DVD Corner

Piranha 3DD Blu-ray Review

“Piranha 3DD” is dumb fun.

While some horror fans ate up the “Piranha” 2010 remake, I can’t say I dug the trashy gorefest. So, as you can imagine, I had zero expectations coming into the sequel- “Piranha 3DD.” Imagine my surprise, however, when this madcap critically panned turned out to be more fun than it had any right to be.

While looking at horror fans and horror critic’s reaction to this sequel, they all seem to think it’s a waste of time. Personally, I can’t quite understand what they were expecting from a movie about killer fish at a water park. It’s not like the original was “The Godfather” or anything. To me, the 2010 outing seemed to try to hard to please while this sequel seems to fully embrace its dopey premise by delivering what people want to see from this type of horror flick- gore and nudity. Granted, this movie may be shameless exploitation and profoundly pointless at times (see the male genitalia bit), but if you don’t take it seriously and just go with the flow, you might actually enjoy yourself.

One of the main reasons the movie entertains for the scant 83 minute runtime is the cast. Celebs like Gary Busey and David Hasselhoff make amusing cameos and even some returning actors from the first film (namely Ving Rhames and Christopher Lloyd) reprise their roles. All of them seem to be having a blast here especially Hasselhoff who mercilessly pokes fun at himself.

Summary: “Piranha” is a fun, trashy B-Movie. No more, no less.

P.S. Don’t forget to watch the outtakes/gag reel in the end credits.

Video/Audio:

The film, which is presented in 1.78:1 1080p, looks a little too bright on hi-def. The colors are certainly clear, but they seem a bit overexposed for my taste. Still, the transfer is leagues better than DVD transfer.

The 5.1 DTS-HD audio track does a fine job balancing the action, dialogue and music.

Extras:
* Not only do you get the Blu-ray edition of “Piranha 3DD,” but you also get copies of the Blu-ray 3D, the DVD and a Digital Copy.
* Anchor Bay, Dimension, and The Weinstein Company trailers.
* 3 deleted scenes.
* “The Story Behind The DD”- The cast and crew chat about the film and plot.
* “Busey’s Bloopers”- I will watch Busey do anything. Hilarious.
* “The Hofftastic World Of David Hasselhoff”- A brief goofy featurette on the Hoff.
* “Wet And Wild With David Koechner”- The comedic actor briefly rants about various topics on set.
* “A Lesson With John McEnroe”- A Dimension short comedy film with an oddball tennis player playing John McEnroe on the court.
* A laidback commentary by John Gulager, Joel Soisson and Marcus Dunstan. Expect fun stories about Gary Busey, behind-the-scenes factoids, the script, and f/x.

September 3, 2012 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | David Hasselhoff, Gary Busey, Piranha 3DD 3D Blu-ray, Piranha 3DD Blu-ray Review, Piranha 3DD DVD