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SOUND OFF

Sound Off: Alexandre Aja's Piranha 3D - What Did You Think?

by Alex Billington
August 20, 2010

Now that you've seen it, what did you think? Arriving in theaters everywhere today is Alexandre Aja's Piranha 3D, a horror remake of a late 70's cult classic that actually features an impressive cast, including Elisabeth Shue, Ving Rhames, Eli Roth, Richard Dreyfuss, Christopher Lloyd, Jerry O'Connell, Adam Scott, Riley Steele and Kelly Brook. But how is it? The movie currently has an amazing 82% on Rotten Tomatoes, is it really that good? How was the 3D? Is the cast the best part? Is this one of those surprise summer gems no one expected to great? So if you've seen it, leave a comment and tell us what you thought of Piranha 3D!

Updated! To fuel the fire, I finally got to see Piranha 3D over the weekend and I wasn't impressed. Besides the fact that the 3D in our theater was broken (it looked half-blurry, half of the time), it just didn't seem any more original or unique than any other wacky, fun horror movies just like it (and there are many). The best parts were Richard Dreyfuss and Christopher Lloyd, but their roles were both nothing more than brief cameos. Sure, it was bloody, sure there was some excessive nudity (that underwater scene, is this a porno?), but that doesn't make a good movie. It was okay, just mildly entertaining but that's about it, or so I thought.

What did you think of Piranha 3D? An enjoyable horror remake or a complete waste of time?

Explore tags: Discussion, Hype, Sound Off

Xerxex

it's trying too hard to be a cult classic. a sad attempt to be the rogue film that is giving the finger to the serious films and filmmakers who take themselves too seriously, and believe themselves to be the best filmmaker ever.
ally

rotten tomatoes is pretty much a joke. they give this movie which looks like it should air on the syfy channel an 82% and then give movies that actually have good acting and great storylines lower ratings?
Linkfx

Xerxex, you haven't seen the film, have you? I just got back from it and can safely say this is one of the slickest, sickest horror comedies I have ever seen. It's far and away one of the most brutally realistcally gory films ever made...and for pure body count alone, it's a little bit above Peter Jackson's "Dead Alive", but more realistically gory...bodies shredded and destroyed in creative ways, faces getting skinned in the most brutal fashion put to celluloid. Sure the story is lacking, and very few of the characters are properly developed, but the ones that are developed are actually memorable. Elizabeth Shue and Adam Scott do a great job and Kelly Brook steals every one of the scenes she is in. Jerry O'Connell is also really funny as just the sleaziest nastiest guy on the face of the Earth. His death is extremely brutal and graphic and I assure most of you haven't seen gore like this since Cannibal Holocaust. There is plenty of nudity here, too. With some beautiful ladies including a wonderfully softcore underwater swimming sequence with the aforementioned Kelly Brook. The 3d conversion is actually really well done, too. Not distracting at all. It's really impressive how much work obviously went into this film from all angles...sure it's not a classic film for the ages but it's definitely better than "the expendables" and 85% percent of the crap that's come out this summer. If you want to be grossed out and entertained non-stop then see this movie... Also if you live in Burbank you owe to yourself to see this at the AMC Burbank 16 at their large audio boosted giant screen, it was awesome.
Linkfx

Stop assuming and see it for yourself, they've only shown so much in the ads because this film is wall to wall ultraviolence....it was NC 17 up until last week.
Linkfx

Btw Ally are you joking Rotten Tomatoes gives an aggregate score based on a numerical system measuring the reviews of all the critics...it's not going to inflate or deflate a score for a ion it is simply measuring them.
Darren

i though james camerons version actually watchable...i walked out on this one
Hugo G.

It's a great movie with great actings, full of blood and gore!!!
Xerxex

@linkfx, I'm all for people who enjoy the mindlessness of this film (you're talking to the guy who actually likes "Land of the Lost" with Will Ferrell), I sincerely hope you had fun, I really do. But I will not partake in the film. It is too aware of itself and it wants cult fame for which it will probably not recieve. It embraces two thing's I'm against 3-D and overused gore, the nudity part is cool with me and the cast is great I love that Shue, Lloyd, Dreyfuss, Rhames, and Scott are getting higher recognition but the film is not for me. perhaps I will see it when it comes out on DVD. Als call me whatever you want I don't like see women die, not my cup of tea. I hope you had fun and by your post you sound as if you had a hell of a time!
LINKFX

