LAKE PLACID 2

Eight years after the crocodile hunt that interested the lake of the placid town of Maine, Lake Placid, mysterious deaths begin to cause panic among the population again. Sheriff Riley, along with the forest ranger and ex-wife Emily and an exotic animal hunter, set out to search for the crocodile. "Lake Placid", although not a box-office smash, with its 31 million dollars earned on American soil, was still a satisfaction for 20th Century Fox. Given the easily "commercial" theme and past success, it was predictable that someone would eventually decide to bring back the crocodiles of the placid lake of Maine. It took eight years, but Fox, along with Sony Pictures, decided to give new prey to the reptiles, and thus "Lake Placid 2" debuts on home video. Unfortunately, everything that was pleasant in the first film is totally absent here, and the television nature of the product (the film is distributed with the support of Sci-Fi Channel) greatly penalizes the success of this sequel. The intelligent mix of humor and suspense, characteristic of Miner's film, is completely lost to give more centrality to the action; an action that, unfortunately, is conducted with absolute incompetence and lack of rhythm, capable of making the viewer yawn rather than involving them. The direction of "Lake Placid 2" was entrusted to David Flores, already the author of another unwatchable beast movie signed by Sony and Sci-Fi Channel, namely the absurd "Boa vs. Python - In the Spirals of Terror", and in this case too the direction is nothing more than an optional, a name to attribute to the term "director". In fact, not only does the film lack any personality, but there is a general incompetence in the direction of the actors (all lost and at the mercy of events) and in the creation of the slightest suspense in the numerous scenes that involve the attack of the crocodiles. The screenplay by Todd Hurvitz and Howie Miller is too repetitive and risks falling into the absurd every minute that passes; which is also a shame because the base subject would have been able to give life to a sequel at least worthy. The merit of "Lake Placid 2", in fact, lies in its status as a "true" sequel, continuing the story directly from the events of the first film, without bringing back any of the actors and characters present in the 1999 film. The story of the old lady who raises crocodiles in the lake behind her house was sufficiently original and bizarre, so it was decided to delve into it in the sequel; unfortunately, it all doesn't work and the approximation with which the entire operation is conducted really makes one cry disaster. The biggest flaw of "Lake Placid 2" can be identified in the poor quality of the special effects and the insistence with which they are ostentatious. The crocodiles, in fact, are on the scene for almost the entire duration of the feature film and are clearly and continuously shown in all their horrible artificiality: rough blocks of pixels that do not integrate well with the scene and that continuously change dimensions in proportion to the objects in the landscape. In short, a 2007 production by Sony Pictures that uses CGI effects already dated in low-budget productions from ten years ago. Really nothing can be saved in this "Lake Placid 2", even the actors seem out of place and generally incompetent. Most of the cast was built with television actors who would have had to portray characters that directly referenced those seen in the first film, and here is the sheriff of the town (John Schneider), his beautiful companion (Sarah Lafleur) and the hunter called in to help solve the case (Sam McMurray). To these are added a pack of endangered teenagers among whom stand out the sheriff's son (Chad Collins), the girl to conquer (Alicia Ziegler) and the unbearable idiot of the turn (Justin Urich). In short, "Lake Placid 2" seemed on paper that it could work, but it turned out to be the usual bad product made with the left hand and eyes closed for the home video market. To be avoided.