Let’s face it, most of us fear nature. And with good reason. The tragedy of the flooding in Pakistan could serve as Exhibit “A.” Below this posting is a list of charities.
Hollywood has over the years preyed on our collective fear of nature often going to ridiculous extremes. Exaggeration runs rampant. The other night, in an irresponsible move, my 8-year old stepson and I watched the trailer for the 1978 Irwin Allen bomb THE SWARM. You might remember that crazy flick—it’s the one staring Michael Caine and in one hilarious scene the bees cause the explosion of a nuclear power plant. And that’s Richard Chamberlain running from the stinging critters while the whole things goes up in a fiery burst. As a kid, I never looked at a bee the same way again. But now, I roared with laughter watching the trailer. My 8-year stepson was not as amused.
We should respect nature in all its glory and potential danger. Irrational fear, however, is unwarranted.
And it is fear fanned by our imagination that always creeps in…
One Sunday morning recently, I was greeted by an army of caterpillars that attacked my backyard. The grass was literally teaming with what turned out to be an infestation of armyworms. Instantly, I recoiled in fear—shaking off my flip-flops and cautiously retreating to the safety of my patio. The local paper even did a front page story about the troublesome insects ravaging our community. Armyworms had invaded and they were taking down lush green lawns regardless of the relative property values. It was already hard enough to sell your home, now, a yard of dirt complicated things even more.
While producer/director Irwin Allen forbade people around him to even utter the title of his bee-driven disaster opus, Hollywood has always seen the utility in making films that trade on our fear of nature’s potential threats. Case in point: This weekend, we get another take on the piranha theme. And this time it’s in 3D!
I expect that PIRANHA 3D will perform well regardless whether it is any good. In fact, a “good” piranha movie might benefit from being bad–the cheesier and schlockier the better.
The 1978 PIRANHA film was executive produced by none-other-than Roger Corman, the b-movie master producer. The film was directed by Joe Dante who went on to helm THE HOWLING and later GREMLINS. And it was written by Oscar nominated John Sayles. Originally conceived as an attempt to capitalize on the success of JAWS released a few summers earlier, PIRANHA proved to be much better than anyone expected. But “better” in a way that celebrated cheese and the monster movie genre. The cast was a who’s who of b-movie actors who yucked it up well.
The success of PIRANHA (1978) inevitably laid the ground work for a sequel. PIRANHA II: THE SPAWNING upped the ante and gave the killer fish wings. Directed by James Cameron, PIRANHA II has been lampooned for years, but once again, nature took a bite out of the box office. The film even popped up on the shelf of my local video store with a new cover, a reissue to capitalize on the new 3D theatrical release. Just a scan of rumors told on various blogs reveals that there are several versions of the PIRANHA sequel and even some discussion as to whether Cameron (AVATAR’s Cameron) actually directed the film.
Now comes along another take on the piranha sub-genre with PIRANHA 3D. And I can’t think of a better use for the 3D gimmick. My interview with 3D editor and filmmaker Stephen Les is coming soon and he makes a great argument for 3D’s use in dramatic films, but right now, certain horror, SF, and action movies might be the best place for it. What will be cool is how the underwater scenes in this version of PIRANHA are handled. And given the R rating the movie is sporting, the comic gore and violence must be heavy. Fans of that sort of thing should be delighted. As the fish devour a shapely bikini wearing nymphet, viewers will get to appreciate each dismembered fleshy floating body part in three dimensions.
But aside from the visual trickery at play, the heart of any PIRANHA success is our irrational fear of nature. Not being able to control or even understand the mind of the ultimate fresh water eating machines only feeds that fear. And given the effect armyworms had on me and my community one summer Sunday morning, we’ve not seen the end of movies that take advantage of our love/hate/ignorant relationship with nature. No one is safe even on the concrete refuge of our backyard patios—coming soon: ARMYWORMS, the movie.
Pakistani Flood Disaster Relief: Charities list according to the New York Time blog: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/pakistan-flood-disaster-relief-how-to-help/
