Comic-Con 2010: Cast Introduces Piranha 3D

Published by Jeff Leins on July 25, 2010

Called “too hot for Comic-Con,” the promotional event for Piranha 3D took place away from the convention center at the Regal Theater in San Diego. Many of the cast members assembled to premiere roughly 8 minutes of footage from the film, which our own David Pinson described as “gory, campy fun” filled with “extreme gore meant to elicit laughter.”

In attendance were Eli Roth (credited as “Wet t-shirt contest emcee”), Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Jerry O’Connell, Kelly Brook, porn actress Riley Steele, and director Alexandre Aja.

During the footage, a few random sequences introduced Spring Break at Lake Victoria — looking remarkably similar to Lake Havasu — and a series of deaths.  The sheriffs, played by Shue and Ving Rhames, want everyone out of the water.  Clearly, the piranhas and the movie are taking their cues and parody from Jaws (also evidenced by the poster below).

The fish are the SyFy channel version that attack and shred large groups of people.  A college crowd becomes a feeding frenzy of breasts and blood.  One girl has the skin ripped from her face by a boat propeller.  Another makes the mistake of floating in an inner tube.

The 3D is a throwback to its gimmicky use during the ’80s, or around the time of Joe Dante’s original Piranha.  Objects are pointed directly at the camera for the effect.  Someone in the crowd yelled “It’s like your really there!”  Not really, but close.

Aja, a French-born filmmaker, told the audience he “wanted to make a guilty pleasure movie with gore and sexy.”  Roth said there must have been 7,000 gallons of blood used.

Following the event David went guerrilla in the crowd to snap a few pictures of the stars:

Eli Roth and Elisabeth Shue

Eli Roth taking a picture with some random dude

Jerry O’Connell and Adam Scott

Kelly Brook and Riley Steele