Following on from Joe Dante and James Cameron comes Director Alexandre Aja’s (who also re- made Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes) re-boot of Piranha in 3D and goes with a ‘bigger’ means ‘better’ aesthetic as seen with us of porn stars Kelly Brock and Riley Steele, its use of cameos and litres upon litres of blood.
Piranha sets up its opening sequence with homage to Jaws, additional to the fact that its theatrical poster looks suspiciously similar, using Richard Dreyfuss in the role of Matt Boyd. Boyd is fishing in his boat when a sudden earthquake that splits the lake floor and causes a whirlpool. Boyd falls into the water and is ripped apart by a school of piranha’s contrasts the end of Jaws (1975), in which he is also in a watery situation, but survives. After this eye opening scene, Piranha sets up its introductory of Jake Forester (Steven R. McQueen), a typically awkward teenage and son of Sheriff Julie Foster (Elizabeth Shue). While scoping out the local talent on spring break he conveniently meets soft porn director Derrick Jones (Jerry O ‘Connell) who convinces Forester to be of location scout in his new film and introduced to the porn stars Danni (Brock) and Crystal (Steel).
Piranha's plot is divided into two main threads and crosses between them, Jake who represents teenagers having fun on spring break and Julie who represents police authority and is used to contrast the teenager’s fun. Thus, the narrative moves back to its opening location and its homage to Jaws this time with Sheriff Forester and Deputy Fallon (Ving Rhames) investigating Boyd’ mutilated body. As Forrester falls into the water, the camera travels similarly to the opening scene of Jaws, looking up from the surface, from a piranha’s perspective, arousing our suspicions whether they will in fact strike again. Continuing their investigation a team of seismologist divers’ are used to reveal thousands of piranha eggs embedded underwater and further to their luck obtain a lose piranha specimen allowing them to introduce marine biologist Carl Goodman (Christopher Lloyd), who provides all the relevant answers. The scene fills in background information regarding the species using 80’s nostalgia, provides fun and credibility amongst the masses, but seems in this case to overstate its homage.
Piranha's plot is divided into two main threads and crosses between them, Jake who represents teenagers having fun on spring break and Julie who represents police authority and is used to contrast the teenager’s fun. Thus, the narrative moves back to its opening location and its homage to Jaws this time with Sheriff Forester and Deputy Fallon (Ving Rhames) investigating Boyd’ mutilated body. As Forrester falls into the water, the camera travels similarly to the opening scene of Jaws, looking up from the surface, from a piranha’s perspective, arousing our suspicions whether they will in fact strike again. Continuing their investigation a team of seismologist divers’ are used to reveal thousands of piranha eggs embedded underwater and further to their luck obtain a lose piranha specimen allowing them to introduce marine biologist Carl Goodman (Christopher Lloyd), who provides all the relevant answers. The scene fills in background information regarding the species using 80’s nostalgia, provides fun and credibility amongst the masses, but seems in this case to overstate its homage.
Piranha’s use of a determined female protagonist has been set up in all three occasions beginning with an insurance officer, a diving instructor and in this case a sheriff, depicting their struggles of informing other of the truth. In both Piranha (Dante, 1978) and Piranha II: The Spawning (Cameron, 1981) the truth is kept quiet from the public by the military and a resort owner respectively, for their own personal gain. In these cases we share empathy towards the public as they continue to swim unaware of what has been kept from them. Piranha is a different story, the obnoxious teenagers on spring break don’t seem too care or listen to Forester’s advice meaning their death sequences have less impact, enabling a strong focus on the gore. Perhaps a problem in contemporary horror, is the use of excruciating stereotypes that has you cheering on during the death scenes rather than having any sympathy towards the characters. Yes, it works with the genre but at times loses its value becoming sterile and the loss of life is less problematic for the viewer.
Unfortunately I did not see Piranha in 3D; I think I would have appreciated its enhanced techniques and clever camera tricks guiding us through the familiar waters of the Piranha franchise. At the end of the day there is something I like more about 80’s boobs rather than obvious plastic ones.
