Lake Placid

R

Released Jul 16, 1999

1 hr. 22 min.

Horror

Comedy

List

47%

96 Reviews

Tomatometer

37%

100,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

When a mysterious creature violently kills a man in a Maine lake, Jack Wells (Bill Pullman), the local game warden, looks into the bizarre case, along with Sheriff Hank Keough (Brendan Gleeson) and visiting paleontologist Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda). Looking for clues in a tooth that the beast left behind, Kelly and the others eventually locate the monster, a massive and vicious reptile eager to devour anything in its path. Can the crocodile-like creature be stopped?

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Critics Consensus

Betty White's delightful supporting turn may be worth the price of admission alone, but Lake Placid is swamped by a smarmy script and inability to deliver on the creature feature mayhem.

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david r

I can understand critics disliking it because they aren't real people... but I can't understand how a human being wouldn't like this.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/28/23

Full Review

Rob A

A campy cult classic that spawned numerous, terrible sequels, this is a guilty pleasure I've seen perhaps 5 times. The cast is first rate and Bridget Fonda is gorgeous. Betty White is hilarious and the croc is so humongous that it gobbles up a grizzly in ten seconds flat. Friends have made fun of me for liking it so now I tend to keep that to myself; but once a year at midnight I pop it in and press play!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

12/07/23

Full Review

Robert Austin E

I loved this movie as a kid. I'll be honest, the first person that got eaten half scared me to death. This is by far my favorite crocodile movie.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/08/23

Full Review

Raiodesol S

It does well what it attempts: a movie about giant crocodiles terrorizing good looking people. Unfortunately they forgot that this was a movie so it had to be well crafted when it comes to the script and the shooting. But it's a pretty fun one.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

11/07/23

Full Review

Alexandria M

I only watched because of Bill and Betty. They fat know it all douchbag and the bitchy museum girl made the movie hard to watch

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

10/19/23

Full Review

Zach T

Giant alligator film is more funny than scary.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/04/23

Full Review

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Steve Miner

Director

Bill Pullman

Jack Wells

Bridget Fonda

Kelly Scott

Oliver Platt

Hector Cyr

Brendan Gleeson

Sheriff Hank Keough

Betty White

Mrs. Delores Bickerman

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Anthony Lane

New Yorker

This may be no more than a squib of a B movie, and it remains about as frightening as a fish tank, but, if you have any poetry in your soul, you will surely thrill to a film that ends with a crocodile sticking its head in a helicopter.

Nov 30, 2020

Full Review

Stephen Thompson

AV Club

The lazy finale makes Lake Placid seem more marginal and forgettable than it already was, which is actually something of a feat.

Jul 9, 2019

Full Review

Paul Tatara

CNN.com

Miner's thoroughly unimaginative visual style sees to it that "Lake Placid" is not the least bit frightening, and the entire undertaking generates maybe one decent laugh. That is, if you don't count Fonda's chronic inability to act.

Jul 9, 2019

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

It's Jaws, with a croc instead of a shark.

Rated: C+

Apr 6, 2022

Full Review

Trace Thurman

Horror Queers Podcast

Kelley is an inspired choice for a screenwriter but none of this is actually funny. Also, less than 4 minutes of screen time for the croc in a 78-minute movie? No thank you!

Rated: 2/5

Dec 30, 2020

Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

Everyone is quirky, witty, sarcastic, and unique, cleverly scripted to be an odd fit for a man-eating reptile flick.

Rated: 6/10

Sep 14, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

When a mysterious creature violently kills a man in a Maine lake, Jack Wells (Bill Pullman), the local game warden, looks into the bizarre case, along with Sheriff Hank Keough (Brendan Gleeson) and visiting paleontologist Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda). Looking for clues in a tooth that the beast left behind, Kelly and the others eventually locate the monster, a massive and vicious reptile eager to devour anything in its path. Can the crocodile-like creature be stopped?

Director: Steve Miner
Executive Producer: Peter Bogart
Screenwriter: David E. Kelley
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Phoenix Pictures, Rocking Chair Productions, Fox 2000 Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 16, 1999, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 2, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $31.8M
Sound Mix: Surround
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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