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Where have we seen that poster before?
Image courtesy of filmshaft.com |
The year is 1978,
Grease is the word that you heard,
Superman saved the world, and just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water... everyone's favourite great white shark swam back onto screens in
Jaws 2. But there was another fish-film swimming around at the time, a comedy parody by the name of
Piranha. Capitalising on the success of the ocean-peril movie,
Joe Dante (dir. Gremlins, Small Soldiers) directed the comedy horror about a school of murderous fish, unleashed downriver and wreaking havoc on all in their path. So far so spoof, right? Well 32 years have since passed, and in that time Piranha has seen a sequel, a mid 90's remake and now, thanks to
Alexandre Aja (dir. The Hills Have Eyes, Haute Tension) the B-movie franchise has been granted a place in the modern day gimmick leagues, with a 3D revamp of the series, coincidentally titled
Piranha 3D.
Right, let's get down to the nitty gritty. The problem that I have found people to have with films like Piranha 3D, is that the trailers do not explicitly imply that they're
comedy horrors. Sure, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that Piranha 3D isn't going to be on par with
[REC] but unfortunately people do make these mistakes. I've heard
The Bride of Chucky get slated for not being scary before (I mean... come on people). The film itself surprised me, I wasn't expecting any miracles but it did exceed my pre-conceptions. The 3D gimmick was pretty much unnecessary (as is the same with most films that have '3D' in the title), but there were a few nice moments, the rippling water effects were aesthetically pleasing at times, but there wasn't much more than that... unless three dimensional mammary glands are your thing? They may well be for all I know. There's no 2D alternative for this one, but it doesn't feel like there's enough in there really showcasing the gimmick to not deliver a 2D version. Plus there were moments where it was a tad confusing as to what was going on, namely during some of the shots of the piranhas feasting on their victims.
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Ving Rhames in a very Braindead moment
Image courtesy of dreadcentral.com |
3D gimmick aside though, the film could've done a lot worse when it came to casting. Offically the fish-film veteran
Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws, Close Encounters) makes an appearance, alongside familiar face
Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction, Dawn of the Dead) and the horror movie poster boy himself,
Eli Roth. And on top of this there's the un-aged
Christopher 'Emmet Brown' Lloyd who plays more or less the same character from his
Back To The Future days, but he still does it with that same finesse that he did back then. There's also a very twitchy
Jerry O'Connell (Sliders, Stand By Me) in there. Also stepping up to the plate, there's the pride of Britain, the beacon of intelligence and the pinnacle of acting talent, Miss
Kelly Brook (she has boobs, not that the film would dare exploit that... ahem). Though I wouldn't bother making yourself too acquainted with the cast, there's not too much in the way of character development before a large percentage of them get slaughtered by hungry fish in a selection of hilarious and in some cases relatively brutal ways.
The Verdict
Overall, the film is great for a laugh and although I was too busy in convulsions of laughter to notice them, there were a few jumpy moments taking their toll on people around me (if you
must attempt to be scared by this film). So if you like cheap laughs, overly excessive gore, breasts and killer fish then this is definitely one for you. Though with the 3D movie price-tag looming, you can be excused for missing out on this one.
5/10.
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