लेक प्लेसिड 3

'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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Truth be told, I didn't even know there was a 2nd and 3rd movie to the "Lake Placid" movie, so I just came over the third movie by coincidence. So I sat down and watched it.

And then the terror began...

Oh. My. God! The CGI effects in this movie were so unbelievably poor. The crocodiles were among the crappiest CGI creatures I have seen in a long, long time. The intentions were good, but the effects were so lousy.

As for the story? Well nothing much to be expected here. You have a pretty basic "let's make a sequel" movie here. Local people and animals being eaten by monstrously big crocodiles, and a gun happy hunter is brought into the fray. And a family with troubles that somehow manages to save the day. It is all here. And it has all been seen before.

The acting, well it was wholeheartedly attempted, and actually most weren't too shabby. Some were questionable to say the least. But, of course, this is not an award winning movie, just another SyFy flick.

I managed to sit through it, but I was so tempted to get up and find something else. Which I should have done. This movie is not really entertaining, it is in the line of being ridiculous. But generally I sit through a movie once I started it. I think you have to be a really, REALLY hardcore fan of the first "Placid Lake" movie to actually fully enjoy this movie.

Well, at least it was an attempt at making a movie with giant crocodiles, it just didn't work out all that well. This is not a good choice to put on if you want to be entertained by a good wholesome movie with giant creatures. There are lots of other (and better) movies out there.

Okay, seriously, if you really think that they wouldn't have massive monitoring of this lake after the first two "Killer Croc" attacks in Maine, but somehow, everyone just ignored the problem and THIRD set of killer crocodiles appear in this lake, and start eating people.

This is a fine production by SyFy, which means that you are going to get CGI monsters eating out of work actors...

We get to see some T&A for the video version, not sure how SyFy handled this nor do I care, really.

Okay, the plot is the Nephew of the Cloris Leachman character in the second sequel (who replaced that actually interesting Betty White character in the original) goes to clean out her cabin, and apparently this town that suffered two devastating attacks by Crocs is just find that a sheriff with a fish-finder has declared the lake Croc-Free.

The kid of the Zoologist nephew then proceeds to feed the crocs, who then go on to feed on annoying, uninteresting characters you don't care about.

Over saturation of killer crocodile flicks during 2007 became old fast and honestly, I have not even bothered watching "Supercroc" and "Primeval" yet. Possibly never will.

Once again, people on the lakeside or somewhere else are attacked by crocodiles and only the local authority figure can save the population.

The only thing separating this one from the others is the inclusion of the young boy viewing the crocodiles as his pets. Oh and also the film gets divided up between three groups of people.

As you would expect, many people get slaughtered by rampaging amphibious lizards that eat anything living they can catch.

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")