Lake Placid: Legacy (2018)

A team of young eco-terrorists set out to reveal the secrets of an area removed from modern day maps and hidden behind electric fences. However, once they reach the center of the lake, they discover an island that harbors an abandoned facility with a horrific legacy: the island is home to a deadly predator eager to feast on those dumb enough to ignore the warnings.

REVIEW: Lake Placid: Legacy is the latest in a long line of SyFy Channel-made TV sequels to the original 1999 creature feature Lake Placid. Luckily I love SyFy-made movies, and their Lake Placid sequels are pretty much my top favorite things they've made, so while I understand that a lot of people may not like the low budget direction the series ultimately went in, I love that shit. This latest entry in the franchise however, is quite different from their other Lake Placid sequels, on many fronts.

To start, it has nothing at all to do with any of the other SyFy Lake Placid sequels. This entry completely ignores Lake Placid 2, Lake Placid 3, Lake Placid: The Final Chapter, and Lake Placid vs Anaconda, and instead opts to only tie in, briefly, with the original 1999 theatrical Lake Placid. Although nothing in this contradicts those sequels, but it also doesn't acknowledge them in any way either. In addition, while those other SyFy-made Lake Placid sequels were fun corny light-hearted cheesefests that you could laugh along with, Lake Placid: Legacy instead goes for a very different type of tone, playing everything completely straight-faced and serious, with a classic dark horror vibe to the whole affair.

Which I actually really loved about it. While I love Lake Placid 2 onwards, they do kind of all feel essentially like the exact same movie done over and over and over again, just with different actors. This is the first one that feels different, yet similar enough to still be part of the franchise. I really miss the 90s style of creature feature B-Movies where they would play things mostly straight and as a horror movie, and I loved feeling that vibe here again now with this movie. Also, with those other sequels, as much fun as they are, the chase scenes were mostly all identical to one another, where-as this movie gives us great variety to them, not only in terms of the locations they happen in, but also with the way those scenes are shot and play out. In addition, not showing the creature right off the bat or every five minutes like SyFy usually does, but instead keeping it to the shadows for awhile and building the tension and mystery around it was another great change from the norm, that I greatly appreciated.

With that said however, I really could have done with showing us the crocodile just a tad bit more than it does, especially since hardly seeing it also means that almost all of the death scenes are off-screen, which is kind of annoying since inventive gory death scenes are supposed to be the bread and butter of movies like this.

With how much I love the other Lake Placid sequels from SyFy, I was worried how I'd feel about this one since it's so different from those and pretty much acts in its own separate continuity, but in the end I loved the hell out of it for the very same reasons I was initially unsure about it over. I wouldn't say I love it any more or less than the other sequels in the franchise, it just depends on the mood I'm in: If I'm looking for something lighthearted and cheesy I'll go with one of the other sequels. If I want something more dark, serious, and horror-ish I'll go with this one. I love having variety.

8/10 rooms in the Psych Ward