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Why Piranha 3D Is a Summer Horror Essential
Alexandre Aja's remake of Piranha is a gory as it is goofy.
The first 10 years of the 21st Century are a fascinating time in the history of horror films. Scream had confirmed the genre as box office gold once again in the late '90s, setting off a new boom of slashers and beyond, and by the 2000s, cinemas were filled with reactions to the classic horror films of the past. That meant remakes, lots of them, and while some didn't work, a lot of those remakes are both really interesting and really fun.
There are lots of examples, but one of the best undoubtedly came from a rather unexpected place, at the end of the decade, with Piranha 3D. Directed by Alexandre Aja after his ultraviolent successes like High Tension and the remake of Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes, the film sought to deliver a stylish, over-the-top reimagining of Joe Dante's 1978 classic Piranha. It delivered in ways we perhaps never imagined, cementing itself not just as one of the most memorable horror remakes of all time, but as a classic of summer horror viewing in its own right. Now, it's streaming on Peacock, so you can watch it as much as you like.
For More on What to Watch on Peacock:
The Best Summer Movies to Stream on Peacock Right Now
The Best Horror Movies on Peacock Right Now
A Viewer's Guide to Jaws
Piranha 3D, Now Streaming on Peacock, Is Perfect Summer Horror Fun
The original Piranha was obviously a reaction to the success of Jaws (also streaming on Peacock), one of a fascinating crop of animal attack features to come along in the wake of that film's explosion. Director Dante and writer John Sayles were not content to coast on the Jaws vibes, though, and with their tale of genetically tweaked piranha wreaking havoc on a river, they proved that you could ride the Jaws wave without just redoing Jaws. The film remains a classic with its own fanbase, and still stands out as the most successful post-Jaws animal attack film of its era.
For 3D, writers Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger opted for an updated origin for their school of carnivorous monster fish, making the piranha originate not from government experiments, but from a chasm in the Earth where they'd essentially been waiting since prehistory for their chance to rip humanity to shreds. On one level, it's an interesting update of particularly contemporary anxieties, shifting from the post-Vietnam era of government distrust to rising fears of climate change and acts of God. On another, it's a sign that the film is going in even more over-the-top directions, because if the origin of the killer fish can be epic, so can the rest of the production.
Piranha 3D also gleefully opens with a kind of comedic message to the audience by casting none other than Richard Dreyfuss as the first victim, a fisherman who looks and sounds like an older version of his Jaws character, Hooper. By the time he's gone, devoured in a whirlpool of prehistoric fish, we have a clear impression that we're in for something with its tongue firmly in cheek, but also something with an eye toward pushing things as far as a film of this kind could possibly go. And it doesn't disappoint.
The film unfolds over spring break, as tourists and co-eds descend on a lake in Arizona for a week of debauchery, only to find the water infested by a swarm of hungry monsters. The film follows along as the local sheriff (Elizabeth Shue), a seismologist (Adam Scott), a hapless Girls Gone Wild style videographer (Jerry O'Connell), and others realize what's happening and try to survive, and everyone is in on the exaggerated fun that Aja's cooking up.
That fun arrives, as anyone familiar with Aja's work might suspect, in the form of excessive, hilariously graphic gore, as the piranhas rip off limbs, tear people in half, and just generally fill the water with as much blood and guts as they guy who brought us High Tension and The Hills Have Eyes can muster. There's a sense throughout the film that, after darker, more serious horror fare, the filmmaker really does just want to have fun with all the tricks he's learned, and what better place to do than than a raucous creature feature? The director piles on the sun, sand, and most importantly, the violence, and the whole thing feels like a never-ending buffet of summer horror glee, not for weak stomachs but otherwise pure popcorn fun.
So, if you're hoping to pad out your summer horror viewing with an almost cartoonishly fun feature, don't miss Piranha 3D. It's as fun now as it was 15 years ago.
Piranha 3D is now streaming on Peacock.
