Years ago, I watched both 'Lake Placid' and 'Anaconda' in the cinemas and, for all my sins, loved them both. Yes, I know a 'good' film when I see one and I knew both of these were definitely not good. They were cheesy B-movies that could only be considered 'good' in a 'so-bad-they're-good' kind of way. But, sometimes I'm in the mood for that sort of film, so that's okay.

I seem to remember seeing a sequel to Anaconda (another snake/another jungle) and I'm pretty sure I at least heard that Lake Placid (another crocodile/another lake) had another film out of video (didn't even have DVDs in that day from what I recall!). Now, from what I read online, 'Lake Placid vs Anaconda' is the fifth film in both franchises. I guess some may think that it might be difficult to pick up the story missing 3/5 of the story. Don't worry. I don't think I missed much in the way of story.

Scientists (the movie kind, therefore they're evil) are trying to do experiments on the giant anaconda snake and it gets away – right into Lake Placid. And it just so happens that there's a whole group of scantily-clad teenage girls in bikinis running around on that day. And, if you've ever seen a film before, you'll probably fill in enough of the blanks to work out what happens for the next ninety minutes.

Lake Placid vs Anaconda is basically a slasher film with monsters who occasionally fight each other in between gobbling up the next cheerleader. The acting is dire (and even the presence of Robert Englund can't elevate it that much),the special effects are about the least special as they could be (seriously, I've seen Playstation 2 cut-scenes that are better than the CGI snake and crocs) and the plot is nothing you haven't seen before. The characters are pretty unlikeable – the 'nice' ones are two dimensional and underdeveloped and the 'bad' ones are even more clichéd (although the token 'mean girl' of the story was actually quite funny!).

Therefore, the film is pretty forgettable. I'm writing this review trying to remember as much of it as I can before all traces of it slips from my mind completely. However, as dumb as it is, I didn't hate it. I was actually quite entertained while I saw it. I doubt I'll ever see it again. There are plenty of other monster movies out there that are better and new ones being filmed every day.

The first Lake Placid movie was very enjoyable, if with its flaws. The second was awful, with a waste of its big names. The third was an improvement, but still mediocre at best. The fourth, strangely called The Final Chapter, had some big flaws but was much better than expected and the best since the original. This latest entry, Lake Placid vs. Anaconda for me was the worst since the second movie.

Lake Placid vs. Anaconda is saved from total doom by the good performances of Yancy Butler, Robert Englund and Corin Nemec. Butler is very authoritative and 'kicks ass' (a term I very rarely use) in her very feisty role, and Englund has indeed some funny moments and is suitably ruthless and nutty as well. Nemec is appropriately hard-nosed and is entertainingly sarcastic. The Bulgarian scenery is reasonably attractive too.

What does stop the scenery from making more of an impression is that Lake Placid vs. Anaconda does have a rather drab look, the photography is not expansive enough and is a mixture of static to rushed and dizzying. The special effects, as expected, are rather dire, looking cartoony, artificial-looking (like large bits of rubber) , inconsistently sized and incomplete, especially the anaconda. The creatures, both anaconda and crocodile on top of looking cheap, are not threatening at all and somewhat under-utilised with nowhere near enough of the anaconda.(there's also not enough of them together either). The music is not very well placed and is overbearing and not eerie enough, sometimes inappropriately jaunty.

Here, the dialogue is full of stilted gibberish, and a lot of the humour is too cheesy and sometimes appears at the wrong time, cheapened even further by some horrendous dubbing that is far too obvious. The story is a confused mess of ideas and doesn't seem to know whether it's trying to be comedy or horror. The comedy, apart from some amusing moments, is very badly written, reeks of cheese and appears in inappropriate places sometimes, and this is coming from somebody who knew not to take things seriously. The horror moments completely lack tension or suspense, is not used enough and often too brief, further disadvantaged by sloppy editing and the cheap-looking creature. The characters are basically every cliché and stereotype in the book, and with a lack of charm, empathy and apart from Butler's and Englund's are annoying and bland in personality.

Much of the acting, apart from Butler, Englund and Nemec, ranges from stiff, melodramatic to non-existent. Oliver Walker's comic relief annoyed rather than amused at the end of the day. The whole movie felt very under-directed as well. Overall, pretty poor and the worst of the Lake Placid series since the second movie, though not as bad. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Another year, another SyFy Channel mash-up, this time combining the defunct LAKE PLACID and ANACONDA franchises. I should note that none of the preceding films were particularly good in the first place, so this was going to have its work cut out. Unsurprisingly, it's a tawdry effort of mundane human behaviour punctuated by ridiculously bad CGI shots of cast members being munched on, either by giant snakes or giant crocodiles, take your pick. Robert Englund and Yancy Butler are the holdovers from the previous series, but this Bulgarian-shot flick is a prime example of a bad, anything-goes movie with no effort having gone into it at all. Pity the poor actresses trying to make it big and spending the whole movie being paraded around in their bikinis.