9 Shark Movies To Prepare Audiences For The Meg
2. Piranha 3D
No, it's not sharks, but yes, it still counts.
The film replaces sharks with piranhas and brilliantly sends up the shark genre in every facet. From the very opening, it makes its intentions clear, as Richard Dreyfuss reprises his iconic character from Jaws, only to be ripped to shreds.
It cleverly pays homage to the classics before it, all with a gleefully deranged sense of humor. It is ridiculous and over-the-top but that's the point; its poking fun at just how ridiculous these shark films are. Sharks are all around us and are natural predators, but they aren't the unstoppable killing machines of these films. So, this movie takes another natural predator of the water, the piranha, and does to it what Hollywood has done to sharks.
The result is a delightfully intelligent send-up that mashes comedy and horror together. Which is precisely why audiences should revisit it before seeing The Meg. Deep Blue Sea is goofy exploitative shark-flick for a nineties audience, but Piranha is a meta-commentary on its own subgenre that only the 2010s could have produced. If The Meg is smart (still up for debate), there's a lot to learn from this schlocky masterpiece.