Lake Placid 3

I really enjoyed the first Lake Placcid. It wasn't the best film I've seen, but it had a good atmosphere, had good acting and a witty script. I hated the second film though mainly because of the waste of Cloris Leachman. So considering it was SyFy, I was expecting to hate this one more. But surprisingly, while nowhere near as good as the original, it does improve, if not by much, on the second. The two main improvements were the acting and story. Neither are great here, the story is formulaic and doesn't have that many scares and the acting is amateurish from the lesser-known names. However, at least unlike the second, which was like a vastly inferior carbon copy, there is an attempt to be more original, and in terms of acting while not on the levels of Brendan Gleeson and the like from the original there is a good performance from Michael Ironside, whereas the two big names of the second film(Leachman and John Schneider) were literally wasted. There is some good scenery also. However, the crocodile effects are the worst of the three, among the cheapest of any group of special effects I've seen in a while. And to make things worse, the crocs aren't well-utilised, their scenes are lacking in suspense and they are not menacing in the slightest. The script is hilariously cheesy, the editing is choppy and you'd be hard pressed to find a likable character in this movie. All in all, pretty bad but not awful like the second. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Some people apparently haven't figured out that Black Lake in Aroostook County, Maine (known to us as Lake Placid) is a place to avoid if you don't like alligators coming on shore and attacking you. This time we have a family, a group of big game hunters, and some wandering college kids. Their paths will cross, some will die, and hopefully nobody watches this film so they never, ever make a "Lake Placid 4".

This film comes to us from director Griff Furst, who is better known, if he's even known at all, for having bit parts in movies (including the upcoming "Green Lantern" film), but not so much his directing. And also writer David Reed, who has never written a feature before... and judging from the complete lack of plot here, may never be asked to do so again.

The film is a "SyFy original" and it's very clear to the viewer, even if you didn't know that in advance. For one thing, it stars Colin Ferguson (Sheriff Carter from "Eureka") and even has him in uniform. I suspect they must have had him on contract to appear in a movie, or something like that... his career is not so terrible he needs this extra exposure. (When aired on the SyFy network, ads for "Eureka" did come on repeatedly, so the cross-promotion is no secret.)

For some reason, this film is ranked higher than "Lake Placid 2" on the Internet Movie Database. I am hoping this is because the film is new and hasn't sunk yet, because there's no way that part two could be any worse than this. This movie had the worst CGI yet, even by SyFy standards. Seriously, folks, give your animators an extra week or an extra thousand dollars or something... if you're going to make your alligators look this fake, you're better off not making the movie at all.

The DVD adds little more to the film than the TV version. There are no special features, only a few added scenes of full frontal nudity, oral sex, and bouncing breasts. I am all for nudity in horror films, but that doesn't automatically make the film good. The press release calls it "steamy, sexy and gory". Gory, maybe, but even the sex parts aren't all that sexy.

There's really nothing redeeming about this film. Horrible effects, no plot, bland characters. The directing is fine, though nothing special (literally anybody could have done it). I can't think of any reason to see this film, no matter how much you may have enjoyed the first one. Maybe if you're a die-hard Colin Ferguson fan? Otherwise, change the channel or go outside and get some exercise.

'LAKE PLACID 3': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Second sequel to the cult classic 1999 horror / comedy film 'LAKE PLACID'. Having been a fan of the original film it is pretty disappointing to see it take the sequel rout that so many seem doomed to (like 'LOST BOYS', 'TREMORS' and 'STARSHIP TROOPERS' for example, the 'FROM DUSK TILL DAWN' direct to video sequels were actually pretty good compared to others). These sequels (this one and it's 2007 predecessor) were actually released as original made for television Syfy network movies first and then as 'unrated' video releases quickly after. They have a great deal of nudity as well as graphic gore and it appears as though the films were filmed with two versions planned, to capitalize on both markets (Syfy network television and 'unrated' DVD).

