Piranha 3DD

If I were rating Piranha 3DD on the title alone, then it would be getting my first ever 10/10. Of course, there’s plenty here to ensure that doesn’t happen, but the film doesn’t waver from that tongue in cheek heading and delivers a short slice of fun with a knowing wink to the audience at every step. It’s actually an improvement on Alexandra Aja’s gore drenched first film from a couple of years ago as that film suffered from its indecision as to whether it was playing it’s cards with a straight face or not. This one’s in on the joke from the start. The set up is as simple as Aja’s film, but this time it’s slimy David Koechner’s adult themed water park that serves up the human flesh for the chordatian critters. Oddly enough, though this does have its moments, including a sex scene which delivers possibly the best movie line of the year (“Josh cut off his penis because something came out of my vagina”), this isn’t actually (relatively) over-loaded with gore with nothing coming close to the infamous “face off” from the first film. Having said that Koechner, fresh from being covered in boiling tarmac and having his face destroyed in Final Destination 5, checks out here in utterly ridiculous fashion. The 3D is mainly abysmal, but on a couple of occasions it does suddenly work effectively with piranha flying out of the screen and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t flinch on one of those occasions. Director John Gulager appears to know what’s going on and gets it right in the areas that matter, even managing to pull off a witty three take parody of the Jaws counter dolly zoom shot. Of course, there’s lots wrong here including dire acting, some dodgy deaths (decapitation by bunting?) and the unanswered question as to why so many children are running around an adult’s only theme park. However, from the silly opening scene featuring Gary Busey (Gary Busey spotters rejoice) it’s clear you just need to disengage brain and go with the flow. Best of all though is the hilarious performance from David Hasselhoff. The Hoff takes great delight in sending himself up and, just about making up for the somewhat limp ending, scores a great one-liner to send the Friday night audience home with a smile on their faces.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Less gore, but more fun than the last outing. Rating: 7/10.