Betty White’s Underrated Horror ‘Lake Placid’ Finds Success on Streaming

Long after the late Betty White was a cheesecake-loving golden girl from St. Olaf, she played against type to star in the one and only horror movie of her career as a foul-mouthed widow that stole the show. Chewing up every scene she was in with a string of profanities that would make a sailor blush, her character of Mrs. Delores Bickerman in Lake Placid was from the sweet and innocent Rose Nylund seen in her classic sitcom, and served to further endear White in the hearts of fans. Now, 26 years after its premiere, the film continues to be a crowd-pleaser on streaming.

Also starring the likes of Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Brendan Gleeson, and Oliver Platt, Lake Placid is a tremendously underrated creature feature directed by Steve Miner that focuses on a giant crocodile terrorizing the fictional location of Black Lake, Maine, and the dysfunctional group of police and scientists attempting to either capture or kill it in order to stop its reign of destruction. Hitting theaters on July 16, 1999, the film was a modest success, taking in $56 million at the box office against a reported budget of around $27 million.

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In the years following its release on physical media and streaming, Lake Placid has become a cult-favorite thanks not only to the appearance of White, but because of the film’s blend of horror and humor. It’s not one of the movies that pretends to be something it’s not. Miner and company knew what they were making, and leaned into all the ridiculous elements as if they were a nod to the audience to say, “Hey, we know what this is. Just enjoy it.” And enjoy it people have, as Lake Placid has found success on streaming thanks to its recent release on Shudder, climbing the charts all the way up to #4 on AMC+’s Top 10 list.

Critics Missed the Point of ‘Lake Placid’

All that being said, while it may have been fun to see White in a vastly different role than we were used to seeing her in, Lake Placid was blasted by critics at the time for being nothing more than a “lazy” and “unimaginative” effort that brought nothing new to the genre. They kind of missed the point, though, because, as mentioned, the film wasn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. It was meant to be a mindless romp that delivered a few laughs and made you forget about your problems for 82 minutes. To that we say, “Mission accomplished.”

Thankfully, there were some critics that managed to get it, like Matt Donato, who called Lake Placid a “goofy time-waster with some serious bite that’s entirely more fun than it should be.” Anthony Lane from The New Yorker was another who had high praise for the creature feature, writing:

“This may be no more than a squib of a B movie, and it remains about as frightening as a fish tank, but, if you have any poetry in your soul, you will surely thrill to a film that ends with a crocodile sticking its head in a helicopter.”

Ah, the helicopter scene. It’s almost as good as what happens to White’s character, but that’s as far as we’ll go in terms of spoilers. You can check out all the fun of Lake Placid for yourself, as it’s now streaming on AMC+ and Shudder.

Source: Flix Patrol

Lake Placid

Release Date

July 15, 1999

Runtime

82 Mins

Director

Steve Miner