GATOR FOOD: Caught 20th Century Fox's Lake Placid the other morning. It's a decent, smartly written, above-average horror film about a big alligator that lives in a freshwater lake and eats people and cows. I'm not calling it witty, funny, and entertaining because I'd like to be quoted in a newspaper ad — it really is. In the annals of classic B horror flicks, it's nearly as good as Tremors, Ron Underwood's 1989 action-comedy about sand monsters, and probably just as good as Lewis Teague's 1980 Alligator, which was based on a script by John Sayles. Placid has some really great hostile dialogue. (I'd say it's neck and neck between Placid and Big Daddy as to which is meaner.) The model work and special effects are first-rate. Bridget Fonda, Bill Pullman, Brendan Gleeson, and Oliver Platt all have fun with their roles. Betty White nearly steals it with her part as a loony old biddy. Written and produced by David E. Kelley and directed by Steve Miner, Lake Placid is more intelligent and better crafted than The Mummy. In my book that makes it more entertaining. It opens July 16. 


Larry Baxter