The success of Jaws (1975) inspired many studios to attempt to cash in on the success of Spielberg’s terror from the sea, including the one and only king of camp Roger Corman. Piranha was released in 1978 and was directed by Joe Dante who would later helm the masterpiece The Howling. In many ways this film typified the Corman canon in that it starred genre greats such as Barbara Steele (Black Sunday, Shivers, The Pit and The Pendelum ), Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of The Body Snatchers), Paul Bartel (Rock n’ Roll High School, Chopping Mall) and Dick Miller (Gremlins, The Howling, Night of The Creeps). As per usual within Corman’s films the real stars were the monstrously plastic nemeses and the buckets of blood. Alexandre Aja is no stranger to the horror genre or genre remakes. He helmed the classic French slasher film Haute tension (2003) and directed the remake of The Hills Have Eyes (2006). Aja’s rendition of this film holds true to the gutsy, gratuitous, gory spectacle that is astutely intertextual.
The intertextual and the referential nature of this film is immediately established within the opening scene. An old man who is fishing falls victim to a whirlpool created by a tremor and is eaten by the vicious piranhas. This scene is made exquisite in that it is actor Richard Dreyfuss who is the first victim. Dreyfuss of course starred in Jaws and this subtle but brilliant referential casting is the first of a handful of references to the horror genre, camp and the 80s. Other brilliantly referential casting choices within the film are Christopher Lloyd (Back to The Future) playing a mad scientist, Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel, Hostel 2) hosting a gratuitous wet T-Shirt contest and then getting his head crushed like a water melon by a speedboat and Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction, Dawn of The Dead) playing a badass cop alluding to Shaft and Blaxploitation. Aja’s casting plays up the intertextuality of the horror genre and emphasizes its importance in horror remakes.
Dante’s original showed no mercy to the spectator unleashing a swarm of vicious piranhas on a summer camp of children and then on a slew of youth on a nearby beach. Aja, true to form, takes the gratuitous gore of the film to the next level pouring buckets of blood in the water and revealing a feeding frenzy of flesh. The punishment beset upon the belligerent party goers on spring break is horribly fantastic and this is accentuated by the fact the film is shot in 3-D. In this way the film epitomizes Arnzen’s definition of a “splatter film.” He states that the, “spectacle of violence replaces any pretensions to narrative structure, because gore is the only part of the film that is reliably consistent” (3). Gore is the constant within the narrative of a splatter film and without it the film would be incomplete. This rings true to both Piranha films and it grounds the excessive violence.
Thematically these two films reveal a great deal about the decades in which they were constructed. Within the original the military and figures of authority are heavily scrutinized. It is the military who developed the piranha as a weapon and corporate interest seems to be preserved at any cost. Within the remake the decadence of youth culture is emphasized and it is nature that creates the plague of vicious flesh eaters. The original does not seem to have any concern for nature. The protagonist destroys the piranha by opening large containers of chemicals into the water, a chemical that is said to undoubtedly kill any life in the water. In a decade in which the environment is regarded as an essential commodity Mother Nature seems to take revenge on the party goers and their wasting the waterfront. Within this day and age videos of teenagers doing wild and belligerent partying is just a click away and it for this reason that Aja dwells on this gratuitous spectacle to such an extent. Similarly it is perhaps for this reason that central to the narrative are two porn stars and their producer. The culture in which the remake was produced is one drenched in excess, it is therefore essential that the spectacle of violence and nudity is prominent.
Arnzen, Michael A. "Who's Laughing Now? The Postmodern Splatter Film." Journal of Popular Film and Television. Winter, Vol. 21 (1994).
The intertextual and the referential nature of this film is immediately established within the opening scene. An old man who is fishing falls victim to a whirlpool created by a tremor and is eaten by the vicious piranhas. This scene is made exquisite in that it is actor Richard Dreyfuss who is the first victim. Dreyfuss of course starred in Jaws and this subtle but brilliant referential casting is the first of a handful of references to the horror genre, camp and the 80s. Other brilliantly referential casting choices within the film are Christopher Lloyd (Back to The Future) playing a mad scientist, Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel, Hostel 2) hosting a gratuitous wet T-Shirt contest and then getting his head crushed like a water melon by a speedboat and Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction, Dawn of The Dead) playing a badass cop alluding to Shaft and Blaxploitation. Aja’s casting plays up the intertextuality of the horror genre and emphasizes its importance in horror remakes.
Dante’s original showed no mercy to the spectator unleashing a swarm of vicious piranhas on a summer camp of children and then on a slew of youth on a nearby beach. Aja, true to form, takes the gratuitous gore of the film to the next level pouring buckets of blood in the water and revealing a feeding frenzy of flesh. The punishment beset upon the belligerent party goers on spring break is horribly fantastic and this is accentuated by the fact the film is shot in 3-D. In this way the film epitomizes Arnzen’s definition of a “splatter film.” He states that the, “spectacle of violence replaces any pretensions to narrative structure, because gore is the only part of the film that is reliably consistent” (3). Gore is the constant within the narrative of a splatter film and without it the film would be incomplete. This rings true to both Piranha films and it grounds the excessive violence.
Thematically these two films reveal a great deal about the decades in which they were constructed. Within the original the military and figures of authority are heavily scrutinized. It is the military who developed the piranha as a weapon and corporate interest seems to be preserved at any cost. Within the remake the decadence of youth culture is emphasized and it is nature that creates the plague of vicious flesh eaters. The original does not seem to have any concern for nature. The protagonist destroys the piranha by opening large containers of chemicals into the water, a chemical that is said to undoubtedly kill any life in the water. In a decade in which the environment is regarded as an essential commodity Mother Nature seems to take revenge on the party goers and their wasting the waterfront. Within this day and age videos of teenagers doing wild and belligerent partying is just a click away and it for this reason that Aja dwells on this gratuitous spectacle to such an extent. Similarly it is perhaps for this reason that central to the narrative are two porn stars and their producer. The culture in which the remake was produced is one drenched in excess, it is therefore essential that the spectacle of violence and nudity is prominent.
Arnzen, Michael A. "Who's Laughing Now? The Postmodern Splatter Film." Journal of Popular Film and Television. Winter, Vol. 21 (1994).