Movie Review: Lake Placid vs Anaconda

Lake Placid vs Anaconda
Curmudgeon Films, Syfy, UFO Films, USA, Bulgaria, 2015. 

Two monster reptiles from the namesake franchises clash in the death match.

Jim Bickerman (Robert Englund), who barely survived the previous sequels of "Lake Placid", helps shady scientists capture giant crocodile from Black Lake for their illegal genetic engineering project involving anacondas. The reptiles destroy the mobile laboratory and escape. Jim, security guy Beach (Stephen Billington) and couple of the scientists survive.

Jim Bickerman

Snake in a can

Beach reports back to the company's evil CEO Sarah Murdoch (Annabel Wright) who decides to get the anacondas back no matter the cost. Meanwhile Game Warden Will Tull (Corin Nemec) and Sheriff Reba (Yancy Butler) start to investigate the strange disappearances of the local folks. Tull's daughter Bethany (Skye Lourie) and other college girls travel to Clear Lake. In Clear Lake there are no crocodiles. Or that's what they think.

Will Tull

Reba

Murdoch and Beach

So the crocs start to chomp local rednecks and the girls in bikinis (tops optional), and then the giant snakes arrive to finish the meal. Can Tull save his daughter before it is too late?

Bethany (Skye Lourie) and Margo (Ali Eagle)

Amber (Sophia Lorenti) and Tiffani (Laura Dale)

Melissa (Jenny May Darcy) and Heather (Carolina Bratanova)

Syfy's horror comedy goes the usual route. Some of the jokes are dumb and fun, some miss their mark. The plus side is using the characters from the the previous films to bring some continuity (although I am more familiar with the Anaconda series than the Lake Placid series). Of the characters most are usual stock characters, some of the funniest characters are sarcastic goth Margo (Ali Eagle), and sorority leader Tiffani (Laura Dale), such a nasty woman. What is slightly disappointing is that it is more of a killer croc movie and the anacondas are almost having cameo roles. It brings nothing new to the genre but sometimes it is enough to have some cheap semi-campy monster mayhem with hot girls so in that sense the movie delivers what it promises.

Rating: Good (as a B-monster film) orBad (as a regular film)

Starring: Corin Nemec, Yancy Butler, Skye Lourie, Robert Englund, Annabel Wright, Oliver Walker, Laura Dale, Ali Eagle, Georgina Philipps, Heather Gilbert, Jenny May Darcy, Nigel Barber, Kalina Stoimenova, Carolina Bratanova, Sophia Lorenti, Vanessa Dimitrova, Deni Tsvetkova, Luke Dinchev, Anton Poriazov, David Roth, Adara Stone, Derek Morse, Velislav Pavlov, Nikolay Bakalov, Jason Small, Isaac Haig, Natasha Jane Pyne, Stephen Billington

Director: A.B. Stone