Lake Placid 3

_**Serviceable but routine installment in the amusing crocogator franchise**_ The nephew (Colin Ferguson) of deceased Sadie Bickerman takes over her rustic estate on Black Lake, but his son starts feeding the little crocs and soon there’s a huge problem with monstrous killer crocs. Kirsty Mitchell is on hand as his wife while Yancy Butler plays an amusingly droll hunter. “Lake Placid 3” (2010) is a solid, if unremarkable, entry in the series, marred by the cartoony croc CGI. I was never a big fan of the semi-campy series since they’re throwaway horror flicks with the first movie (from 1999) being the only one released theatrically with its relatively big budget and big-name cast. I’ve only seen the first four and favor the second one (from 2007) because it has the most compelling story and best cast, in particular the lovely females (e.g. Sarah Lafleur) and John Schneider. Brunette Kacey Barnfield (now Kacey Clarke) stands out on the female front as college girl Ellie. There’s also blonde Angelica Penn as her friend, Tara; Roxanne Pallet (now Roxanne Carrion) as hitchhiker April; and Bianca Ilich as babysitter Vica. The Lake Placid series is basically Friday the 13th with killer crocs substituting for Jason, but they’re just not as all-around entertaining as any of the F13 flicks. Then, again, all the F13 films were theatrically released and therefore had bigger budgets with the exception of the original “Lake Placid.” The movie runs 1 hour, 31 minutes, and was shot in Bulgaria. GRADE: C