Piranha 3D is a 2010 American 3D action horror black comedy film that serves as a remake of the 1978 comedy horror film of the same name and the fourth installment in the Piranha film series. Directed by Alexandre Aja and written by Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg, the film stars Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Jerry O'Connell, Ving Rhames, Jessica Szohr, Steven R. McQueen, Christopher Lloyd, Kelly Brook and Richard Dreyfuss. During spring break on Lake Victoria, a popular waterside resort, an underground tremor releases hundreds of prehistoric, carnivorous piranhas into the lake. Local cop Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue) must join forces with a band of unlikely strangers—though they are badly outnumbered—to destroy the ravenous creatures before everyone becomes fish food. The film was theatrically released in the United States on August 20, 2010, by The Weinstein Company. It received generally positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing over $83.1 million worldwide against a $24 million budget. A sequel, Piranha 3DD, released in 2012, was a critical and commercial failure.
Plot Local fisherman Matt Boyd is fishing in Lake Victoria, Arizona when a small earthquake hits, splitting the lake floor and causing a whirlpool. Matt falls in and is eaten by a school of prehistoric piranhas that emerge from the chasm. As spring break begins, college student Jake Forester reunites with his old crush Kelly and meets her arrogant boyfriend Todd Dupree. Jake meets Derrick Jones, a sleazy pornographer as well as Danni, one of his actresses. Derrick convinces Jake to show him good spots on the lake for filming a pornographic movie. Jake's mother, Sheriff Julie Forester, searches for the missing Matt Boyd with Deputy Fallon. They find his mutilated corpse and contemplate closing the lake, but this is complicated by thousands of partying college students on spring break, which is important for bringing revenue to the small town. The next morning, a lone cliff diver is attacked and devoured by the piranhas. Jake's siblings, Zane and Laura, take a canoe to go fishing on a small sandbar island and become stranded in the middle of the lake due to Zane neglecting to properly secure the canoe. Jake runs into Kelly, who accepted Derrick's invitation on board his boat, and meets Derrick's other actress Crystal and his cameraman Andrew. Julie takes a team of seismologist divers: Novak, Sam, and Paula to the fissure. Novak speculates that the rift leads to a buried prehistoric lake. Paula and Sam scuba dive to the bottom and discover a big cavern filled with large piranha egg stocks. Both are eaten by the piranhas before they can alert the others. Novak and Julie find Paula's corpse and pull it onto the boat, capturing a lone piranha, which they take to Carl Goodman, a retired marine biologist who owns a fish pet store with his wife. He explains that the piranha is a super-aggressive prehistoric species known as Pygocentrus nattereri, or the Original Piranha, previously believed to have been extinct for over two million years, and theorizes that they must have survived through cannibalism. The species is able to vigorously devour its prey in seconds. Julie, Novak, Fallon, and Deputy Taylor Roberts try to evacuate the lake, but their warnings are ignored. The piranhas begin to attack the tourists, turning the party into a bloodbath. Novak boards a jet-ski with a shotgun to help while the rest of the team try to save the others. Almost everyone in the lake is either grievously wounded or killed by the piranhas, including Todd, whose boat capsizes as he attempts to escape. Fallon makes a last stand, taking a boat motor and using its propeller as a makeshift chainsaw to kill some of the piranhas, but is seemingly killed in the process. Meanwhile, Jake spots Laura and Zane on the island and forces Derrick to rescue them. Derrick accidentally crashes the boat into some submerged rocks in the process, flooding the lower deck and causing the boat to begin sinking. Kelly is trapped in the galley while Derrick, Crystal, and Andrew fall overboard. Andrew escapes to the shore, but Crystal is devoured and Derrick is badly wounded. Danni manages to get a partially-eaten Derrick back on board, where he eventually dies. Julie and Novak reach Jake on a speedboat and attach a rope to his boat. Julie, Danni, Laura, and Zane start crossing the rope, but the piranhas latch onto Danni's hair, causing her to fall into the water, where she is ripped apart and devoured. The others make it across safely, but the rope comes loose. Jake ties the line to himself and goes to save Kelly, using Derrick's corpse to distract the piranhas. He ties her to him and lights a flare after releasing the gas from stored propane tanks. Novak speeds the boat away just as the piranhas surround Jake and Kelly. They are dragged to safety as the propane tanks explode, killing most of the piranhas. A terrified Goodman calls Julie, who tells him that they seem to have killed most of the piranhas. Goodman tells her that the reproductive glands on the piranha they obtained were not mature; the piranhas that they have killed were merely juveniles. As Novak wonders aloud where the adult piranhas are, a dolphin-sized adult piranha leaps out of the water and devours him.
Cast
Richard Dreyfuss said that he accepted the role after Bob Weinstein persuaded him by offering him a larger salary, which Dreyfuss later donated to charity. Dreyfuss also stated that the ill-fated character he plays is a parody and a near-reincarnation of Matt Hooper, the character he portrayed in the film Jaws (1975), with whom his character shares the same first name - during the scene, Matt is heard singing "Show Me the Way to Go Home" quietly.
Production
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