About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Sub-par SyFy monster movie fare.

Pros

• Ample gore and nudity
• Solid cast

Cons

• Bad CGI
• Lame humor
• Cliched plot
• Not scary

Description

• Starring Colin Ferguson, Yancy Butler, Michael Ironside, Kirsty Mitchell, Jordan Grehs, Mark Evans, Kacey Barnfield
• Directed by G.E. Furst
• Rated NR
• DVD Release Date: October 26, 2010

Guide Review - 'Lake Placid 3' DVD Review

After two separate slaughters by giant maneating crocodiles over the past few years, you'd think that the people living around Black Lake, Maine would be on the lookout for unusual aquatic phenomena, but no one notices young Connor Bickerman (Jordan Grehs) feeding several increasingly large crocs over the course of the two years he's lived by the lake.

Connor is the son of new game warden Nathan Bickerman (Colin Ferguson), who moves into his late aunt Sadie's lakeside house after her death. The boy unwittingly follows in the footsteps of Sadie (in Lake Placid 2) and her sister Delores (in Lake Placid), both of whom raised killer crocs that went haywire.

Connor's crocodiles naturally outgrow the packaged meat he's been feeding them and move on to bigger things -- like deer, elk and humans. He finally gets around to telling his parents about the animals, but not before they've gnawed on hunters, babysitters, policemen, frisky college kids (naturally) and other town residents. Living beside the lake, the Bickermans are also natural targets. Can the family survive to accidentally unleash more maneating crocodiles in Lake Placid 4?

Why do monster movies always have a little kid who befriends the creature, oblivious to the fact that it could rip his head off? This is just one of many eye-rolling cliches perpetrated by Lake Placid 3, a by-the-numbers creature feature that tries to make up for its creative shortcomings with graphic violence and nudity (shiny baubles to horror fans).

Unfortunately, no amount of gore and T&A can balance out the horrible computer effects in this made-for-TV sequel. The crocodiles are so distractingly fake, the characters being "attacked" look like they're just writhing around having seizures while CGI crocs just happen to be hovering nearby.

The original Lake Placid was one of the best giant animal horror movies of all time, smartly written with a sly sense of humor. This entry, however, is crude in every way possible, from the production value to the writing. Unlike the first film, we're dealt the worn-thin horror scenario of half-naked partying teens being attacked by something in the woods (or in this case, the lake), with the rest of the cast bloated by similarly disposable characters who are made as unlikable as possible so we don't care when they're eaten.

Only a solid cast, led by Ferguson, Yancy Butler and Michael Ironside, manage to maintain a level of competency amdidst the flimsy, predictable plot, derivative direction (including the standard "Jaws zoom" effect) and drab action. (Side note: how can the crocs sever a body part with one bite in one scene, but when they grab one of the main protagonists by the foot, their grasp is so dainty than it doesn't even cause a limp?)

I can only assume that SyFy slipped a Lake Placid clause into Ferguson's Eureka contract to force him into a project that's so beneath his ability.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the distributor. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.