@ Xerxex, thanks for the response. I actually loved "Land of the Lost" too, I love a mindless good funny time(when they get high in the desert and eat that giant crab had me in stitches). I just wanted to let you know that I value your opinion, but this isn't at all like "Slither" or other recent horror comedies that are too self-aware, it's really just a wall-to-wall gore fest and it's very impressive. Obviously if you have an aversion to nasty brutal realistic gore than this film isn't for you, it's really the centerpiece of the film, and without it, the movie would be really silly, pointless and pornographic. The 3-D wasn't bad. It definitely wasn't the best(AVATAR), but it's the best of the converted films by a mile. Men and women die equally in the film, but it's definitely full of copious female flesh(although the most brutal deaths are saved for the men)
EJP

@Xerxex "I don't like see women die,...." I guess you don't like many movies, then. Unfortunately, I can't see it until Saturday afternoon. I read every review on Rotten Tomatoes, and it sounds like a blast and will probably end up being my favorite film of the summer. Piranha, puke, and body parts coming toward me in 3D - what could be more fun than that?
danielvutran

I'm glad you Xerxex and LINKFX had a good mature conversation going. If this were imdb, I'm sure both of your mothers and sexuality would have been brought into the conversation.
LINKFX

@danielvutran, I've done my share of trashing in the firstshowing comments but I like to save the venom for alex b. hahaha... And xerxex seems like he actually wanted to have an intelligent discussion so no reason to hate. Love for all.
Xerxex

@danielvutran, the mom comments are soon to come! aint that right LINKFX!? no I'm kidding. i second the "love for all" shots all around! @EJP i'm not saying I won't watch a film where women die. I'm just not a huge fan of it, now a lot of dudes dying I'm all for it...strange, I'm a male misandrist! wow.
Cracky

Lol. I'll see this when I'm in a really good mood-- and a whimsical one, at that. I think some people will agree when I say that it takes a special movie to break down the mental block you'd usually have toward these types of films-- The "what a waste of money" movies. But from what I'm hearing, it sounds like a ton of fun. Thanks for the honesty everyone.
dee

Went in with low expectations and came out impressed by some of the shots of this movie. Movie was entertaining and Eli Roth had me rolling in the theater. I have to say it was an impressive movie! 3d was just o.k.
LINKFX

Eli Roth's death was particulary gruesome and his character was extremely funny.
JTMoney

@Darran Are you fucking kidding me? The James Cameron Pirahna 2 was one of the worst films I have ever seen and I love me some campy horror films. I am sorry, but when the Pirahnas just happen to mate with flying fish and start soaring from the water, I had to draw the line. They didn't even do a good job on the flying Pirahnas and I consider Pirahna one a classic of the horror genre. If you walked out on this (while finishing Pirahna 2), shame on you.
LINKFX

@JTMoney, agreed.
CletusVanDamm

Anyone who doesn't like this movie is either a homosexual who was upset with seeing a severed cock or a stick up their ass elitist. Fuck you all!!!
http://www.goseetalk.com Marc

Where as The Expendables was everything you thought it would be and was disappointing at the same time, this had the opposite effect. Sure its an homage to the B-Movie horror films but it was tons of fun and felt fresh actually. Basically it was Girls Gone Wild meets Transformers 2.. Yes it was a mess but an intended, fun, scary and (against my better judgement) insanely entertaining mess. Eye candy and a lot of blood...strange how that formula never gets old:P Oh and Christopher Lloyd as the fish store owner/scientist should make every fan of Back tot eh Future immensely happy.
Xerxex

chill cleatus.
http://www.goseetalk.com Marc

Oh and Alexandre Aja really knew what he was doing with the 3D! He showed no shame in stepping away from the movie (more than just a wink and a nod to the audience) to showcase the more novelty scenes. You want 3D, and you'll get 3D:) Enjoy!!
Jericho

I LOVED IT... for the bikini cladded babes and Chris Lloyd
Ben

It was a pretty awful movie overall but it was entertaining as hell. Probably one of the goriest movies I have ever seen also. But it was enjoyable. haha
tim dahill

it's funny it's campy it's gorey I love it! it mixes the feel of old horror films with new horror films
yoness

2 fully nude girls making out underwater while being watched (and filmed ala Girls Gone Wild) through a glass bottomed boat - with a Tchaikovsky musical interlude. Brilliant!
j

hey 16, spoiler alert. non professional.
Scared S-less!!!

