PopHorror Let's Get Scared
When I was little, I was obsessed with sharks and any kind of sea life that could eat people in general, so I was always on the lookout for movies that featured these kind of creatures. I was at my grandparents’ house one weekend and saw the promo for the national television debut of the original Piranha movie and thought it looked awesome. I had no idea what a piranha was at the time, and when my uncle Jerry explained what they were I was even more excited to see it. Long story short, I watched it a few days later with my mom and sister and loved it.
I wasn’t too thrilled years later when I heard that they were sort of remaking it (again) in 2010 until I saw the trailer for Piranha 3-D and thought it looked like a crazy good time. My wife and I saw it on opening weekend, and we both loved it. I watched it again not too long ago and just hoped that it was as good as I remembered it.
So, did I still dig it or was it all wet? Keep reading to find out.
Synopsis
An underwater earthquake releases a school of vicious, flesh-eating prehistoric piranha on a popular vacation spot just in time for spring break. Can they be stopped, or is everyone destined to become fish food for them?
Have a look at the trailer!
Piranha 3D was just as much fun when I watched it recently as it was when I first saw it fifteen years ago. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and is just a good time in general. One of the things that works for it is the plot. We have a ton of blood-thirsty prehistoric piranha swimming around a lake eating anyone unlucky enough to get in the water. Unfortunately, it’s spring break time, which is the biggest time of the year for the area and there are a slew of college students just looking for a good time and a break from their studies who find themselves in danger of being on the menu. It’s up to the town’s sheriff and the leader of a seismology team to stop them, but this won’t be an easy task considering people just won’t stay out of the water.
While it strays from the premise of the original film from 1978 it still works and makes for one heck of an entertaining horror/comedy film. Directed by Alexandre Aja (High Tension, Crawl), Piranha 3-D is just a bloody, hardcore violent little flick that is just a fun-filled good time for viewers. There are a ton of gory death scenes, likable characters, and some humor that works and doesn’t feel forced. As I mentioned, it doesn’t take itself too seriously and the folks behind it did everything that they could to make it a kooky and fun movie that is just a blast to watch, and they succeeded with flying colors as this is a film that you can watch when you are depressed or in a bad mood that makes you feel better just a few moments into it.
One of the things that works for the movie is the cast. Led by Elisabeth Shue (Adventures in Babysitting, Leaving Las Vegas) as Sheriff Forester, this movie has an awesome cast, and everyone does an exceptional job. Normally I am not a fan of Adam Scott (Krampus, The Monkey) because I find him disturbingly creepy (and not in a good way) for some unknown reason I can’t explain, but he does a fine job here as Novak, the male lead. The always cool Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction, Dawn of the Dead) also does an amazing job as the bad ass Deputy Fallon, and you can’t help but cheer for him when he decides to go to war with the flesh-eating fishies eating everyone in sight in one awesome and fun scene.
While there are a lot of talented folks involved in this movie and some wonderful characters as a result, I think that Jerry O’Connell (Stand by Me, Joe’s Apartment) steals the show as the sleazy wannabe soft-core porn filmmaker Derrick Jones. The character is obviously based on real life sleaze bag Joe Francis of “Girls Gone Wild” fame, and it is obvious that O’Connell had loads of fun playing the character. He owns every scene that he is in and intentionally plays the character way over the top, but in a good way. I think that the entire cast did a wonderful job, and it helped make the movie even more enjoyable as a result.
I also love the fact that the movie is as bloody and brutal as it is. I’m really surprised that the MPAA gave it a R rating because it is loaded with a lot of gory and violent death scenes. The piranhas don’t play around when it comes to eating people, and the blood-filled results are something to behold if you are a gore hound like me. There is a segment where they are attacking people that goes on for a very long time that just must be seen to be believed. This scene is full of countless bloody and painful deaths, and I felt like cheering when I originally saw it at the local theater. It’s a crazy and chaotic scene that is hilarious and disturbing at the same time, and I loved every minute of it.
I don’t want to give away what exactly happens because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but let’s just say that it is the money shot of the film in my opinion, and I am a little surprised that more people haven’t talked about it when they mention the best death scenes of all time.
The piranhas themselves are quite awesome too. They look tough and are total nightmare fuel. These are certainly some fish that you don’t want to swim with, as they are fast, vicious, and can strip a person down to the bone in a few seconds. I dig the fact that there are so many of them instead of just one big one, as I think it makes them even more intimidating. In an odd way I also thought that they were a little cute in a scary kind of way, but at the same time I don’t think I would like to have an aquarium of them to keep as pets because they aggressive as they come and I could see them jumping out of the aquarium one night and eating me alive if I had some.
On top of that, they seemingly are always hungry and never get full no matter how many people they eat, so that makes them even scarier and more dangerous than the ones that appeared in the original film. I think that they have a better origin than the ones in the1978 movie as well as it just works and is something that could possibly happen one day.
I think that Piranha 3-D is an amazing little movie, and it has something for everyone. If you don’t think too hard about it and just turn off your brain and enjoy the ride, then you are going to dig it as much as I do as it is just a fun movie in general. My only complaint is that one of the trailers showed the last scene of the movie in it so it sort of spoiled the ending for me. It spawned a sequel that is a lot sillier, and a lot of viewers hated it, but I enjoy it for what it is and don’t think it is nearly as bad as everyone says that it is (though it is undoubtingly inferior to this movie in a lot of ways). If you are in the mood for a movie that features some great, gory death scenes, a lot of nudity, and just loads of fun in general then this is a film for you.
