Lake Placid 3

Set a year after the events of its immediate predecessor, Lake Placid 3 follows an assortment of bland characters as they inevitably find themselves terrorized by the franchise’s man-eating crocodiles – with the situation exacerbated by a small-town sheriff (Michael Ironside’s Tony Willinger) who refuses to call in additional help. Lake Placid 3 has been infused with an almost unconscionably deliberate pace that ultimately seals its doom, as director G.E. Furst, working from David Reed’s screenplay, spends far too much time establishing the film’s myriad of characters and their relationships with one another (eg in addition to a family of three, several campers, and the aforementioned sheriff, the narrative also boasts a grizzled hunter-for-hire and her hapless charges). There’s subsequently never a point wherein Lake Placid 3, which is, by the standards of the genre, relatively well made, is able to wholeheartedly capture the viewer’s interest, with the lamentable lack of gore undoubtedly compounding the film’s progressively tedious atmosphere (ie the only thing one asks out of an endeavor such as this are copious scenes of folks getting ripped limb from limb by vicious crocs). Furst’s reliance on shaky camerawork during the movie’s sparse action sequences is regrettable, certainly, and it’s finally impossible to label Lake Placid 3 as anything more than just another needless direct-to-video horror sequel.

*1/2 out of ****