'Piranha 3DD' should be taken for what it's worth

I watched a really silly “horror” movie the other day called “Piranha 3DD.” If you’re willing to take it for what it’s worth, you’ll probably like it. Personally, I felt dumber after having watched it, and I was thankful that it was less than half an hour long.

Released in the U.S. on June 1, “Piranha 3DD” is the sequel to 2010’s “Piranha 3D.” The events in “Piranha 3DD” take place a year after the events in the first movie, which was a remake of the 1978 movie, “Piranha.” In “Piranha 3D” prehistoric piranhas attack swimmers and boaters at Lake Victoria, Arizona. In “Piranha 3DD” the piranhas have moved to nearby waters where they make trouble in a new water park called “Big Wet.”

Rated R with a run time of 83 minutes, “Piranha 3DD” was directed by John Gulager. Its cast featured some well-known names, including Gary Busey, Christopher Lloyd, David Hasselhoff, Ving Rhames and David Koechner. I got somewhat of a kick out of Hasselhoff and Koechner in this movie. Their presences in this otherwise waste of time was somewhat amusing.

Despite all of the star power in its cast, “Piranha 3DD” was a box office flop. Shot in just 25 days on a budget of around $5 million, the movie posted gross revenues of only $7.3 million. The movie did so poorly at the box office that when it was released in the U.K., “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,” which opened the same weekend, did better at the box office.

After having watched this movie, I feel like I should say that it’s probably not for everybody. It’s Rated R for “sequences of strong bloody horror violence and gore, graphic nudity, sexual content, language and some drug use.” In other words, if you’re not old enough to join the army, you definitely shouldn’t be watching this movie. I realize that by even mentioning the above I run the risk of making some of you want to watch it even more, but don’t say you weren’t warned.

On the upshot, “Piranha 3DD” did make me want to watch the original 1978 movie, “Piranha,” which I’ve never seen. This “B movie,” which has been called a rip-off of “Jaws,” was directed by Joe Dante and starred Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn and Dick Miller.

The original “Piranha” spawned another sequel called “Piranha II: The Spawning” and another remake in 1995, which was also called “Piranha.” 1981’s “Piranha II” was directed by a young James Cameron and starred Tricia O’Neil, Lance Henriksen, Leslie Graves, Carole Davis and Steve Marachuk. The piranhas in this movie could swim and fly, which made them twice as deadly.

1995’s “Piranha” was directed by Scott Levy and actually debuted on Showtime. This movie starred William Katt, Alexandra Paul, Soleil Moon Frye, Mila Kunis and Leland Orser. One notable thing about this movie was that it actually contained stock footage from the 1978 originals.

In the end, how many of you have seen “Piranha 3DD”? What did you think about it? Did you like it or not? Let us know in the comments section below.