Corin Nemec and Yancy Butler share undeniable screen chemistry as Fish and Game Officer Tull and Sheriff Reba, respectively, a pair from opposite sides of the lake, so to speak, investigating who-the-hell-knows-what, an explosion at a laboratory or something, which has the unintended consequence of imperiling a bunch of nubile sorority pledges with giant snakes and crocodiles. The unrated, made-for-SyFy Television version of the movie features enough girls in bikinis and CGI gore of the exploding reptile-variety to please anyone looking for a good, stupid time.

Of course it wouldn't be a quickie Z-grade exploitation movie without Robert Englund, and by gosh, the bastard son of a thousand maniacs proves that he's a pretty good actor when he wants to be. Sorry about all that pigeonholing, Robert, your turn in Lake Placid VS Anaconda expertly rides the line between gravitas and camp, we wish you had a bigger role in the movie! But you're in good company with tough MILF Butler (damn she's hot) and Nemec, who make easy chemistry look, well, easy.

There's a little bit of corporate malfeasance to fill out the run-time, and plenty of attractive young ladies to fill out the bikinis. You 13-year-old boys in the audience even get a fair amount of toplessness for your troubles. Folks get their comeuppance, cars get trashed, and when the damn snake finally makes its appearance, things get nicely splashy, with a good deal of satisfying comic gore. Lake Placid VS Anaconda even throws in a bit of really poor overdubbing to give the movie that true exploitation flavor, and make no mistake, this is a genuine, dyed-purple-snakeskin-suitcase of an exploitation movie, made cheaply with salacious content, meant to liberate you from your dollars, with no other goals than to be mildly entertaining. At that it succeeds nobly. Find it on the shelves somewhere between Rent It and Recommended.

The DVD

Video:
LPvA slithers onscreen in a 1.78:1 ratio anamorphic transfer that's merely adequate to the task. Colors are fairly robust, especially the blood, and skin-tones pretty naturalistic. This is a daytime movie, so black levels aren't much in evidence. Details are just OK, with digital grain encroaching from time to time, especially during certain sequences on the lake. Other compression artifacts are minimal, but on the whole, the DVD presentation is just OK.

Sound:
English, French (PAR) and Spanish 5.1 Digital Audio tracks are solid, despite the aforementioned instances of poor dubbing. The mix is dynamic on a budget, not exactly dense or broad in range, but decent. Dialog is clean and clear and mixed well.

Extras:
Trailers for some frankly tedious looking movies represent the sole extra, excepting English, English SDH, French and Spanish Subtitles.

Final Thoughts:
Lake Placid VS Anaconda is no Citizen Kane, but you should know that from the title, silly, especially with the Colorforms quality DVD cover featuring a cute co-ed butt getting swallowed whole by a giant snake. That's indicative of where this movie's coming from. It's fun, it's silly, it has lots of cute gals in bikinis, some nifty gore in this unrated version, and solid performances for your time. Corin Nemec and Yancy Butler share great chemistry, while Robert Englund lends a solid hand. If you like creature features and popcorn, I have a suggestion for you. Rent It and have a good time.

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