Speaker 1: Hey, there are folks. It is Thursday, October the ninth,
Speaker 1: and you have never seen Betty White better than the
Speaker 1: role she has in the next movie on our horror
Speaker 1: hit list. Yes, Betty White plays a woman who has
Speaker 1: a pet crocodile that's eaten everything insight. And with that,
Speaker 1: welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ's we continue
Speaker 1: on our Halloween Horror hit List. We got number twenty
Speaker 1: three on the list. This has been a longtime favorite
Speaker 1: of mine and my favorite role robes. I have ever
Speaker 1: seen Betty White.
Speaker 2: In Yes We're Talking Lake Placid from nineteen ninety nine.
Speaker 2: Listen to this runtime an hour and twenty two minutes.
Speaker 2: It's rated R and it's a horror comedy. The comedic
Speaker 2: writing in this and the acting is an amazing through
Speaker 2: line of what is a crocodile horror movie? And you've
Speaker 2: loved it for so long? I mean, you own this
Speaker 2: on DVD Blu ray.
Speaker 1: Yeah it's not even a Blue ray.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's just DVD.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I'm just only say that, I say how long?
Speaker 1: How old this thing is? We watched it there the
Speaker 1: other night. I had to pull out the DVD player.
Speaker 2: I can't believe you still have a DVD player.
Speaker 1: Keep one handy for emergencies, just like last night. But
Speaker 1: this is it possible. I know we're not revealing a
Speaker 1: couple others. This is certainly the funniest one so far
Speaker 1: that we put on the list. It might be the
Speaker 1: funniest one of all thirty.
Speaker 2: Yes, I think it's actually almost comedy forward horror in
Speaker 2: the back seat.
Speaker 1: That's a good one, you know.
Speaker 2: And so it's just it's an entertaining movie. So if
Speaker 2: you don't want to be scared to all hell basically,
Speaker 2: and you just want to have fun and have a
Speaker 2: few thrills, I would say this is the movie for you.
Speaker 1: It's an adventure, it's fun. It's almost a camping movie
Speaker 1: to a certain degree. With these you got this band
Speaker 1: of misfits coming together trying to figure things out in Maine.
Speaker 1: It is a fantastic ride from startivinsh Okay.
Speaker 2: Here is the actual official synopsis. When a mysterious creature
Speaker 2: violently kills a man in a main lake, Jack Wells,
Speaker 2: the local game warden, looks into the bizarre case along
Speaker 2: with Sheriff Hank how do I say his last name?
Speaker 2: Cuff Keo. Sheriff Hank Keo and visiting palaeontologist Kelly Scott,
Speaker 2: looking for clues in a tooth that the beast left behind.
Speaker 2: Kelly and the others eventually locate the monster, a massive
Speaker 2: and vicious reptile eager to devour anything in its path.
Speaker 2: Can the crocodile like creature be stopped?
Speaker 1: It's so you read it, you know you read it
Speaker 1: in a more dreadful way than you actually feel. Throughout
Speaker 1: the movie. The movie sets a tone of fun and
Speaker 1: adventure and some playfulness and campy that's a good word
Speaker 1: for this one in a lot of ways. But the
Speaker 1: performers in here have accolades of the highest. This is
Speaker 1: another great cast.
Speaker 2: So just to give you a little insight into the
Speaker 2: script itself, and then yes we'll tell you who the
Speaker 2: amazing cast was. But this was written by David E.
Speaker 2: Kelly if that sounds familiar. He was the I think
Speaker 2: pretty famous writer of Ally McBeal. So that kind of
Speaker 2: quick back and forth comedic timing you see all throughout
Speaker 2: this movie.
Speaker 1: And does he have a horror background at all, Not
Speaker 1: that I know of.
Speaker 2: So he is known for his comedic writing, and he
Speaker 2: is just you can hear it and once if you've
Speaker 2: ever watched Alliy mcbeil. I used to love that show
Speaker 2: back in the nineties. This is It all clicked when
Speaker 2: I read that. I had no idea before we went
Speaker 2: into research this movie. So yes, the cast Bill Pullman amazing,
Speaker 2: kind of more of a rom com guy. So you
Speaker 2: see him in a lot of rom coms. I don't
Speaker 2: want to Yeah, yeah, he's he's Oh yeah, Bill Pullman.
Speaker 2: He's got that like sheepishly sweet boy necks door good
Speaker 2: looks kind of a real day See. I'm thinking of
Speaker 2: him as while you were sleeping with Sandra Bullock. So yes,
Speaker 2: Bill pull One is amazing movie. All right takes away, Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have you watch that. You're going to rethink everything.
