Lake Placid is a series of American comedy horror films created by David E. Kelley. The series began with Lake Placid (1999) directed by Steve Miner, and was followed by five television sequels, Lake Placid 2 (2007) by David Flores, Lake Placid 3 (2010) by Griff Furst, ' (2012) by Don Michael Paul, Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (2015) by A.B. Stone, being a crossover with the Anaconda film series, and ' (2018) by Darrell Roodt. Each installment revolves around the presence of giant man-eating crocodiles in the fictional location of Black Lake, Maine, and the efforts of various groups to capture or destroy the creatures. All of the films (except for Legacy) reference members of the fictitious Bickerman family.
During the production of the original film, Stan Winston Studios were hired to produce the 30 foot long animatronic crocodile, which was covered in a water-resistant urethane skin and functioned underwater using waterproofed hydraulics. In 2014, following the re-release of the original film on Blu-ray, Daily Dead interviewed director Steve Miner about the production of the film. According to Miner: "The first thing I did when I got on board Lake Placid was send the script over to Stan. Stan went ahead and began building the main 18-20 foot croc out of pocket even before we had locked down our financing or anything like that. He may have spent close to a million dollars on him- it may not have been that much, but it was close. And thatâÂÂs such a testament to Stan- I kept telling him that I didnâÂÂt even know if we were going to be making the darned movie, but he just kept moving ahead. What I didnâÂÂt know when I took on Lake Placid was that it had already been turned down by all the studios so when it came time to put the movie together, it was a little more challenging than I originally thought it was going to be. ThatâÂÂs when I brought in Mike Medavoy and he really got this movie done for us. We started making the rounds again and eventually Fox ended up picking up the movie the second time. Mike then brought these French investors over to StanâÂÂs shop to see the crocodile in action and Stan finished that thing up just in the nick of time. It ended up working out so perfectly though because Stan had the croc working perfectly where his jaws would open and close, his eyes and head were able to move around and he could move the other parts and shake him like he was attacking something. ThatâÂÂs what ended up impressing the investors and itâÂÂs because of Stan that we were able to finance Lake Placid. Had it not been for him or for Mike, we wouldnâÂÂt be talking about it now".
A massive, man-eating crocodile terrorizes the small town of Black Lake in Maine. A group of people, including a paleontologist, a local sheriff, and a wildlife expert, are forced to work together to track down and stop the creature. As they uncover the mystery of the crocodileâÂÂs origins, they must confront the deadly predator and its reclusive owner, Delores Bickerman, before it claims more victims.
In Lake Placid 2, the offspring of the previous deadly crocodiles wreak havoc on Black Lake. The crocodiles, now owned by Sadie Bickerman, terrorize a new group generation, including a game warden, his family, and a group of teenagers.
A game warden moves his family to Black Lake after inheriting the cabin of his aunt, Sadie Bickerman. Locals assure him the crocodiles are gone, but his mischievous young son finds a few juvenile crocs and begins feeding them. They quickly grow into very big adults and start attacking the game warden's family, nearby town, and poacher Reba.
Reba the poacher is back, now an EPA agent. Black Lake is turned into a crocodile sanctuary surrounded by an electric fence. When the fence gets left open one night, a high-school field trip bus unknowingly enters the park. It's up to Reba and the sheriff to save the kids from becoming crocodile chow.
The pharmaceutical company Wexel Hall inadvertently causes a new generation of mutant anacondas to escape into the crocodile-infested Black Lake. As the deadly snakes wreak havoc on the town, Sheriff Reba and her team must face off against the killer reptiles. With both creatures threatening the town's survival, the characters must find a way to stop the carnage and prevent further destruction.
A group of young explorers and activists discover a secret area hidden from all maps and GPS devices. When they reach the center of the lake, they discover the abandoned facility where the crocodiles of Black Lake originated from. However, the beast that lurks in the facility is larger and deadlier than any that came before it.
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Lake Placid: Croc Drop is an interactive game produced in 1999 to promote the film Lake Placid from the same year.
Lake Placid 2: Croc Alley is an interactive game produced in 2007 to promote the film Lake Placid 2 from the same year.