Lake Placid 4 - Capitolo Finale

TV movie, originally shown on Syfy, and the fourth (although not actually final) entry in the Lake Placid series. We get Yancy Butler reprising her role from the previous movie (a seriously retconned death! 😂), Elisabeth Rohm (late of Law & Order), a couple of British ex-soap 'stars' - plus a handful of British and Bulgarian (where it was filmed) models, whose main purpose seems to be losing their bikini tops. Oh, there's Robert Englund.

Very low budget, poor CGI, with a story that does little more than simply string together some croc attacks and bloody deaths. Yancy Butler (good to see her again) is actually pretty badass, and the best thing in it, and Robert England always makes a good 'despicable excuse for a human being'. Otherwise, the performances are pretty poor. Okay for background watching, but not worth making a point of seeing. 4/10.

The Black Lake is isolated from the local inhabitants by an electric barrier built by the Army engineers. The engineer Ryan Loflin (Paul Nicholls) and his son Max (Benedict Smith) are working in the protection barrier and Sheriff Theresa Giove (Elisabeth Röhm) is trying to exterminate the crocodiles from the lake working with the former poacher Reba (Yancy Butler). When the sheriff's daughter Chloe (Poppy Lee Friar) accepts the invitation of her schoolmates to go to a camping party by the lake, the reckless driver does not pay attention on the road, crosses the gate and mistakenly stops by the Black Lake. Meanwhile a group of poachers led by the hunter Jim Bickerman (Robert Englund) also trespass the gate to hunt crocodiles and seek worthy crocodile eggs. Soon they are attacked by giant crocodiles.

"Lake Placid: The Final Chapter" is a TV Movie with lame effects and a very funny story. Yancy Butler is awful in the role of the non- charismatic Reba. The cast has names such as Robert Englund) and Elisabeth Röhm. Despite the reference to the final chapter, the conclusion seems to indicate a possible sequel of the franchise.My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Pânico no Lago: O Capítulo Final" ("Panic in the Lake: The Final Chapter")

Gues the whole budget went to Robert Englund and Lisa Rinna, leaving $0 for CGI. Oh, or a real writer or director...

At the end of the third film we are left to assume the feisty "cougar" Reba is dead- This is not the case. The fourth film opens with her having survived the attack and now working with the local authorities to contain the vicious reptiles. Enter the new sheriff of the city, her daughter and a ruthless, out for himself poacher played by Robert Englund of Freddy Krueger fame.

This film is better than the standard SyFy fare, and as for the franchise better than parts 2 and 3. Yancy Butler is once again an entertaining and ass kicking force. If you suffered through the last 2 sequels then give this one a chance because as far as entertainment value goes it's way beyond the previous offerings (except of course the first.)

Miraculously surviving from the previous "Lack Placid 3" (2010) movie, salty and snarling Yancy Butler (as Reba) kills the offending crocodile. After the credits, Ms. Butler's marksmanship has landed her a job assisting beautiful blue-eyed Elisabeth Rohm (as Theresa Giove), the new Lake Placid sheriff. The killer crocodiles are still around, but have grown bigger and more blood-thirsty than ever. Authorities have enclosed them in a fenced area, hoping to starve them to extinction. They've survived by eating each other, but still prefer humans. Butler thinks handsome fencer Paul Nicholls (as Ryan Loflin) has a "nice ass." We never receive positive confirmation of this from director Don Michael Paul, but female buttocks are very nicely represented...

Butler takes a back seat, as we focus on two co-starring couples. First up, an attraction develops between Ms. Rohm and Mr. Nicholls. Then, their grown-up children also become attracted to each other. Her daughter is pretty Poppy Lee Friar (as Chloe) and his son is cute Benedict Smith (as Max). The four are individually well-cast, but there is a problem with Nicholls and son Smith. Whenever they share the screen, they send off a strong gay vibe. This is mostly due to the two actors appearing too close in age to be playing father and son. They also look nothing like a father and son – in fact, in all their scenes together, they look like a couple. Nothing wrong with this, of course, but it seems slightly off-kilter...

Possible subtext aide, writer David Reed and the Syfy TV movie team make this sequel a little better than the last two. The story has better development and the characters are generally appealing. Continuity is provided in a nice scene with Ms. Friar's swim team (aka crocodile bait). As a bonus, "Nightmare on Elm Street" star Robert Englund shows up as another nutty member of the "Bickerman" family. None of these improvements are earth-shattering, however, and they don't make "Lake Placid: The Final Chapter" much more than mindless trash. The special effects are worse, if that's possible. The cheap-looking monster crocodiles are unimpressive. You get blood and gore, but no suspense. Finally, this doesn't seem like "The Final Chapter"...

**** Lake Placid: The Final Chapter (9/29/12) Don Michael Paul ~ Elisabeth Rohm, Paul Nicholls, Yancy Butler, Benedict Smith