Speaker 2: Bridget Fonda, who, of course I love from Single White Female,
Speaker 2: that's like my favorite movie she's done. But this is
Speaker 2: she's great in this.
Speaker 1: She plays the New Yorker, the New York paleontologists, coming.
Speaker 2: From the one that everyone hates. Betty White. Of course, Yes,
Speaker 2: Oliver Platt, who's amazing, just funny and goofy and smart
Speaker 2: all in one.
Speaker 1: Maybe the funniest character besizes Betty White.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Brendan Gleeson now.
Speaker 1: That's the dude. If you don't know his name, you
Speaker 1: have seen him everywhere. This guy has won baptist Emmy's
Speaker 1: Golden Globes. He's assisted in some of the He's always
Speaker 1: the character on the side, the supporting cast member in
Speaker 1: some of the biggest movies. You will see this guy.
Speaker 2: And then Mariska Hargate Boom, it's not SPU. Now she's
Speaker 2: actually the sexy little understudy in a in a way,
Speaker 2: I guess that's the best way to put it.
Speaker 1: This hat ninety nine was this pre SVU.
Speaker 2: Yes, oh yes, and she looks so she's so cute.
Speaker 1: So cute, and but she delivered one of the lines
Speaker 1: that I have used so many times in my life.
Speaker 1: She delivers it in a perfect way. The heart wants
Speaker 1: what the heart wants when you see it, and she
Speaker 1: delivers this line. It's her moment in this movie.
Speaker 2: I should actually say, this is one of Lake Placid
Speaker 2: is one of your absolute favorite movies. I must admit,
Speaker 2: before we started dating, I had never seen it. Somehow
Speaker 2: I just passed over this in ninety nine. I guess
Speaker 2: I was busy doing other things and you pulled it
Speaker 2: out your DVD and like here we go and now
Speaker 2: I've probably seen it ten times in the last three
Speaker 2: years because you love this movie. Also, it was directed
Speaker 2: by Steve Miner, so you look this guy.
Speaker 1: I had no idea. This dude was essentially an understudy
Speaker 1: back in the day, like the John Carbonda's guys. Yep,
Speaker 1: he directed the sequel to Friday the Thirteenth and Halloween.
Speaker 2: Yes, what it's Yep, he knows what he's doing, so
Speaker 2: they had it was great. They really had a good
Speaker 2: mix of stellar acting, great writing, more of a comedic screenplay,
Speaker 2: so to speak. And then you've got a guy who
Speaker 2: knows horror.
Speaker 1: What a movie you haven't seen yet I've been talking
Speaker 1: to you about. I had no idea he until this
Speaker 1: morning that he was in charge of it. Soul man. Oh,
Speaker 1: this movie I've been telling you about a lot of
Speaker 1: you all will be offended by it. It's a movie
Speaker 1: out there that's hilarious. This white guy is trying to
Speaker 1: get into Harvard. He can't pay can't pay for it,
Speaker 1: so he's trying to go for a minority scholarship.
Speaker 2: I feel like I shouldn't watch that.
Speaker 1: In Blackface, the Old Hire movie.
Speaker 2: Okay, well then I'm gonna go ahead and reiterate I
Speaker 2: should not watch that movie.
Speaker 1: And Harvard, it's ridiculous you're recommending this movie. I recommend
Speaker 1: it to everybody. It is absurd, and it was one
Speaker 1: of my favorite movies as a kids.
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, all right, okay, So now we've just told
Speaker 3: you how much we love this movie, how great this
Speaker 3: movie is, why we even kind of explained already why
Speaker 3: it made our list.
Speaker 2: So here's the Rotten Tomato score forty seven percent, even
Speaker 2: worse audience score thirty seven percent.
Speaker 1: The movie was before it's time.
Speaker 2: Okay, it's funny you should mention that, because I am
Speaker 2: now going to go through some of the critics, and
Speaker 2: I actually was surprised because you know, when you look
Speaker 2: at some of these its people with streaming services now
Speaker 2: are all re reviewing movies, and so recent critiques are
Speaker 2: much kinder and recognized, perhaps at sometimes like a fine wine,
Speaker 2: things need to age with perspective and then you have
Speaker 2: new appreciation. So here's the overall critic consensus. Betty White's
Speaker 2: delightful supporting turn may be worth the price of admission alone,
Speaker 2: but Lake Placid is swamped by a smarmy script and
Speaker 2: inability to deliver on the creature feature mayhem.
Speaker 1: It's not supposed to You're right, this is more it's
Speaker 1: more driven by comedy. You might be right, and it is.
