Day 9 - Piranha (2010)

I went in to this movie with very confused expectations. On the one hand, everything I had seen about this film looked like nothing but a ridiculous, over the top, cheese fest, the whole point of which seemed solely to make a horror movie in 3D. On the other hand, it was directed by splat pack member Alexandre Aja, whose previous works include Mirrors (2008), The Hills Have Eyes (2006), and High Tension (2003), all of which are great. Also, not having seen the Joe Dante directed 1978 original, I had no idea what to expect from the story aside from the painfully obvious - spoiler alert: people get eaten by piranhas. As it turns out, my fears were mostly assuaged. Though the end result was in fact a bit over the top - nudity every couple of minutes and gore out the wazoo; don't get me wrong I love both of these things, but this is ridiculous - with a bit of skillful writing and directing, and in Aja's capable hands, the final product is surprisingly well done.

Piranha takes place in a small Arizona town in the midst of being overrun by college students on Spring Break. When a small seismic disturbance causes an underground lake to open up releasing hordes of ferocious, man-eating piranhas into the party crowded waters, the result is an inevitable blood bath. The story focuses on the family of the town's sheriff, played by Elizabeth Shue. So while Shue takes on the Chief Brody-like role of trying to warn people, her children have of course flung themselves straight into danger. Though not necessarily scary, the graphic gore might certainly turn weaker stomachs. There are a number of funny, suspensful, and outright WTF moments in this movie though, as the filmmakers have certainly found a few interetsing ways to kill people.

To be honest I had put off watching Piranha because I fully expected the worst, and because I didn't want this to sully my opinion of Aja's track record. But despite my fears, this movie is actually rather enjoyable.

Tomorrow I will be reviewing Dead & Buried (1981).