Lousy movies often hit theaters without the benefit of film reviews in your morning newspaper.
Studios routinely shield said films from critics in order to prevent harsh reviews from impacting their box office fortunes.
That’s what happened, presumably, with “Piranha 3D,” the update on the 1978 horror film starring Elisabeth Shue, Ving Rhames and Jerry O’Connell.
But a funny thing happened when critics started seeing the blood-drenched drama which opens this weekend.
They liked it – right now the film’s Rottentomatoes.com rating is in the early 80s (this could change as more critics file their reviews to the site).
In one case, a critic all but grabs us by the collar and demands we see it.
Take Christy Lemire, a trustworthy movie critic who toils for the Associated Press. She gave the movie 3 1/2 stars and didn’t mince words with her review’s lede:
Mere words cannot describe how awesomely gnarly “Piranha 3D” is, how hugely entertaining, and how urgently you must get yourself to the theatre to see it. Like, now.
Did Dimension, the studio behind the movie, make a mistake in bypassing critics?
I think studios think critics are stuffed shirt types who turn up their collective noses at genre films. That might have been true in the Pauline Kael era, but today’s critics are more eager to embrace well crafted B-movies than their predecessors.
(Photo: Dimension Films, the studio behind “Piranha 3D,” thought letting critics see their film would result in a blood bath.)
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the good review. Many horror/camp movies, while they make the studios money (since they historically cost less), give us sub-standard writing, direction, and acting. I can not wait to see this on the small screen in 2-D.
As I understand it, Piranha 3-D was not filmed in 3-D.
Knowing how you feel (rightly so) about the Hollywood rush to release everything in 3-D, how did you, Toto, about the 3-D effects? Was it worth the time wearing plastic glasses?
On a side note, I understand that the new Little Women treatment is being rushed for 3-D.
I’m not a fan of 3-D at this point. The ‘up converted’ 3-D films are terrible, and even movies shot in 3-D seem mostly pointless to me.
I do think there will be a 3-D tech revolution within the next 10 years that will be a genuinely immersive experience and that, I think, may transform the industry.
Here, the 3-D added a little something extra, another layer of cheese that hit the spot a few times. It’s not worth paying more than a buck extra for, though (my ticket was $14.50 which is an outrageous sum for a 90 min. movie.