Scantily clad young men and women celebrating spring break on a stunning lake until blood-thirsty piranhas appear out of nowhere to eat them alive. If this ridiculous exploitation concept has you salivating over the sight of lots of fake boobs and the deliciously gruesome carnage that is to come, then director Alexandre Aja’s Piranha is the movie for you. Marking the return of the ultra-violent horror comedy, this is an unashamedly crass, campy, and corny summer fare that is fully committed to being as trashy as possible.

It’s spring break on Lake Havasu in Arizona where thousands of college students have flocked to, causing many headaches for Sheriff Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue) and her deputy (Ving Rhames). In the meanwhile, her teenage son Jake (Steven R. McQueen) is supposed to be baby-sitting his younger siblings (Brooklynn Proulx and Sage Ryan) but he would rather embark on a porn boat with the producer of a Girls Gone Wild rip-off, the sleazy Derrick Jones (Jerry O’Connell). Naturally, this all results in everyone being on the lake when scores of prehistoric piranhas are set free after a sudden underwater tremor.

Listen, if you are going to see this movie, you know exactly what to expect. The “plot” is just a big setup for the big carnage sequence at the end. Aja keeps the viewer interested with some gratuitous nudity and the piranhas feasting on a couple scientists to wet your appetite until the climactic unleashing of the piranhas. While it would have been nice to get some piranha-on-human carnage from beginning to end, you will have to put up with some atrocious acting, and cringe-worthy family drama to build up the last 20 minutes of the movie instead.

And lo’ and behold once you get there, it’s an outrageously sickening feast (pun intended!) as you will witness a woman so badly shredded she is torn in half during her rescue attempt, another poor woman gets her hair caught in a boat propeller, and yet another one gets bisected by a loose cable –naturally, she doesn’t die before we get a final boob shot. And let’s not forget about the cameo by Eli Roth whose grisly fate is only rivaled by Jerry O’Connell “crucial” organ loss. Given the copious amount of gore and nudity, I’m very surprised that the movie is only R-rated. The cast comprises a number of porn stars and well-endowed bimbos to truly give you your money worth and there is even a mesmerizing scene of  Derrick Jones’ two porn stars (Kelly Brooks and Riley Steele) swimming naked underwater.

Piranha isn’t a movie that ever attempts to be a remotely serious film and it’s easy to enjoy the trashy aspect of this horror comedy. The eclectic cast works well within that context given that bad acting is not only fully expected but required. Jerry O’Connell is hilariously slimy and over the top while many will be happy to cheer for Ving Rhames killing hundreds of Piranhas in a singular manner. There is also a brief cameo by Christopher Lloyd, the mad scientist from Back From The Future as well as an appearance by Richard Dreyfuss in an opening homage to Jaws.

With fake boobs, blood and piranhas aplenty, Piranha is an hilariously trashy movie that will satisfy fans of B-movies.

B-

(6.5/10)

Notes: Rated R for sequences of strong bloody horror violence and gore, graphic nudity, sexual content, language and some drug use, 88 minutes.