This third film stars Colin Ferguson (from TV's 'EUREKA'), Yancy Butler (an old favorite of mine and she still looks hot, and is hilarious as well) and none other than Michael Ironside. Ferguson plays Nathan Bickerman a game warden who relocates his family to Lake Placid and into the house of his late aunt Sadie (played by Cloris Leachman in the second film, who was the sister of Betty White's Delores Bickerman character from the original film). She was killed by a crocodile in the end of the second film but Sheriff Tony Willinger (Ironside) assures the Bickermans that all the killer crocs are gone from the area. Unfortunately Nathan's son Connor (Jordan Grehs) discovers some baby crocs near by and secretly feeds them until they grow into deadly crocs as well and start terrorizing the locals once again. Butler plays a tough and foul mouthed hunting guide hired by a college student (Mark Evans) to find his girlfriend (Kacey Barnfield) who went hiking in the area with another guy.

The film is quite a bit better than the last chapter, especially the acting. Some of the supporting actors are still pretty bad but Butler, Ironside and Ferguson all give better performances than the material has to offer them. The directing and writing is about what you'd expect from this type of film but it does have it's quirky funny moments. The film's main problem (as with the last one and all Syfy network films) is the horrible special effects. The CGI is so bad and painful to watch that it ruins the whole film. This is especially disappointing with this film considering it had potential in other areas. The last chapter was just an all around bad film (although Leachman and John Schneider were entertaining in it). These films really should go back to the 'old school' plastic critter effects, they'd be a lot cooler if they did so. I know they don't have a lot of money to spend but no effects would be better than the CGI were subjected to.

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Lake Placid 3 (2010)

* (out of 4)

The first two films in the series certainly weren't anything to write home about but at least they were cheap "B" movie fun. This one here managed to break into the mainstream press after it became the highest watched movie on the Sy-Fy channel but I'm really not sure what that says about those viewing. In this third installment we return to the lake where a new game warden (Colin Ferguson) takes over the house where the old ladies were feeding the crocs earlier. It turns out that his son starts feeding the baby crocodiles who grow into very big crocs and start eating people. Soon the family finds themselves trapped and having to fight them off. Again, there's no question that the first two films aren't going to make you forget the work of Martin Scorsese but at least they were entertaining, which, sadly, this third film isn't. Like countless other "nature" flicks from this channel, we're given very bad CGI monsters that look about as real as those things seen in MEGA SHARK VS GIANT OCTOPUS. Some might overlook this issue but I think it's very important that you can believe the monster in a film because if you don't then it's very hard to be scared by anything you're seeing. The movie doesn't have a single scene that makes you feel any tension and that's not good for something like this. The CGI is extremely poorly done as the crocs are so fake looking that you can never take them serious. It seems as if they change sizes and forms from one scene to the next and most of the time they appear very blurry for some reason. Another major problem is the screenplay itself, which offers up nothing new and we're not even given any characters that we can care about. The kid in the film is so stupid that you can't help but want to see him eaten early on and his mother isn't much better. I will admit that I thought Ferguson did a nice job in his role but he's not given much to do either. LAKE PLACID 3 was a hit so I'm sure another film will be on its way. It's a shame so many people watched something so cheap when there are many better movies out there.

In Aroostook County, in Maine, the boy Connor (Jordan Grehs) fells lonely and neglected by his father, the zoologist Nathan Bickerman (Colin Ferguson), who is only interested in elks, and by his greedy mother, the real estate agent Susan (Kirsty Mitchell), who is interested in her sales commissions only. So the boy spends his time feeding crocodiles in the Black Lake with shoplifted meat for months. When the reptiles are huge, they leave the lake and attack hikers and people that are camping nearby the lake to eat.

"Lake Placid 3" is so stupid and lame that can be defined in one word: awful. The beginning is very funny, with the young couple having sex in the bank of the river, but that is all. The story is so ridiculous that it is impossible that an adult has written such silliness. The acting is terrible, highlighting the decadent Yancy Butler and her grimaces. And the CGI is among the poorest I have ever seen. My vote is one (awful).

Title (Brazil): "Pânico no Lago 3" ("Panic in the Lake 3")