Weekly Review -- Bodies of water

Piranha (2010) -- Combine utter lack of pretense with suspension of disbelief and a cult horror film may pop up. Its self-explanatory title firmly in place, Alexandre Aja’s Piranha also has its tongue planted firmly in its cheek, promising nothing beyond carnage and sex jokes and boy, does it deliver.

The town of Lake Victoria is in the midst of an invasion by spring break partygoers. After a boater disappears, Sheriff Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue) plans to close down the beach, but first has to contend with her teenage son Jake’s (Steven R. McQueen) shenanigans. Under the pressure of hormones and unbeknownst to Julie, Jake has begun working as a quasi location scout for a porn producer (Jerry O’Connell) for the summer, jeopardizing his safety in the process. Having managed to catch a live piranha, Julie gets in touch with a marine biologist (Christopher Lloyd), right around the time that all Hell breaks loose and the predatory fish start devouring the tourists…

As in some of his earlier works, like High Tension -- oh, how I still prefer Switchblade Romance -- and The Hills Have Eyes, Aja delves into the story using the maximum amount of blood that he can splash across the screen without getting an NC-17 rating. Nevertheless, the difference between this piece and his previous efforts lies in the pure, comical, drinking game type of fun that Piranha offers in spades. Screams abound, pretty bikini girls get less pretty as their limbs go missing and as the fish keep on plowing through the buffet. Aja shoots and displays the massacre with enthusiasm, all the while taking digs at North American pop culture spectacles such as Girls Gone Wild and spring break. This is particularly true of the mass killing scene, which is relentless in its viciousness yet loaded with dark humor, as is the rest of the film.

The performances are just as unpretentious as the screenplay. Each and every one of the actors appears to be enjoying this bloodbath, although Shue seems to be taking the proceedings a tad too seriously. Hiring Dreyfuss and creating a mini homage to Jaws is a nice touch; Aja knows exactly what he is doing here, but is aware of the beast that started it all, deciding to bow in reverence. It is good to see the always reliable Christopher Lloyd and Ving Rhames, while filmmaker Eli Roth has an amusing cameo as the appropriately titled Dying to Get Wet contest emcee. Additionally, fans of the CW Network will be pleased to see McQueen and Jessica Szohr, belonging respectively to the “Vampire Diaries” and “Gossip Girl” families.

Piranha is the kind of film that the viewer goes into with no expectations. It is a no-holds-barred cheesefest and a deliberate slap in the face of political correctness. Its entire raison d’être is to merge hysterical laughter with hysterical screams; the French summed it up best with their tagline, which just so happens to be 'Sea, Sex and Blood'. Watch it, relish the silliness and give your brain a rest.

5/10