Speaker 1: It is a hilarious movie that throws in a few
Speaker 1: pretty gruesome depths by a big old crocodile, and Betty
Speaker 1: White is at the center of it all. That's cool
Speaker 1: to hear other people, Yeah recognize, Well that.
Speaker 2: Was the critic's consensus. So okay, here's the most recent.
Speaker 2: This was actually just a few months ago. There was
Speaker 2: a critic review twenty twenty five, and I think this
Speaker 2: one sums up what we've been saying. Originally dismissed when
Speaker 2: it was released, this Killer croc film has grown into
Speaker 2: a strange B movie gem from the legendary year of
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety nine. Clocking in at under ninety minutes, Lake
Speaker 2: Placid is a quick, often hilarious watch that leaves you
Speaker 2: wondering if it's a bad monster movie or a clever
Speaker 2: send up of bad monster movies. Written by then he
Speaker 2: Goes davidy Kelly, the film feels like an offbeat cousin
Speaker 2: to his work on Ally McBeal, with sharp jokes about men, women,
Speaker 2: and human nature. Buried inside the chaos. The cast is
Speaker 2: wildly overqualified, adding to the film's odd charm. Mariska Hargatea
Speaker 2: Brenton Glees and Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt, and yes, Betty
Speaker 2: White long before her late career renaissance. So this is
Speaker 2: before she kind of came back into her own. Lake
Speaker 2: Placid is silly fine, ideal for teens and adults who
Speaker 2: enjoyed creature features that don't take themselves too seriously.
Speaker 1: What was the line in there you said about the
Speaker 1: cast was overqualified?
Speaker 2: Yes, you know what.
Speaker 1: That seems like an insult, but that makes acting as everything.
Speaker 1: They took this movie and made it special. There performed
Speaker 1: Betty White as nobody could do some of the stuff
Speaker 1: she did in.
Speaker 2: This moving quirky and fun and snarky, but in this
Speaker 2: sweet old lady way, and that's just what she always
Speaker 2: was able to deliver like nobody else.
Speaker 1: But this is now some Golden Girls stuff. All the
Speaker 1: stuff that comes out of her mouth.
Speaker 2: For this one hilarious. Oh yes. The other thing that
Speaker 2: this particular critic noted, which I learned as well, he
Speaker 2: talked about the alligator that it was really good if
Speaker 2: you consider this was before CGI technology and the same
Speaker 2: guy who handled this crocodile, alligator, creature, whatever you want
Speaker 2: to call it, is the same dude who was the
Speaker 2: mastermind behind Aliens in Jurassic Park. So they actually had
Speaker 2: really qualified folks looking on every aspect of this film,
Speaker 2: which I did not know.
Speaker 1: I think about it ninety nine. You watch a movie
Speaker 1: of space movie alien whatever. The graphics and all that
Speaker 1: stuff has done so much better. This is not one
Speaker 1: where you We've watched some going back and movies we
Speaker 1: love geez, I like this. Listen. Yeah, this is not
Speaker 1: one where you ever feel like the crocodile is scary
Speaker 1: how it's supposed to be. It's always believable. Yeah, witn't
Speaker 1: needs to be believable, And frankly, it's not. It's a
Speaker 1: how much I mean, seventy ninety foot crocodile. It's not
Speaker 1: sneaking behind trees.
Speaker 2: There was a scene where the creature throws Bridget Fonda's
Speaker 2: character in the air. I laughed out loud. I don't
Speaker 2: know if I was supposed to laugh, but so I'm
Speaker 2: saying it's sometimes it's funny, but in a good way.
Speaker 2: Funny because you're laughing with it, almost because you're hoping
Speaker 2: and thinking that the director intended it to be funny
Speaker 2: as well as a little thrilling at the same time.
Speaker 2: So I've got some others. So I loved that one.
Speaker 2: That was a recent one. Here, Okay, there were a
Speaker 2: couple ones that were met, but I thought they were
Speaker 2: still interesting. This may be no more than a squib
Speaker 2: of a B movie, and it remains about as frightening
Speaker 2: as a fish tank. But if you have any poetry
Speaker 2: in your soul, you will surely thrill to a film
Speaker 2: that ends with the crocodile sticking its head in a helicopter.
Speaker 1: You have a little bit away there, But okay, sound
Speaker 1: a little harsh.
Speaker 2: This other one, that Lake Placid is a goofy time
Speaker 2: waster with some serious bite that's entirely more fun than
Speaker 2: it should be. So these are some of the negative ones.
