Lake Placid

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A movie made in 1999 combining comedy and horror and starring Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Brendan Gleesan, and Oliver Platt with a plot revolving around a giant crocodile owned by Betty White.

It spawned two Made for TV sequels with a third (titled, Lake Placid: The Final Chapter) on its way.

Tropes used in Lake Placid include:
  • Always a Bigger Fish - the team gets surprised by a grizzly bear (in Maine), who charges through their camp, turns, stands, roars, prepares to attack... and is promptly grabbed by the crocodile.
  • Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other - Occurs between Jack and Kelly.
  • Brains and Brawn - Jack and Kelly team up with their respective genders filling the appropriate roles.
  • Brick Joke: The cow. It actually lives.
  • Brilliant but Lazy - Kelly initially insults and rants at most anybody and anything around her and refuses to really help out despite having notable intelligence. That changes midway through when a charging bear gets eaten and she actually sees the giant crocodile.
  • Brother-Sister Incest: In a throw-away line: "The longer you live, the more sex you get to have with your sisters!"
    • To put it in context, Hank nearly falls victim to one of Hector's croc traps. When Hank berates him, Hector insists that it will end up saving his life. Because they dislike each other so much, Hector is presumably insinuating that Hank is an inbred, hick-town sheriff.
  • Caught in a Snare: Hank. Hector is reluctant to let him down, seeing Hank's Death Glare.
  • Conflicting Loyalty - Kelly struggles to try and mesh her feelings for Jack with merely trapping, not killing, the crocodile.
  • Conspicuous CG: Possibly invoked in the original, played straight in the sequels.
  • Curse of the Ancients - Mrs. Delores Bickerman, played by Betty White, jumps on this and averts it.
  • Deadpan Snarker - Everyone. Sheriff Hank gets a special mention, though.

Hank: (after Kelly freaks out about staying in a tent) Oh my God, we forgot the feminine napkins!

    • Later on, during one of the tensest, most obviously dangerous moments in the movie:

"Did you ever get the feeling where everything is perfectly safe...?"

  • Death by Mocking - That's what they get for thinking Mrs. Delores Bickerman was crazy.
  • Deep South - Although set in Maine, Kelly immediately says that being in the woods anywhere is akin to being in the movie Deliverance.
    • Showing their research? I'm from rural Maine and people don't seem to realize socially it's a lot more similar to the rural South in many ways than it is to say Boston.
  • Don't Call Me "Sir"! - Do NOT call Kelly "Ma'am."
  • Everything's Worse with Bears - As noted above, the attempt to pull this off goes south for the bear in question.
  • Fair Cop: Hector congratulates the female deputy on her great breasts. She thanks him.
  • Fake American - Irish actor Brendan Gleeson as Sheriff Hank Keough. The accent holds up... okay.
  • Final Girl - Averted in that all of the major characters stay alive through the end. Although, the crocodile tries to get this trope to be true.
  • Gilligan Cut - "I'm not going to Maine. I'm NOT going to Maine!" *cut to the plane flying over Maine*
  • Gross Up Close-Up - A flying head gets this treatment.
  • Half the Man He Used To Be - Happens to the first onscreen victim in the first film.
  • Hey, It's That Guy! - Yes, Mad-Eye Moody is a sheriff. And the President is his backup.
  • Hot Scientist - Kelly and on the male side, arguably Jack.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl - Whenever Kelly is opposite Jack especially but also with Hector Cyr.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters - Mrs. Deloris Brickman for feeding cows to her giant crocodile. Hilariously, she later tries to pin this trope on the protagonists, insisting that they're cruel to want to capture/kill the man-eating crocodile in the lake.
  • Jump Scare - Used a couple of times with decent results, but the best one is the SECOND crocodile.
  • Kavorka Man - Hector.
  • Lowered Monster Difficulty - The more the viewer sees of the giant crocodile, the less of a threat it becomes.
  • Never Smile At a Crocodile
  • Obvious Trap - Averted in that it's set up for the crocodile instead.
  • Once Is Not Enough - The group tries to drug and trap the crocodile... needless to say, the crocodile is huge for a reason.
  • Screaming Woman - Both Kelly and the Sheriff's female deputy do this.
  • Shorter Means Smarter - Kelly is shorter than everybody else while Hector is shorter than Jack and Sheriff Hank Keough.
  • Slap Slap Kiss - Jack and Kelly.
  • Snark-to-Snark Combat - Our four main characters—Hank, Hector, Jack, and Kelly—to each other.
  • Stock Ness Monster - The big crocodile.
  • Super-Persistent Predator - The big crocodile, although it's attempted to be somewhat justified.
  • Team Spirit - The group joins together with the Florida Fish and Game to try and take the crocodile down.
  • The Hero - Jack Wells.
  • The Sheriff - Hank Keough.
  • Tranquil Fury - Hank, after getting caught in Hector's trap. Hector even lampshades it:

Hector: I would let him down, but he has this odd look of mayhem on his upside-down face.

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