1. FrozenStar90

   9

   Thankfully, "Piranha 3D" headed right into the "campy" territory that I was hoping for. The film is, flat-out, a blast. It's pure exploitation trash, but it nails it with deadly precision. Alexandre Aja has gleefully crafted a film so horrendously grisly and stupid, that to enter the film with tongue planted in-cheek is a basic requirement. "Piranha 3D", like Sam Raimi's recent "Drag Me to Hell", are not meant to be taken seriously, and would fall under the "comedy horror" category. However, the former contains gallons upon gallons more blood, and mutilations that would make any horror geek squirm. If you can turn off your brain for a while and enjoy this B-movie filth, it's a blast.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 1 users said Yes.
2. MarcDoyle

   8

   This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. After seeing "My Bloody Valentine 3D", I was skeptical that a really good and campy horror film could be done in 3D without resorting to idiocy. Piranha 3-D does it. It plays up the jiggle sex to the hilt, but it also has a heart courtesy of Elizabeth Shue and her screen family. Ving Rhames is awesome in a limited role, and Christopher Lloyd is at his Back To The Future best. But the money shots - the scenes of blood-and-gutsy gore are incredible. Picture a girl's hair getting caught in a motorboat's propeller while a panicking teenager in the boat tries to get the motor re-started. What comes of that scene will be stuck in my head for at least the night. But not what you would expect, mind you. It's a funny, funny movie.… Expand

   • Helpful? 4 of 4 users said Yes.
3. grandpajoe6191

   5

   "Piranha 3-D" is your average bloody-gore fest boobs-n-blood movie that only those who enjoy it will greatly appreciate.

   • Helpful? 7 of 7 users said Yes.
4. feardrinker

   3

   This review contains spoilers. This is not a horror film, it is exploitation. Although I'm a fan of 70's and 80's exploitation films, I didn't much care for this one. The various characters are either obnoxious or cardboard placeholders (or both), to begin with, and I could hardly wait for the killing to start. The teen angst/romance subplot was rote and meaningless. Part of what makes the old exploitation movies likeable is a low-budget, unpolished but earnest charm that is missing in this one. And fully the first half of the movie is a plotless "MTV Spring Break" dance party.
   
   The many, many ways in which people are mutilated in this movie are reminiscent of the still-young torture porn genre more than horror (or black comedy, which some people will insist this movie is). The gratuitous nudity would be funny (and perhaps even titillating) if it were brief and frequent; instead we get long, lingering shots that cause the sort of audience embarrassment that Showgirls once did. These long, lingering shots also refute the argument that the movie is somehow a feminist statement against pornography; this is pornography, if soft core. It really comes down to this: if you think that watching a topless woman's legless torso being dragged up from the lake while you are invited to ogle the corpse's sizable breasts is good entertainment, you'll probably like this movie. Yes, I know some of you will.… Collapse

   • Helpful? 6 of 7 users said Yes.

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