Piranha 3D

This film is a rather cheesy film, but sometimes a bit of cheese is a good thing. In fact, I enjoy cheese so to a point I enjoyed this film. It had some great gore in it and it was just a mindless movie where you shut off your brain and enjoy an hour and a half distraction. The film was a modest hit, making its budget back in the states and making an additional 55 million with its worldwide gross, but not a super hit by any stretch of the imagination.

The story has a earthquake that unleashes an underwater cavern where there are apparently thousands upon thousands of flesh eating piranha residing. One would think that if these fish were living in an isolated cavern where food was not plentiful they would evolve needing less food, but like I said it is mindless fun as they come out hungry and their victims? A bunch of annoying teen spring breakers, so you are going to enjoy watching them get killed. A teen whose mom is a sheriff goes with this guy shooting a girls gone wild type video (why the heck were those things popular?) and we meet a few people before the fish go on their super kill spree!

The film features quite a number of actors such as Richard Dreyfuss who gets credited and I never really noticed him, then figured out he was the fisherman at the beginning of the film. Then there is Christopher Lloyd who was not listed in the credits, but who is in the film a lot more than Dreyfuss. Ving Rhames also plays a role in this one and there are a couple of others of note.

They seem to be just having fun with this one and as I said, just don't take it too seriously and it is enjoyable enough. Nothing great, but I could think of worse movies to waste and hour and a half with. The gore effects in places are great and the film leaves off clearly with a sequel in mind. Just one question, how did those two chicks stay underwater for so long without drowning?

A group -- a very large group -- of college kids are having spring break at Lake Havisu in Arizona (called Lake Victoria in the film). A small earthquake unleashes an underwater tunnel where thousands of hungry piranhas wait.

This film marks the third time that director Alexandre Aja has directed a horror film remake. He previously directed "The Hills Have Eyes" (2006) and "Mirrors" (2008), also remakes of earlier horror films. I want to say this disappoints me, because Aja has some of the best talent in the business today, but frankly he makes remakes worth watching. "Hills" may have trumped the original.

Having ten times the budget of a SyFy film, with only a marginally better outcome. The effects are still pretty cheesy in most scenes, leading me to believe the money went to the decent cast, with the two best actors (Christopher Lloyd and Richard Dreyfuss) only having a few scant minutes on screen.

The cast? Elisabeth Shue (looking good for her age), Jerry O'Connell (usually annoying but works in this film), Ving Rhames (who we do not see nearly enough of in the theater these days), and Eli Roth as a guy with a thousand one-liners about wet breasts. In fact, the film as a whole has more bare women than piranhas.

Empire gave the film three out of five stars, saying "Remember the film you hoped 'Snakes on a Plane' would be –- this is it! By any sane cinematic standards, meretricious trash ... but thrown at you with such good-humored glee that it's hard to resist." I agree. This is the cheese I wanted from "Snakes", but unlike that film, it is not a pile of dog excrement.

And did you hear? There is a sequel on the way... I almost suspect it will be better than this one.

Piranha 3D is better than it should be. I see it bc I'm a fan of Alexandre Aja (The Hills Havs Eyes, Mirrors) & Greg Nicotero (Walking Dead). Putting aside the to-be-expected B-movie antics like excessive boobage & some bad CGI (which admittedly is a large chunk of the movie) there's something elevated about it. Nice shots on the water, it's funny enough, Elisabeth Shue's badass. Ya know, it's campy! For what it's worth, critics actually liked it. Surprisingly good time.

Alexandre Aja makes trash, this movie is trash, it's also immature, has quite a bit of dodgey CGI and has some not so amazing acting.

What makes it amazing is the fact thy Aja is aware of these things and he's laughing at them too, he also has style, at no point does this feel generic, it is always very clear that you are watching an Alexandre Aja film.

He also really knows how to pace horror, one kill at the beginning, then about an hour of buildup (with only 1 obnoxious fake out scare)

Would I prefer if Aja used his talents to make something other then trash? Yeah, but I also like trash.

It's spring break at Lake Victoria and kids have gathered for their annual drunken party. Deputy Fallon (Ving Rhames) and Sheriff Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue) are trying to keep the peace. Kelly (Jessica Szohr) has come home from college and Jake Forester (Steven R. McQueen) is still pinning for her. Derrick Jones (Jerry O'Connell) hires him as a guide for his video shoot. He has to babysit his siblings and recent earthquakes have released a school of prehistoric piranhas. Julie takes out a group of scientists to investigate the tremors. Jake ditches the kids and Kelly comes along for the shoot.

It's fun to have Richard Dreyfuss killed off in a fish horror movie right off the bat. It sets the right campy tone. It's sexploitation horror. It knows exactly what it is and doesn't try to be more. It's got blood, gore and hot bods. The acting isn't too silly even with Jerry O'Connell. There are some good actors in this functional horror.