Oosters back again this week. You are spoiling us.
PIRANHA 3D ***3 Stars
Directed by Alexandre Aja
Starring Steven R McQueen, Jessica Szohr, Adam Scott, Elisabeth Shue, Kelly Brook, Riley Steele, Richard Dreyfuss, Jerry O’Connell, Christopher Lloyd, Ving Rhames, Dina Meyer, Cody Longo, Ricardo Antonio Chavira, Paul Scheer, Ashlynn Brooke, Gianna Michaels and Eli Roth
~ Film reviewed by Oosters ~
There’s a glass ceiling for trash like this, and Piranha 3D hits it at full-pelt.
Infinitely superior to its two predecessors, in that it more completely embraces its pulpy nature and has a certain charming competence with its special effects.
Obviously totally exploitative in its gratuitous attitude to sex and violence, and there’s surprisingly little actual scares for a horror film, but it’s oddly refreshing to come across a horror film that positively revels in unnecessary nudity and astonishingly over-the-top gore, rather than the tame, 15-rated efforts the genre usually produces these days.
It’s funny too, both in an expected frat-boy, misogynistic way (as dorky, unsympathetic men behave like assholes from American Pie) and in a more satisfyingly subversive way (as said assholes get gruesomely eaten alive), as the film tries to have its cake and eat it – for example, it lingers on a wet T-shirt contest for far longer than is necessary only to have the man running it (grindhouse exponent Eli Roth himself) spectacularly mutilated by the prehistoric piranha school the “plot” is based on.
This kind of self-awareness (the nods to Jaws begin with a Richard Dreyfuss cameo) somehow saves it from being wholly offensive, and the whole tongue-in-cheek spirit makes it difficult to dislike. It might be shameless, but it seems to know that, making its similarly ridiculous but more po-faced peers look pointless by comparison.
Have you seen the film?
What did you think of it?
Leave a comment. It’s good to know.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse – Film Review
Shrek Forever After – Film Review
“Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out if they’ve got a second. Give your dreams all you’ve got and you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.”
William James – Philosopher and Author
CURRENT STATUS: Reminder, Motivator and Review Meeting (Read on if you want to join me in my Corporation of One meeting)
What l have learnt:
- Good to check when editing. Seven Keys to Writing Good Dialogue (via Nathan Bransford’s blog).
- Talking to Agents at Conferences (via KT Literary). It’s good to know.
- 5 Ways to Blog like Bruce Lee (via ProBlogger). It’s works for writing as well.
What I have done:
- Getting out and having fun. Yes, it’s not writing. But you can say it’s research for when I write about people having fun. Yeah, good excuse. I’m going out and living again. I heard it keeps you sane. Another good excuse.
WORD COUNT: Night Walker 153,000 words in total.
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