Kelly Brook

The schlocky, horror/comedy flick has more than just blood and boobs galore going for it.By Eric Ditzian Jerry O'Connell in "Piranha 3D" Photo: Atmosphere Entertainment The headline of this story is a tad misleading, because there's really only one thing you need to know about "Piranha 3D:" It's utterly insane. Inspired by the schlocky, love-it-or-hate-it franchise, the new movie spins a story about what happens when thousands of prehistoric fishies go tooth-to-flesh with thousands of college kids enjoying a sun-and-booze-filled spring break. It's not spoiling anything to say that it doesn't end well for the great majority of those slacking students. No sooner have they donned their skimpy bikinis and tapped their kegs, then the piranha strike. And strike. And strike. Blood flows, screams fly, terror reigns. So, know that. But, of course, that's not all there is to keep in mind about the movie, which stars Elisabeth Shue, Jerry O'Connell, Jessica Szohr, Christopher Lloyd and Richard Dreyfuss. Here are five more things you need to know about "Piranha 3D." There's Equal Opportunity Nudity Much has been made of the film's abundant nudity. Heck, even Aja himself has been bragging about all those "3-D double-D boobs." But the men of Piranha get their fair amount of exposure, too — if not quite the same way. "The piranha go for the one defining feature on each of us that seems to tell everything about our character," co-star Kelly Brook told us. "Jerry O'Connell's character has a pretty unsightly situation with some piranhas and parts of his anatomy that will remain unspoken about on MTV." We'll let you guess which part of his anatomy — O'Connell's character makes his living in the adult-entertainment industry — gets chomped on. It's an Ode to the '80s Sure, audiences have probably never seen anything that can be called a 3-D horror/comedy popcorn flick, but listen to anyone involved with "Piranha" and you'll hear them talk as much about the cinematic past as the technological present. "It's an ode to the '80s," Aja said."I fell in love with the script for that reason. It's like 'Dead Alive' and 'Evil Dead.' It's 'Gremlins' for adults." It Could be the Bloodiest Movie Ever The folks over at Guinness might want to take note: The "Piranha" filmmakers are convinced their movie is the bloodiest movie in cinematic history. "Over 600 gallons of blood were used in this movie so far, and we're not even done," co-star Paul Scheer told us when we visited the set. "This is gonna be the most boobs and blood in any motion picture of all time." By the time the movie wrapped production, Aja bragged, "I think blood-wise, I have to get the final number, but we are beyond anything you can even imagine." The 3-D Doesn't Suck Who isn't sick of unnecessary 3-D — a third dimension practically fastened on with glue and scotch tape? Here's the thing about "Piranha 3D": It looks pretty good. And that's not because they shot it with 3-D cameras (the technical challenges of shooting on and in the water were simply too great to film "Avatar"-style). Aja used a painstaking post-production conversion process, and the results are worthy of applause. " 'Clash of the Titans' and that last-minute conversion, forget it," said Scheer. "['Piranha'] looks really rich and full." Added O'Connell, "Alex Aja, who was our boss on this one, said, 'I'm going to make a 3-D movie and I'm going to make a really good 3-D movie. So from the get-go, all the bits, all the gags, all the drama, is designed around 3-D. So if you're a fan of 3-D, this is one you don't have to groan about." It's Based on a True Story What, you don't think a swarm of prehistoric piranhas ever chewed their way through a few thousand liquored-up college kids on spring break? Scheer will set you straight. "It's based on a true story," he deadpanned. So, um, add "biopic" to this delightful hodgepodge of genres, which include horror, comedy, date movie and nasty-marine-life-vs.-people flick. "Richard Dreyfuss didn't even know he was shooting 'Piranha,' " laughed Scheer. "He thought he was in the new 'Jaws' movie!" Check out everything we've got on "Piranha 3D." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: 'Piranha 3D'

Adam Scott and Elizabeth Shue in a full-blooded fish story. Jerry O'Connell in "Piranha 3D" Photo: Gene Page / Dimension "Piranha 3D" is a genre horror film that delivers exactly what you'd expect: gushers of blood, ripped flesh by the kilo, and acres of bare booty and boobs (some of them real). But the movie has been fashioned at a surprisingly high level: The effects are top notch, the camerawork is marvelously fluid, and the 3D is the real kind (none of that post-production add-on stuff). The thrills here may be traditional, but they're still actually thrilling. The picture rips off "Jaws" with vigorous glee. In the part of the local lawman played by Roy Scheider in the 1975 classic we now have Elizabeth Shue, and Adam Scott takes the part of the science guy played in the 1975 classic by Richard Dreyfus. (Dreyfuss himself actually pops up here, in a very small part that requires him to be rendered into even smaller parts.) The setting is Lake Havasu, Arizona (here called Lake Victoria), where a seismic event of some sort has opened a subaqueous crack, up through which pour a legion of primordial piranhas ("more than two million years old!" one knowledgeable character gasps). And wouldn't you know, this ominous event has occurred right in the middle of the annual spring-break invasion of drunken college boys and knockout bikini women. (There are lingering shots of the inevitable wet-t-shirt contest.) The story is unabashedly by-the-numbers. While the college kids frolic on the lakeshore, a creep named Derrick (Jerry O'Connell) is out on the water in his cabin cruiser with local boy Jake Forester (Steven R. McQueen), son of the sheriff (Shue); nice-girl Kelly (Jessica Szohr), on whom Jake has his eye; and two bisexual babes (Kelly Brook and Riley Steele) who swim around naked beneath the glass-bottom boat so that Derek can film them for a skin flick he's making. There are also two little kids stranded on an island and wading out knee-deep to shout for help. All of this solicits the traditional audience response: "Don't go in the water!" But does anyone listen? Need you ask? Director Alexandere Aja ("High Tension") knows there's no point in using 3D for subtle depth effects; what we really want is vicious multi-fanged piranhas shooting right off the screen and into our face. He does this with great gusto; and working with cinematographer John R. Leonetti, he's concocted some ripping subsurface scenes (beyond the pull-'em-under shots familiar from "Jaws") and some lively stunts. We expect Sheriff Forester to start running around on the beach in a panic pleading with the college kids to get out of the lake (to no avail until the water is running red with blood), and so she does. And when Derek's boat founders on some rocks with one of the girls trapped below deck, we know that somebody has to jump in the water and swim below to rescue her. We know, we know. But when the action is this slickly done, we want to see it all again, one more time. Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: 'Piranha 3D' 'Piranha 3-D' Clips