LOL
I'd forgotten that hideous flick. It had some good actors with expiring careers. And was named after one of my favorite areas on earth, though of course not THE Lake Placid that I'm familiar with which is New York and would not be hospitable to water going reptiles of any size.

The humour is blacker in Barney Thompson and Emma gets to try on a few great expressions both facial and audible. She gave the piece most of its 'laughs'.

It's been a long time since I saw Ruth Gordon's angry 'Ma' from the Any Which Way movies. But those movies were cheerful and upbeat, she just 'took no truck' and I have an image of her with a shotgun that I can't pin down to an actual memory. She sure didn't kill anybody.

There is a famous American screwball comedy "Arsenic and Old Lace" that I remember with real affection. It was not the same kind of humour, a hint at gallows but either overplayed or so subsumed with real laughs that it had a completely different take.

The end of 'Barney Thompson' has an actual message indicating that 'death sells'. But to get there it takes a less tasteful path.