History Film / Piranha3D

''Piranha 3D'' is a remake (InNameOnly, really) [[Film/{{Piranha}} of the 1978 original]] Creator/JoeDante B-movie, directed by Creator/AlexandreAja.

''Piranha 3D'' is a remake (InNameOnly, really) [[Film/{{Piranha}} of the original]] Creator/JoeDante B-movie, directed by Creator/AlexandreAja.

Also filling out the adult cast are Creator/JerryOConnell (a Girls Gone Wild-esque producer/director), Creator/ChristopherLloyd (a marine biologist), and [[TheCameo Richard Dreyfuss]] ([[DeathByCameo a local fisherman who is the first to get eaten]]). As incredible as it may seem, the film actually got mostly ''positive'' reviews, for being realistically scary, but also knowing when to indulge in its BMovie roots. Two years later, a sequel was released, ''Film/Piranha3DD''.

* AlmightyJanitor: Mr. Goodman is just a pet shop owner but becomes ''the'' authority on the piranha.
* ActionMom: Julie Forester, the Lake Victoria ''sheriff''. [[MamaBear She shows no hesitation to go help her kids when they're in danger.]]

* DeathBySex: Promiscuous spring-breakers, a pornographer, and wet t-shirt contest host ([[DeathByCameo played by]] Creator/EliRoth) are on the receiving end of the piranhas' teeth.
* DiabolusExMachina: Although the ending wasn't really sunshine and rainbows, it was revealed that [[spoiler: the piranhas throughout the movie were actually babies, and a man-sized adult piranha eats one of the main characters]].

* DoubleStandard: The porn actresses are treated as fair game for DeathBySex, but people like Jake who watched them are more likely to survive.
* {{Fanservice}}: First half of the film is filled with lots, particularly the underwater nude ballet between Creator/KellyBrook and Riley Steele (who, by the way, is an ''actual porn star'').

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: A porn actress rather than a hooker, but Creator/KellyBrook's character Danni is otherwise this to a tee. She quickly becomes a sort of surrogate CoolBigSis to the teenage hero, [[ShipperOnDeck tries to get him to kiss the girl he has a crush on]] and is the only character to show grief when [[spoiler: the {{Jerkass}} porn producer dies. Not that any of this stops her becoming fish food of course]].

%%* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Curiously played straight, unlike the original.

* ActionMom: Julie. [[MamaBear She shows no hesitation to go help her kids when they're in danger.]]

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Lots and lots of this, including non-piranha caused deaths: a girl gets sliced in half by a high tension wire and watches her bikini top fall off before [[DiagonalCut the rest of her upper torso follows suit]]. Another girl's hair gets tangled in the propellers of a speedboat, ripping off her scalp and face. The host of a Wet T-shirt contest is decapitated. In more piranha-related news, a piranha eats a woman from the inside out, emerging from her mouth. Two piranhas fight over the severed [[spoiler:penis]] of a pornographer...and didn't like it in the end.

* MsFanservice: Most of the girls, but notably Danni played by Creator/KellyBrook and Crystal played by Riley Steele (who's an actual pornographic actress) thanks to the underwater ballet scene.

* DiabolusExMachina: Although the ending wasn't really candy and rainbows, it was revealed that [[spoiler: the piranhas throughout the movie were actually babies, and a man-sized adult piranha eats one of the main characters]].

* OhCrap: When the main cast find out that [[spoiler: The piranha they've been fighting are ''babies''.]]

* UnderwaterKiss: It's an underwater ''[[{{Fanservice}} nude]] [[UpToEleven ballet]]'', as mentioned several times above.

* {{Corpsing}}: When [[spoiler: Derrick's]] half-eaten body is brought onto the boat, Laura's actress can be seen grinning instead of looking horrified.

* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler: Danni]] is a more sexualized example of TheCutie than most, but she still applies.

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Among the victims of the piranhas include Todd, a Jerkass bully to Jake who also kills several people during the piranha attack by driving his speedboat through a crowd before falling off his boat and getting killed himself. Another victim is Derrick who is a scummy porno filmmaker that exploits his female actresses.]]

* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler: Danni]]. is a more sexualized example of TheCutie than most, but she still applies.

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Among the victims of the piranhas include Tood, a Jerkass bully to Jake who also kills several people during the piranha attack by driving his speedboat through a crowd before becoming falling off his boat and getting killed himself. Another Victim is Derrick who is a scummy porno filmmaker that exploits his women]]

* HazardousWater: Though even slightly above it isn't better, as the piranha can jump a few inches and latch on to anything danging. [[spoiler: Danni dies this day, as the piranha grab her hair as she rappels over the water and her trying to remove them and keep going just leads to them getting her arms too.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Deputy Fallon grabs an engine and propeller and holds it in the water to chop of swarms of piranha in an effort to allow more people to get to shore. The fish quickly get to his legs since he has to stand in the water to do this, but he keeps going until he's fully devoured. Subverted since the sequel reveals he survied albeit he lost his legs]]

* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler: Danni]]. is a more sexualize example of TheCutie than most, but she still applies.

