- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4 (2D), MVC (3D)
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit), French & Spanish DTS 5.1, English Descriptive Video Service Dolby Digital 2.0
- Subtitles (2D Only): English SDH, Spanish
- Subtitles Color: White
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: R
- Run Time: 83 Mins.
- Discs: 3 (1 x Blu-ray 3D + 1 x Blu-ray + 1 x DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet)
- Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment/The Weinstein Company
- Blu-ray Release Date: September 4, 2012
- List Price: $29.99
–
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
Video Quality
2D HD: [Rating:3.5/5]
3D Effect: [Rating:2.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
–
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
The the first Piranha film was an enjoyable throwback to the exploitation horror of the 70s and 80s, with just a hint of a nod to Jaws for good measure. Piranha 3DD arrives as a cash grab that brings absolutely nothing new to this franchise and, in fact, doesn’t even amp up the gore or nudity factor much – the only real reasons for watching a film like this. With that being said, this second film in the franchise stays true to the genre by being a cheeky, campy, and at times laughably crude teen horror flick with a few good jump scenes that all culminate in the inevitable bloody massacre at the end. This time around, the prehistoric piranha have migrated from Lake Victoria, Arizona via underground lakes and rivers to a new town near a water park, The Big Wet. Maddy (Danielle Panabaker) has just returned home from school to work at the water park that she co-owns with her sleazy step-dad Chet (David Koechner) only to find that he has converted it into an adult-themed park, complete with “water-certified strippers.” It doesn’t take long before the piranha start to attack, first when a couple of Maddy’s friends accidentally send their van into the lake. Soon, the piranha start making their way into the water park and all hell breaks loose. The movie has its fair share of shock factor, some of which includes a piranha shooting out a girl’s vagina and attaching itself to her boyfriend’s penis. Mostly, however, there’s nothing here too shocking or unpredictable, especially if you’ve already seen the original.
Video Quality
2D HD: [Rating:3.5/5]
3D Effect: [Rating:2.5/5]
While Piranha 3DD in 2D generally looks good with strong details, a relatively good amount of contrast, and strong, vibrant colors, it definitely suffers from some issues. In particular there is some noticeable video noise and many of the underwater scenes suffer from macroblocking. This is probably an issue with the original source, but it definitely brings down the quality of the image.
In 3D, things get even worse. This film, unlike the first, was done natively in 3D, but somehow the 3D effect looks worse than the original film’s 3D conversion. It is rather inconsistent, with many scenes looking flat. There are scenes where pop-out is strong – titles, piranha flying out at you, and various gimmicky things – where the 3D is stronger than the previous film, but generally speaking there isn’t a very natural sense of dimensionality that is consistent in this film.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Piranha 3DD gets a strong DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) soundtrack that engulfs listeners in the screams and splashes of the action quite nicely. It is an aggressive and dynamic mix with deep low frequencies and clean dialogue.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
The set comes with both a Blu-ray 3D and standard Blu-ray plus DVD and Digital copy. All the extras reside on the Blu-ray (and DVD). They are a mishmash of commentaries, throwaway deleted scenes, a brief “making of” and oddball short film with John McEnroe.
The supplements:
- Feature Commentary by Director John Gulager, Producer Joel Soisson, & Co-Writer Marcus Dunstan
- Deleted Scenes (1.78:1; SD):
- Big Dave’s Bong (00:00:50)
- Big Dave & The Jet (00:00:19)
- Big Dave & The Pump (00:01:24)
- The Story Behind the DD (1.78:1; SD; 00:07:49)
- The Hofftastic World of David Hasselhoff (1.78:1; SD; 00:02:09)
- Busey’s Bloopers (1.78:1; SD; 00:02:04)
- Wet and Wild with David Koechner (1.78:1; SD; 00:01:37)
- “A Lesson with John McEnroe” A Dimension Short Film (1.78:1; SD; 00:03:53)
- DVD
- Digital Copy
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
More of the same only with different faces in a different town is what you get with this half-baked sequel. If you still want to take a look, I recommend renting Piranha 3DD on a slow weekend.
Additional Screen Captures
[amazon-product]B004LWZW6U[/amazon-product]
Purchase Piranha 3DD on Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
–
[amazon-product]B004LWZW6U[/amazon-product]
Purchase Piranha 3DD on Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
Video Quality
2D HD: [Rating:3.5/5]
3D Effect: [Rating:2.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
–
Thanks for the disk review and screen grabs, Brandon. I watched 3DD
when it first hit pay per view a few months ago. I remember ordering it online
before I left my office at DISH and that it was ready to watch in 3D by the
time I got home to my Hopper DVR. If 3DD was as good as the first film I would certainly
rank it as a buy; sadly 3DD doesn’t really live up to the first film in the
most important ways. Sure there is some fun campiness but they really failed to
up the ante with this sequel. Stream it, rent it but don’t buy Piranha 3DD.
Maybe Aja and Gulager can combine efforts on the third film
for something really “camptastic”.
I’d point out that I also saw this on PPV via digital cable in 3D before the BD was released and, compared to the PPV version, the BD, not surprisingly, looks vastly superior, which isn’t saying much.