I walked outta of this movie helplessly repeating "wtf?!" For anyone who has not seen this flick yet, as you can already tell by the comments here, it is definitely an unforgiving OVER THE TOP spectacle. Come to see the boobies (LOTS), come to see the gore (VERY BRUTAL), do not come looking for a good story, acting, dialoge, or even decent 3D (it sucked). The movie leaves you feeling like you laughed your ass off and got sucker punched in the stomach repeatly all at the same time. Does that mean its a good flick? Get back to you on that.
Cody w

This sounds like a torrent movie to me.
Lincoln

I want to see this movie so bad, but it's not out yet where I live
LINKFX

@ Lincoln. Where do you live? And is your name Lincoln, that's my name, dude!
EJP

@#27 "j" What did he say that hasn't been stated in virtually all the reviews? If he went in to graphic detail about Mr. Roth's demise, that would be one thing, but I think you already know that most of the cast of the movie are killed off. And "gruesome" is apparently the way in which every one of the people die.
LINKFX

@ EJP, thanks. It's safe to assume most(not all) of douchey characters in movies like this bite the dust...surprise surprise...especially since most people who have read a review of this movie know that it is nasty, brutal and unforgiving, and Roth is cast mainly as a joke to fill a role that would otherwise only be exceptional for it's death scene(which will still shock and surprise even if you know its coming) he takes a stupid part and gives it his douchey best...I thoroughly enjoyed his water spray guy character.
Alboone

Loved it. Sick. Disgusting. Funny as all hell. The way they used to make'em. Camp classic.
EJP

Saw it this afternoon. Best. Movie. Ever. Okay, I'm joking, but it was lots of fun and I had a smile on my face throughout. At least it was never boring (I'm looking at you Inception). A few comments: All the reviews make it seem like it's wall-to-wall naked breasts. It's not. I remember three girls that showed their breasts. Lots of girls in bikinis, but not nearly the nudity the reviews make it sound like. And the gore was not that bad. If you've seen Ghost Ship (and two of the deaths were straight out of the beginning of Ghost Ship), any of the Saw movies, or any of the "mega-monsters run amok" films, you've seen the gore that's in this film (the death of "propeller girl" was my personal favorite and I don't recall seeing anything quite like that before). I always read all the credits for movies, and listed in the "Thanks" section was the Association of Amputee Surfers, so I'm guessing a lot of the "victims" came from there. I would have changed the opening with Richard Dreyfuss though. This is how I would have written the scene: After the earthquake, the water starts "bubbling" as the piranha swim toward him, and after seeing the fish he says, "I'm gonna need a bigger boat." The 3D was okay (the 3D trailer they ran for Resident Evil had better 3D). And the death of Eli Roth's character happened so fast I almost missed it. A really enjoyable movie overall and highly recommended.
max s.

#35 how was inception boring that movie was a masterpiece and probobally one of the greatest movies of all time and you're saying it was boring, what are you homo?
EJP

@#36 max s. First of all, cool it with the inappropriate slurs. I know you're probably a child who is too young to comprehend, but in this day and age you don't make comments like that. And for your information, I've been happily married for 32 years to a member of the opposite sex. As far as Inception being boring, I fell asleep twice, during a matinee screening. Thankfully there were some explosions thrown in to wake me up. All the movie does is explain, explain, explain. Explain about things that then go nowhere, explain about things you've just seen, explain about things that you're going to see. I think the medical term is "exposition hypnosis." I didn't say it was a bad movie, just a boring one. I wish they had trimmed it by roughly 30 minutes to cut out all the unnecessary scenes that do nothing to enhance the film.
Cody w

Im in shock that people are saying Inception was boring, like just what the fuck.
Tim_Dahill

@36 are you saying every gay person doesn't like Inception?
rowdy

i walked out of this movie thinking what is the point of haveing an NC-17 rating if their not going to use it
quilt

did anyone notice how paul scheer died? after the movie, my friends were discussing it and we couldn't remember how / if his character even died.
Adam

This movie is self aware, its not trying to be above and beyond. I loved it, it was extremely gory, funny as hell comedy, and the perfect amount of cheese. Adam Scott in the end is great, haha
Ian

Hey I'm gay and I loved Piranha 3D, it's the most fun I had at the movies all summer - I haven't seen Inception yet, but I plan to this week. Just wanted to say enough with the stereotyping... being gay doesn't mean we're all effeminate screaning queens who only love sweet movies and porn! LOL that would be the - very noticeable - minority. What can I say, they're louder and more outrageous than the rest, so they get noticed! I know that most people don't guess - or care to guess - that I'm gay, and god knows ho much I like sick movies like Martyrs, Inside or Alex Aja's High Tension LOL!
http://www.rickchung.com Rick Chung

Piranha 3D is B-Movie Horror Fun :: http://j.mp/a3POa5