack Wells
- Bridget Fonda as Kelly Scott
- Oliver Platt as Hector Cyr
- Brendan Gleeson as Sheriff Hank Keough
- Betty White as Mrs. Delores Bickerman
- David Lewis as Walt Lawson
- Tim Dixon as Stephen Daniels
- Natassia Malthe as Janine
- Mariska Hargitay as Myra Okubo
- Meredith Salenger as Deputy Sharon Gare
- Jed Rees as Deputy Burke
- Richard Leacock as Deputy Stevens
- Jake T. Roberts as Officer Coulson
- Warren Takeuchi as Paramedic
- Ty Olsson as State Trooper
[edit] Production
Despite the name, the movie has nothing to do with Lake Placid, New York, and it was filmed mainly in the town of Shawnigan Lake, BC, Canada. The 30-foot long crocodile was created by Stan Winston Studios.
Lake Placid 2 is a sequel to this film, made by a different studio and starring none of the original cast. It was released to DVD on January 29, 2008.
[edit] Reception
Lake Placid is a combination of suspense, outright horror and comedy. Most of the humour stems from the "fish out of water" quality of Scott and the bickering between Hector and local Sheriff Hank Keough (Brendan Gleeson). The movie was generally received poorly by audiences and critics - a common complaint was that the horror and comedy elements did not sit well together, making the movie fail on both counts. The Rotten Tomatoes website gave the movie a 35% rating, whilst Roger Ebert described it as "completely wrong-headed from beginning to end".[1]