* MsFanservice: Most of the girls, but notably Danni played by Creator/KellyBrook and Crystal played by Rilley Steele thanks to the underwater ballet scene.

* PoliceAreUseless: Not here. They find out the piranha threat, try to alert people and do an impressive job getting everyone they can out of the water when the piranha attack while also trying to fight off the piranhas from attacking the spring breakers.

* TakeThat: As shown above in NoCelebritiesWereHarmed, Derrick is clearly based off of Joe Francis and Derrick is portrayed as a sleazy scumbag producer[[spoiler: who then gets violently killed near the end.]]

* UncertainDoom: A wire from the snapped soundstage whacks two cheerleaders in one of the nearby boats trying to save swimmers. While one of them is clearly lied in half the other might have survived, given how there was a deep cut bible across her thigh, but it might not have been deep enough to slice all the way through (unlike her friend) as she doesn't come apart on-screen and might have been able to survive even if she had.

** Very little thought is given to the spring break massacre after the main characters leave the scene to rescue the sheriff's children. Though by the time Sheriff Julie has left, the surviving spring breakers seem to be safely out of the water.

* AdultFear: After saving mulitple people from piranhas, Julie gets word from her own son that he as well as his younger siblings are trapped on a boat that is sinking into piranha-infested waters. The fear hitting her is puncuated with a VertigoEffect camera zoom. This shot is one of the many references to Jaws, albiet a more subtle one.

** [[spoiler: Paula.]] If your diving partner has swum into a dark cavern, shouts that something bit him, his rope goes slack, and all attempts at futher vocal contact are met with horrific screaming, it's probably in your best interest NOT to go swimming in after him.

* AlmightyJanitor: Mr. Goodman is just a bet shop owner but becomes ''the'' authority on the piranha.

* ShoutOut: The first victim is played by Creator/RichardDreyfuss. He even sings ''[[Film/{{Jaws}} Show Me The Way To Go Home]]'' while out on the lake.

* PoliceAreUseless: Not here. They find out the piranha threat, try to alert people and do an impressive job getting everyone they can out of the water when the piranha attack while also trying to fightoff the piranhas from attacking the spring breakers.

* BigNo: Paula screams "NO!!!" twice while attempting to swim away from the piranhas after they had finished munching on [[spoiler: Sam. By the time Novak reaches her, it's too late.]]

* AdultFear: After saving mulitple people from piranhas, Julie gets word from her own son that he as well as his younger siblings are trapped on a boat that is sinking into piranha-imfested waters. The fear hitting her is puncuated with a VertigoEffect camera zoom. This shot is one of the many references to Jaws, albiet a more subtle one.

* GagBoobs: After [[spoilers: Crystal]] has been eaten alive by the piranhas, her skeleton is seen slowly drifting to the bottom of the lake... while her breast implants are seen slowly drifting up to the surface.

* GagBoobs: After [[spoilers:Crystal]] has been eaten alive by the piranhas, her skeleton is seen slowly drifting to the bottom of the lake... while her breast implants are seen slowly drifting up to the surface.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Averted. Jerry O'Connell said that his character was explicitly based on Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis, and insisted on giving him the goriest death in the movie (in an interview O'Connell even stated he had a very low opinion of Francis).

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Among the victims of the piranhas include Tood, a Jerkass bully to Jake who also kills several people during the piranha attack by driving his sppedboat through a crowd before becoming falling off his boat and getting killed himself. Another Victim is Derrick who is a scummy porno filmmaker that exploits his women]]

* PoliceAreUseless: Not here. They find out the piranha threat, try to alert people and do an impressive job getting everyone they can out of the water when the piranha attack.

** Very little thought is given to the spring break massacre after the main characters leave the scene to rescue the sheriff's children.

* HeroicSacrifice: One of the sheriff's deputies grabs an engine and propeller and holds it in the water to chop of swarms of piranha in an effort to allow more people to get to shore. The fish quickly get to his legs since he has to stand in the water to do this, but he keeps going until he's fully devoured.

* FamousLastWords: Derrick saying to Jake "Wet t-shirt. Wet t-shirt." for no apparent reason.

%%* InfantImmortality: Curiously played straight, unlike the original.

* DoubleStandard: the porn actresses are treated as fair game for DeathBySex, but people like Jake who watched them are more likely to survive.