Speaker 2: They're still acknowledging. Its entertaining.
Speaker 1: They're almost mad to acknowledge.
Speaker 3: You know what.
Speaker 2: I had a good time, Yes, yes, And so here's one.
Speaker 2: In short, this is a great example of a late
Speaker 2: nineties foul mouthed monster movie with all kinds of laughs,
Speaker 2: one or two scares, and a firm grasp on the
Speaker 2: kind of movie it is. Check it out.
Speaker 1: For sure. I didn't think it was foun you know,
Speaker 1: most of the foulness came from Betty.
Speaker 2: Water, which made it hilarious. So yes that I feel
Speaker 2: like those were actually despite the bad Rotten Tomato score
Speaker 2: and Roger Ebert, I believe, gave it one star. When
Speaker 2: I looked at the reviews themselves, they were actually, I think,
Speaker 2: pretty fair and honest and acknowledging the entertaining value of
Speaker 2: the film.
Speaker 1: That is what I think so much of what we
Speaker 1: look for in film. We're trying to be entertained. We're
Speaker 1: not I understand some people looking for deeper meanings and
Speaker 1: looking for Oh, that's sloppy writing. Sometimes it's just okay
Speaker 1: to have sloppy writing, not looking for meaning, and that's
Speaker 1: just a big oversized crocodile ridiculously in Maine for some
Speaker 1: reason with Bridget Fond.
Speaker 2: Which makes it even funnier. Yes, yes, okay, when we
Speaker 2: come back, we're gonna go over all our who's it for?
Speaker 2: Who's it not? Food drink pairing, and where you can
Speaker 2: watch it along with the t's for number twenty one
Speaker 2: on the list. Welcome back everyone to our You didn't
Speaker 2: even give our name out at the beginning of this podcast.
Speaker 1: I did, I says our horror hit list.
Speaker 2: I said, exactly what the deep cuts our horror list.
Speaker 2: We're at number twenty three and we are serving up
Speaker 2: some Lake Placid. Who doesn't love a giant crocodile like
Speaker 2: creature eating people in the state of Maine. It just
Speaker 2: makes perfect sense with a perfect cast, and despite some
Speaker 2: of the lower percentages that we think it was unfairly given,
Speaker 2: most of the critics made note of just how deliciously
Speaker 2: fun this movie is. It is awesome. So look, who
Speaker 2: is this for? Anyone who wants to have a good time.
Speaker 2: I really think this is a classic horror comedy. Get
Speaker 2: everybody who loves to laugh and likes a few big
Speaker 2: jump scares, and there are some jump scares in there
Speaker 2: that make it extra fun. I just think this is
Speaker 2: a entertaining movie. And I don't even think if you're
Speaker 2: not a horror movie fan or I still think you
Speaker 2: can stomach a few of the gory scenes because it's
Speaker 2: it's really not scary.
Speaker 1: Say we call it gory, but you watch action movies
Speaker 1: that have more killing in it than this one does.
Speaker 1: It is this is a This is a comedy that
Speaker 1: has a few killings in it. Yes, this is a
Speaker 1: comedy that has a monster snapping the head off a
Speaker 1: couple of people. I'm trying to think of all the
Speaker 1: all the all of the deaths in there. That's not
Speaker 1: a lie. No, it doesn't go on some rampage or
Speaker 1: anything like that.
Speaker 2: And as long as you don't mind some cursing in
Speaker 2: front of your older kids, this one's just a fun one.
Speaker 1: And it's not again, it's not overly vulgar. And how again,
Speaker 1: Betty White provides so much.
Speaker 2: Of that and stuff, somehow it softens the bad word
Speaker 2: for her. Yeah, it's like, okay, she's earned the right
Speaker 2: to say those things. She's lived enough life she gets
Speaker 2: to all right. My opinion, who it's not for? If
Speaker 2: you don't like to laugh, if you don't like a
Speaker 2: campy horror fleck, or if you really are in the
Speaker 2: mood to be scared. This is not that scary. This shouldn't.
Speaker 2: This is not for you if you want a horror
Speaker 2: movie to go ooh, I really want to be scared tonight.
Speaker 1: You know, this isn't for anybody that takes themselves in
Speaker 1: the world too seriously. If you were sitting here looking
Speaker 1: at a movie and looking for deeper meaning, and why
Speaker 1: couldn't they do that? And this is sometimes there are
Speaker 1: movies you just sit down and have a good time.
