James Cameron, the man who put modern 3-D technology on the map with his blockbuster movie “Avatar,” has issued a harsh warning about using 3-D for horror movies, especially the new motion picture “Piranha 3D.”
“I tend almost never to throw other films under the bus, but (Piranha 3D) is exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3-D,” Cameron said in an interview with Vanity Fair. “Because it just cheapens the medium and reminds you of the bad 3-D horror films from the ’70s and ’80s, like ‘Friday the 13th 3-D.’”
“When movies go to the bottom of the barrel of their creativity and at the last gasp of their financial lifespan, they do a 3-D version to get the last few drops of blood out of the turnip,” he continued. “And that’s now what’s happening with 3-D.”
These are harsh words from the unofficial father of modern 3-D filmmaking; however, the vast majority of 3-D theatrical films screened thus far have been family movies, and the ones that have been most successful are computer animated.
Early in his career, Cameron got his start working a short time on the film “Piranha 2: The Spawning.” When asked about the release of “Piranha 3D” and if it brought him any sense of nostalgia, Cameron replied with a stern response of “zero” and went on to explain how he believes that filming horror movies in 3-D is now used as a gimmick.
Cameron said 3-D movies should live up to a high standard, and that bad films threaten to ruin the technology. His next big 3-D venture will be a remastered version of “Titanic,” set to hit screens on the 100th anniversary of the real 1912 Titanic sinking.
