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Lake Placid

Play trailer Poster for Lake Placid R 1999 1h 22m Horror Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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47% Tomatometer 96 Reviews 37% Popcornmeter 100,000+ Ratings
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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Lake Placid

Lake Placid

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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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Critics Reviews

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Anthony Lane The 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 Jose Solís Common Sense Media Originally dismissed when it was released, this killer croc film has grown into a strange B-movie gem from the legendary year of 1999. Clocking in at Jul 23, 2025 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 Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Gregory S People are way to serious with movies sometimes. This is a fun and funny ride. Enjoy it. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/20/25 Full Review Robbie L. One of the best giant animal movies.  Right up there with deep blue sea, and tremors Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/26/25 Full Review Pedro Henrique C Lake Placid (1999) is a film that has no script, a crazy story and is poorly directed. The characters in this movie are pretty dumb, you'll want to watch it and root for the crocodile to kill them all. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 10/20/25 Full Review Rafael S I really liked this movie, the Crocodile animatronic is very well made and realistic, and has very iconic scenes Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/08/25 Full Review Christine B Campy and fun. Betty White was awesome. "I'm rooting for the crocodile; I hope it swallows your friends whole." I got tired of Bridget Fonda's fake "girl screams," though. She was TERRIBLE in this film and was the only weak link. All the other characters fit perfectly together. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 09/27/25 Full Review Christian K A by the numbers creature feature that hits all the beats but has enough recognizable actors to not make it a total drag. The kill count is extremely low for some reason? The romantic plot is lacking any sort of chemistry, Platt and Gleeson have more chemistry as enemies in this. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 09/17/25 Full Review Read all reviews
Lake Placid

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Movie Info

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
Producer
David E. Kelley, Michael Pressman
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
Runtime
1h 22m
Sound Mix
Surround
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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