Speaker 1: It's just a ride. This is a ride you get
Speaker 1: on from the beginning. I think within two or three
Speaker 1: minutes you go Holy hell. And then some drama goes
Speaker 1: down immediately with Bridget Fonda and yeah, so that dynamic take,
Speaker 1: so it is. It immediately sets a tone. Bridget Fonda
Speaker 1: is pretty wonderful in this movie. How she acts like
Speaker 1: the New Yorker. She walks into Maine and she's got
Speaker 1: the bug spray every time a bug is around her,
Speaker 1: that kind of a thing.
Speaker 2: She's uptight.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but she plays it up. We've seen these characters
Speaker 1: in movies before. She embraced it. She went with it.
Speaker 1: This is a compliment I give you sometimes on puns
Speaker 1: and whatnot. I said, I can't do that, and you
Speaker 1: embrace it like she just embraces what this is supposed
Speaker 1: to be. I'm gonna go with it and have a
Speaker 1: good time. Nobody take this too.
Speaker 2: Seriously exactly, And I think that's the cool thing. And
Speaker 2: you just hit the nail on the head. You know,
Speaker 2: some people want. This is just a fun fun you know,
Speaker 2: you know, I would say, if you've had a tough
Speaker 2: day at the office, you've been stressed out over whatever lately,
Speaker 2: if you just want to not think and laugh and
Speaker 2: kind of have some thrills, this is the film for you,
Speaker 2: all right. So food drink atmosphere pairing popcorn one hundred
Speaker 2: percent one hundred percent with a fun drink, whatever your
Speaker 2: go to party drink is, you should pour one of those.
Speaker 2: And it's said in main so if you wanted to
Speaker 2: go all in, you could have some chowda and some
Speaker 2: beer just to really complete the atmosphere. Because this is
Speaker 2: a horror movie, you can watch any time of the
Speaker 2: day or night. Because it's said this is one of
Speaker 2: our tips pro tips. If you want to watch a
Speaker 2: horror movie during the day, pick a creature movie. They
Speaker 2: have to have light, like a shark movie, a crocodile movie.
Speaker 2: What are some other creature.
Speaker 1: Movies mainly for us when you have to be in
Speaker 1: the water, Yes, because they can't shoot anything underwater in
Speaker 1: the dark, can't see a damn thing, so you have
Speaker 1: to you have to have it during the daytime. So
Speaker 1: that's yes, that is absolutely a pro tip of ours
Speaker 1: if you want to do that. Space sometimes works space
Speaker 1: movie because they're up there, they're in ships, and all
Speaker 1: the ships have to be lit, so there's like electronic
Speaker 1: light everywhere that always, so it just these are little things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get you there, folks.
Speaker 2: How many times we wanted to watch movies so badly
Speaker 2: but it's set in the dark night and we're trying
Speaker 2: to watch and the glare from the sun. You're like, babe,
Speaker 2: we have to wait until tonight. We cannot watch this
Speaker 2: right now. It doesn't matter. So yes, this one can watch.
Speaker 2: You can watch any time of day, anytime of night.
Speaker 2: You'll have a blast. So that's fun. Now, where can
Speaker 2: you watch it right now? Unless you have a DVD
Speaker 2: like TJ does and the accompanying DVD player that you
Speaker 2: need to play such.
Speaker 1: Dv Yes, you're right, it's ours.
Speaker 2: It's ours now. I'm sorry. Our DVD player comes in
Speaker 2: handy when it comes to this one. But also again
Speaker 2: we talked about Paramount Plus AMC Plus. If you have
Speaker 2: those add ons to any of your services like Hulu,
Speaker 2: Amazon Prime, you can watch it there all right, So
Speaker 2: we hope you enjoy watching Lake Placid as much as
Speaker 2: we did our next episode, our next horror hit list movie.
Speaker 2: It would be I said number twenty one earlier. I misspoke.
Speaker 2: It would be number twenty two. And let's just say
Speaker 2: it is going to be a major departure from Lake Placid.
Speaker 2: So if you want to see something that is going
Speaker 2: to scare the but Jesus out of you, our next
Speaker 2: movie is for you. A major Hollywood actor stars in
Speaker 2: this one. And I hope this isn't giving too much away.
Speaker 2: It will give you pause next time you move into
Speaker 2: a new home.
Speaker 1: Oh, are we going to tell that story about our place?
Speaker 2: Yes, when we in the next episode, we have a
Speaker 2: actual personal story because we just moved recently that was
Speaker 2: so closely tied to this movie. We're still a little
Speaker 2: freaked out, all right, So how's that for a tease.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening though to this episode of Amy and DJ.
Speaker 2: I'm Amy Roboch alongside DJ Holmes. We will talk to
Speaker 2: you soon.