Piranha 3D is so bad it's almost good. Each year, the population of sleepy Lake Victoria increases tenfold for the spring holiday a good excuse for fun in the form of sun, sex and booze.
But this year there's something more to worry about than sunburn and hangovers. After a sudden underwater earthquake, scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish are set free and an unlikely group of strangers must band together to prevent themselves from becoming fish food.
If you like '80s-style bloodbaths, gore and nudity, then Piranha 3D is for you. It seems to be targeted mainly at young male audiences: bikinis are shredded, revealing half-eaten breasts; a woman is swallowed butt-first through an inner-tube.
Then we see a beautifully choreographed underwater ballet composed of digitally rendered 3D vixens who are then ripped to shreds. But it's not just the girls who come to a messy end. In one scene, a man's penis is bitten off and spat back out at the screen in all its 3D glory.
Does it look real? No, but most 3D movies don't. The 3D is clearly a gimmick, so just have fun with it!
Directed by Frenchman Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, Haute Tension), Piranha was inspired by the Jaws rip-offs. This is most obvious in the scene where local police are trying to close the beach on a warm-weather holiday after deadly fish are discovered.
There are great little cameos from Richard Dreyfuss, Christopher Lloyd, Ving Rhames, former teen-queen Elisabeth Shue (as the local sheriff) and Jerry O'Connell.
The carnage is fantastic, with each death more creative and tackily funny than the last. Sophisticated moviegoers may sneer, but if you enjoy a bit of B-grade humour and are happy to turn off the critical part of your brain for a short time, you'll find Piranha 3D ridiculously entertaining.
