Lake Placid vs Anaconda - There are few words to describe this film (but I’ll try)

Years ago, I watched both ‘Lake Placid’ and ‘Anaconda’ in the cinemas and, for all my sins, loved them both.  Yes, I know a ‘good’ film when I see one and I knew both of these were definitely not good.  They were cheesy B-movies that could only be considered ‘good’ in a ‘so-bad-they’re-good’ kind of way.  But, sometimes I’m in the mood for that sort of film, so that’s okay.

I seem to remember seeing a sequel to Anaconda (another snake/another jungle) and I’m pretty sure I at least heard that Lake Placid (another crocodile/another lake) had another film out of video (didn’t even have DVDs in that day from what I recall!).  Now, from what I read online, ‘Lake Placid vs Anaconda’ is the fifth film in both franchises.  I guess some may think that it might be difficult to pick up the story missing 3/5 of the story.  Don’t worry.  I don’t think I missed much in the way of story.

Scientists (the movie kind, therefore they’re evil) are trying to do experiments on the giant anaconda snake and it gets away – right into Lake Placid.  And it just so happens that there’s a whole group of scantily-clad teenage girls in bikinis running around on that day.  And, if you’ve ever seen a film before, you’ll probably fill in enough of the blanks to work out what happens for the next ninety minutes.

Lake Placid vs Anaconda is basically a slasher film with monsters who occasionally fight each other in between gobbling up the next cheerleader.  The acting is dire (and even the presence of Robert Englund can’t elevate it that much), the special effects are about the least special as they could be (seriously, I’ve seen Playstation 2 cut-scenes that are better than the CGI snake and crocs) and the plot is nothing you haven’t seen before.  The characters are pretty unlikeable – the ‘nice’ ones are two dimensional and underdeveloped and the ‘bad’ ones are even more clichéd (although the token ‘mean girl’ of the story was actually quite funny!).

Therefore, the film is pretty forgettable.  I’m writing this review trying to remember as much of it as I can before all traces of it slips from my mind completely.  However, as dumb as it is, I didn’t hate it.  I was actually quite entertained while I saw it.  I doubt I’ll ever see it again.  There are plenty of other monster movies out there that are better and new ones being filmed every day.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights