Anytime a franchise declares that an upcoming chapter has been designated as the “final” entry, very few people actually believe it. It’s right there in the name of Lake Placid: The Final Chapter, too, but there wasn’t a single soul that bought it for a second.
The creature feature saga began with a bang after 1997’s opening installment became a surprise smash hit and instant cult favorite, thanks to some gnarly dispatches and a foul-mouthed supporting performance from the legendary Betty White. Naturally, there was blood in the water, leading to a string of subpar follow-ups that were there for no other reason than to cash in.
Even though it was literally The Final Chapter, the Lake Placid saga was far from over. While it technically exists as the last entry in mainline canon, crossover monster mash Lake Placid vs. Anaconda and bargain basement continuation Lake Placid: Legacy nonetheless arrived in the aftermath to reiterate for the umpteenth time that no IP caked in blood and guts is ever truly dead.
Despite lying so blatantly in every fiber of it being, though, the fourth Lake Placid has nonetheless conspired to take a sizeable bite out of the streaming charts, after FlixPatrol named it as one of the top-viewed features on the Rakuten rankings this weekend. It delivers exactly what you’d expect from a made-for-TV flick – as in, there’s plenty of dismemberment and gratuitous nudity – but that appears to be exactly what at-home audiences are clamoring for when seeking out something to watch.