Miraculously surviving from the previous "Lack Placid 3" (2010) movie, salty and snarling Yancy Butler (as Reba) kills the offending crocodile. After the credits, Ms. Butler's marksmanship has landed her a job assisting beautiful blue-eyed Elisabeth Rohm (as Theresa Giove), the new Lake Placid sheriff. The killer crocodiles are still around, but have grown bigger and more blood-thirsty than ever. Authorities have enclosed them in a fenced area, hoping to starve them to extinction. They've survived by eating each other, but still prefer humans. Butler thinks handsome fencer Paul Nicholls (as Ryan Loflin) has a "nice ass." We never receive positive confirmation of this from director Don Michael Paul, but female buttocks are very nicely represented...

Butler takes a back seat, as we focus on two co-starring couples. First up, an attraction develops between Ms. Rohm and Mr. Nicholls. Then, their grown-up children also become attracted to each other. Her daughter is pretty Poppy Lee Friar (as Chloe) and his son is cute Benedict Smith (as Max). The four are individually well-cast, but there is a problem with Nicholls and son Smith. Whenever they share the screen, they send off a strong gay vibe. This is mostly due to the two actors appearing too close in age to be playing father and son. They also look nothing like a father and son – in fact, in all their scenes together, they look like a couple. Nothing wrong with this, of course, but it seems slightly off-kilter...

Possible subtext aide, writer David Reed and the Syfy TV movie team make this sequel a little better than the last two. The story has better development and the characters are generally appealing. Continuity is provided in a nice scene with Ms. Friar's swim team (aka crocodile bait). As a bonus, "Nightmare on Elm Street" star Robert Englund shows up as another nutty member of the "Bickerman" family. None of these improvements are earth-shattering, however, and they don't make "Lake Placid: The Final Chapter" much more than mindless trash. The special effects are worse, if that's possible. The cheap-looking monster crocodiles are unimpressive. You get blood and gore, but no suspense. Finally, this doesn't seem like "The Final Chapter"...

**** Lake Placid: The Final Chapter (9/29/12) Don Michael Paul ~ Elisabeth Rohm, Paul Nicholls, Yancy Butler, Benedict Smith

The Black Lake is isolated from the local inhabitants by an electric barrier built by the Army engineers. The engineer Ryan Loflin (Paul Nicholls) and his son Max (Benedict Smith) are working in the protection barrier and Sheriff Theresa Giove (Elisabeth Röhm) is trying to exterminate the crocodiles from the lake working with the former poacher Reba (Yancy Butler). When the sheriff's daughter Chloe (Poppy Lee Friar) accepts the invitation of her schoolmates to go to a camping party by the lake, the reckless driver does not pay attention on the road, crosses the gate and mistakenly stops by the Black Lake. Meanwhile a group of poachers led by the hunter Jim Bickerman (Robert Englund) also trespass the gate to hunt crocodiles and seek worthy crocodile eggs. Soon they are attacked by giant crocodiles.

"Lake Placid: The Final Chapter" is a TV Movie with lame effects and a very funny story. Yancy Butler is awful in the role of the non- charismatic Reba. The cast has names such as Robert Englund) and Elisabeth Röhm. Despite the reference to the final chapter, the conclusion seems to indicate a possible sequel of the franchise.My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Pânico no Lago: O Capítulo Final" ("Panic in the Lake: The Final Chapter")

I highly enjoyed the first film, it was a lot of fun and I loved Betty White in it. I on the other hand hated the second film and while the third film was a step up I didn't think much of that either. Lake Placid: The Final Chapter is not as good as the first, but considering as I was prepared to hate it it was the best of the three movies following. The film by all means is not perfect, the film does start off rather slow with no signs of the crocodiles until about 35 minutes in. And while we are waiting we do have some sluggish pacing and two romances that in all honesty I was left indifferent to. Some of the effects on the crocodiles at times do look less than brilliant as well, but I have seen much worse. Problems aside, Lake Placid: The Final Chapter is actually one of SyFy's more tolerable movies of late. The crocodiles are actually quite menacing, and their attacks are very gory and nail-biting with lots of chopped off heads, ripped out limbs and tearing people to pieces. Not for the squeamish, but those who are looking for this as part of the entertainment will not be disappointed. The film does look decent too, with atmospheric scenery and the editing is already an improvement over most SyFy movies in terms of quality. The score is intense, and the script is surprisingly fun, the one-liners are witty and the exchanges are humorous. I also liked that some scenes were hilarious, the scene where a crocodile is beaten to death with a gun is very silly but not to the point that you are left frustrated. The story is more than decent too, it doesn't feel like a rehash, after the 35 minute mark it never gets dull, and while predictable in places it makes up for it in spirit and suspenseful atmosphere. The characters are clichéd in a way, the Sheriff character is one that I have seen one too many times, but actually are much more likable than the usual SyFy character. This is helped by the better-than-average acting, especially from Robert Englund and Yancy Butler. So overall, not a great movie but when it comes to SyFy Lake Placid: The Final Chapter even with its foibles is one of their better overall movies. 6/10 Bethany Cox