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Ask Movie Slate — Corman Month — Piranha (1978)

Today's Movie Slate is brought to you thanks to :iconssjcharon:

Working on this drawing was one of the most relaxing things I've done in a while. It felt really good to work on the overall look, trying to make the ocean iridescent and bright, without making it extremely blue or extremely green. Figuring out the depth of field was an exercise on its own, and ended up grabbing a handful of tutorials about it. It was a fun formative experience that lead me to this conclusion. Anyone can draw pretty clouds. It's not that big a deal. They're fluffy.

"Piranha" is perhaps one of the weirdest movies I've watched. The way it looks and the way it plays, it's borderline non-sensical even for a film about genetically engineered fish that can survive both in sea water and sweet water. Let's go with the good things. The characters are actually quite alright, and it helps that the actors are trying harder than many of them deserve. It's also one of the earliest works of Joe Dante, the guy who would direct "Gremlins", so it's fun to see where he started on. Unfortunately that's where things stop being good.

This movie has a screenplay issue, and that's how many of the characters are holding the idiot's ball. Their actions only make sense to themselves, which leads to situations that could've been prevented. This is not a case of people dying because the circumstances are out of their control, it's more a case of people dying because they are just stupid (and thus Darwin is effecting a bit of his presence right there). The sequel hook is downright insulting, especially knowing how much of a disaster the making of that movie was. The aesthetic is perhaps the weirdest and worst thing about it. I saw screenshots of it before and it looked like it took place in the jungle, when it turns out it's just a river in the middle of North America. This movie is so confused about its identity, I lost interest halfway through and watched the rest in sort of a trance, which might be due to the anaemic rhythm.

Overall, "Piranha" is perhaps one of the most boring examples of a "Jaws" rip off that forgot to be entertaining, interesting, or make sense. How Joe Dante managed to create a handful of great and memorable movies afterwards, that I don't know. If I were you, I'd skip it.

Poor Movie Slate looks so happy, it's weird to see her this cheerful. I've gotten used to draw her angry and depressed, or done with everything around her. Don't worry, she will be done with the whole world before you know it.

I hope you guys enjoy the picture!

Upvotes at import: 29 | Stars at import: 17
Posted previously at: 2018-12-27T17:52:59 | Posted previously by: Charonib