31 Days of Horror: Piranha (2010)

“Piranha hunt in packs - not for protection, but for overwhelming force. They're organized, methodical. The first bite draws blood. The blood draws the pack.”

Filmology Rating: 2.5 out of 4

The vacation destination, Lake Victoria, is going to have a new kind of predator in town for Spring Break this year after an underwater tremor releases thousands of prehistoric piranhas.

I need to state this every time a shark movie comes out but I also find it necessary to state it with Piranha since it pays plenty of loving homages to the film; Jaws is my absolute favorite film. I will never find another creature feature or man versus nature film that will resonate with me more than it, that’s not saying that others shouldn’t attempt it but they simply have the highest of standards to meet. Piranha does come across as worshiping at the altar of Jaws from the underwater scenes being from the point of view of the piranhas to Richard Dreyfuss showing up to basically play an older more battle-worn Hooper, and for me any film that declares its love for Jaws without being a direct ripoff should be commended; for those who think I’m being biased I urge you to keep reading because this is where the love fest for the film takes a darker tone.

The characters are completely one dimensional that I find it hard to truly be engaged with any of the characters. I never found myself truly invested in any of the characters which makes it hard to care about them when they are put into harm's way. It doesn’t help that each performance is played completely over the top so you are meant to find each character rather annoying so the death becomes even more rewarding for the audience. If you don’t like seeing people being eaten in gruesome yet comedic ways then Piranha simply won’t be a film that will appeal to you.

One of the biggest faults of Piranha is how many of the gags of the film don’t work without being in 3D. This film is the exact opposite of James Cameron’s Avatar; which used the 3D technology to helped create a world that was filled with amazing depth; while Piranha uses 3D to have objects fly out at you in sometimes very shocking ways. If you were lucky enough to see this film in 3D you would have seen vomit fly at you and many severed body parts float toward you. The jokes don’t land as well in 2D and they become rather stale towards the end of the film, while I can still see them all working very adequately in 3D.

When Piranha came out in 2010 I thought it was one of the best worst films that I had ever seen, now watching the film I find some enjoyment in the film but not nearly as much as I did nearly ten years ago. The film delivers with every single aspect that it sets out to; Piranha provides plenty on the shock value providing those with a taste toward the sexual and violent end of films to have a sweet spot for this film. While I hate sounding like the film snob, I think my film tastes have expanded and Piranha simply doesn’t titillate those sweet spots like it did years ago.

Rating: Rent It

-Jonny G