Lake Placid 2

As typically second-rate as one might’ve anticipated, Lake Placid 2 once again follows an assortment of characters, including John Schneider’s James Riley, Sam McMurray’s Jack Struthers, and Cloris Leachman’s Sadie Bickerman, among others, as they’re forced to battle a bloodthirsty crocodile after it chomps down on a hapless bystander. It’s worth noting that Lake Placid 2, unlike the majority of its direct-to-video brethren, actually presents itself as a bona fide sequel to its (admittedly superior) predecessor, with Leachman’s scene-stealing turn as the foul-mouthed sister to Betty White’s Lake Placid character the most obvious indicator of this. Unfortunately, the movie also resembles the first film in terms of its reliance on relentless chatter – as scripters Todd Hurvitz and Howie Miller place an all-too-consistent emphasis on dialogue when they should be stressing croc-chomping action. It doesn’t help that virtually all of Lake Placid 2‘s characters come off as one-dimensional stereotypes, which inevitably perpetuates the film’s decidedly low-rent feel and cements its place as a rather superfluous piece of work (with the laughable special effects undoubtedly confirming this vibe). And although one could certainly do worse as far as DTV followups go, Lake Placid 2 is sure to leave most fans of the original cold and seems destined to appeal solely to grizzled horror viewers with lowered expectations.

** out of ****