Piranha (2010)

Plot
An underground earthquake sets free scores of man-eating prehistoric piranha fish which swim down river towards a small town on the shore of Lake Victoria which is a popular destination for college students to head for their spring break. With hundreds of booze-fuelled and horny teenagers in the water, can the piranha be stopped in time?

Review
Do you want a thought-provoking film which challenges the meaning of life, gives rise to question our existence and will make you change the way you live your life? If you do then clear off now. If you want boobs, blood, boobs, low brow humour, boobs, more blood, killer fish and then more boobs, you've come to the right place. Piranha is a silly, moronic and extremely juvenile horror flick which wears it's exploitation heart on it's sleeve.....and I loved every single minute of it. The film is pitched towards fan boys - actually males of any demographic - with it's focus on hot young females shedding their clothes at every opportunity. Sort of like a horror film crossed with one of those MTV shows in which they pitch a DJ and stage on a beach somewhere and just let chicks dance for an hour. Piranha is gloriously self-aware and self-indulgent. I can't remember the last time I was this entertained in the cinema.

Alexandre Aja has helmed some pretty serious and brutal films during his directorial time including the remake of The Hills Have Eyes so it's nice to see him "relax" and go for something more light-hearted and trashy. The first two Piranha films back in the 70s were helmed by Joe Dante and James Cameron no less, two men who've got on to much bigger and better things (more so Cameron). So Aja is in good company. He knows what modern horror fans want to see and delivers. Let's face it - 3-D is a gimmick, pure and simple. It's not meant to be the next coming of cinema. It's meant to add enjoyment to your viewing experience. Aja knows that and puts the 3-D to uses that James Cameron would never have considered for Avatar. The 3-D is used effectively throughout the film with all manner of things popping, erupting, exploding and jiggling on the screen. Memorable moments include a piranha emerging from someone's mouth, Ving Rhames' defiant stand with a detached outboard motor and, well, I'd never thought I'd say this but the 3-D severed penis probably got the biggest laugh from the cinema audience I was sat in with. There's plenty of 3-D blood and 3-D boobs too. I actually think there were more boobs here than fish. The flick keeps it's promise of blood and delivers it in buckets during the gruesome attack scene in which the piranhas finally get to chomp down on some drunken teenagers. Bodies with flesh-stripped limbs try to drag themselves out of the water. People are ripped in two. Some young woman even has the skin ripped clean off her face. The cameras get right up close and personal during the attack scenes, thrusting you straight into the heart of the action as if you're almost stuck in the water waiting to be devoured. The deaths are played mainly for laughs (for proof of this check out Eli Roth's hilarious cameo) which adds to the absurdity of the sheer amount of gore on display. But you can tell that Aja is used to gore flicks and loves the red stuff. He knows how to milk the blood for all of it's worth and the camera lingers on each moment with childish glee. The tone of the film is never in question from the opening scene and a nice rich vein of humour flows through the film. Be it funny dialogue or simply the perverse situations that the characters find themselves in, a laugh or chuckle is never more than a few minutes away (tucked in nicely between boobs and blood!)