LAKE PLACID 3

The Bickerman family inherited the house by the lake where years before the elderly lady raised alligators. Now the area has been disinfested from the reptiles but something has survived and little Connor has decided to take care of it. Three years later, despite the Bickermans having decided not to live in the house by the lake, the alligators have grown thanks to the food that the child has brought them daily, but when Connor misses the appointment with his reptiles, these come out of the water to look for something to eat, campers included. "Lake Placid 3", yes three! Sometimes the logic that dominates the film market is inexplicable. Ok that we are in the direct-to-video field, ok that production costs are low and distribution is widespread, but the reason that pushes the American Stage 6 to continue the saga of the Maine alligators is hard to share. Let's go back a bit in time. "Lake Placid" was directed in 1999 by Steve Miner with a cast of stars like Bill Pulman, Bridget Fonda and Oliver Platt; a comedy with horror tones about an old lady who raises alligators in the lake that bathes the courtyard of her house... alligators that eat men, of course. In 2007 the first sequel arrives, "Lake Placid 2 - The Terror Continues", a rather bad movie for home video that has one of the stars of "Smallville" as the protagonist. Now, three years later, a further chapter arrives that shares with the other two the location in the placid lake of Maine and the hungry progeny of the killer alligators. Let's start by saying that "Lake Placid 3 - Apparent Calm" is better than the second one. Ok, it doesn't take much, you will say and indeed we are still traveling on the rails of the ugly, an ugly one that nevertheless has a reason. "Lake Placid 3" has some arrows in its bow that in the end make the viewing pleasant. And these arrows are essentially linked to some exploitation finds that leave a smirk of malicious satisfaction stamped on the face. The prologue itself speaks clearly about the intentions that "Lake Placid 3" wants to pursue: a couple of campers camp by the lake, undress and start making out. He is attacked by something and dragged towards the water ending with his face in the girl's private parts, but she does not notice the danger and indeed exclaims "That's exactly what I wanted!", while the boyfriend is devoured. You will understand that the film has, therefore, intentions halfway between the sheepish parody and the coarse horror, intentions that are anything but noble that with the passing of the minutes give us scenes of nude a go-go, an alligator siege in the style of "Night of the Living Dead" and reptiles that roam the city making massacres. Strangely, one can notice an unusual care for the delineation of some characters and for the dialogues; nothing to be amazed at, it is clear, but the character of the rough hunter played by Yancy Butler ("Kick-Ass") and her cynical jokes are not common in a TV movie about killer alligators. Let's come to the sore point of "Lake Placid 3": the alligators in computer graphic. Poor computer graphic, indeed horrific, that gives us perhaps the worst alligators ever seen in a film and in the comparison is also included the reptile in very clear papier-mâché of "The River of the Great Caiman". Cast of unknowns composed of Colin Ferguson ("Fear Itself - Family Man"), the mature lookalike of Megan Fox Kristy Mitchell ("Blackwater"), Kacey Barnfield ("Resident Evil: Afterlife") and the only really known face Michael Ironside ("Atto di Forza"), now for some time trapped in low-budget TV productions. The absolute debutant G.E. Furst directs. "Lake Placid 3" should be taken essentially for what it is, a bad movie that entertains. Then if it were not for the obscene special effects the "ugly" could have been almost reduced. Anyway if you are in the mood for detachment you can also give it a view.