Piranha (1978)

Very disappointed :(

Expected more

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

One sign that you've made a horror classic- your film spawns a slew of imitators.Sometimes one or two of these imitators are witty, knowing and innovative.Thats what happened here. Jaws made such a splash (pun intended) that there were plenty of rip- offs. Piranha was one such film but was great on its own terms rather than being a pale imitation.Director Joe Dante said the original screenplay for this Corman produced film was dire. He worked on it with John Sayles and made Piranha into the hoot it is today. Quirky characters, great scenarios and references to other works such as The Creature From The Black Lagoon abound. One lead character plays a Jaws arcade machine at the start of the film. The movie knows exactly what it is and isn't afraid to play with this.Another great facet of the story- its the heroes of the piece who actually cause the near disaster they have to deal with.The leads are amazing (Bradford Dillman and Heather Menzies) as are the supporting cast that features Kevin McCarthy, Corman regulars Paul Bartel and Dick Miller and Euro scream queen Barbara Steele.A cult classic and deservedly so.

part of a long chain of films about monsters from the same period, it seems far to be special. same story, secrets and ordinary people in middle of dark secrets, same cold danger and a lot of memories about "Jaws". but the virtue of this film is the reasonable and, in few scenes, seductive way , to say the story. the use of suggestion who creates the tension, the inspired music, the simple story and the dramatic moments. a B film who seems be special for the wise way to explore a theme so used. and this fact does it almost a classic film.

Actually better than I thought it would be. Apparently, the normal piranha is not as dangerous as its reputation, but here we have a kind of mutant variety. Two young people are eaten right away and set the stage for more and more fish delicacies down the road. The fear is keeping these things confined to a limited area and out of the ocean where they could create a gigantic imbalance ecologically, not to mention these things running rampant (swimming rampant?). This is one of the movies that rode on the back of the popularity of "Jaws." It does have some good suspense and some terrifying scenes, but it is another gratuitous gorefest. Perhaps a bit of communication by the military might have helped prevent the carnage. Anyway, it's worth a watch for those who get into the right spirit.

RELEASED IN 1978 and directed by Joe Dante, "Piranha" chronicles events when genetically-enhanced piranha are accidently released into a river system in central Texas, which threaten kids & counselors at a Summer Camp and vacationers at a lake resort. A spirited skip tracer (Heather Menzies) and a backwoods drunkard (Bradford Dillman) team-up to save the swimmers. Kevin McCarthy and Barbara Steele play military scientists who experimented with the escaped piranha.While "Piranha" is sort of a "Jaws" (1975) knockoff, it's different enough to not be a rip-off: The story takes place in a river system deep in the mainland and not the ocean; the 'monster' consists of teams of little vicious fish rather than a huge Great White Shark; the beach sequences involve quaint campground-like beaches rather than major ocean beaches; unlike "Jaws," there's a focus on alluring young women, although "Jaws 2" (1978) delivered the goods in this area as well; there's more of a sense of adventure and even suspense; and the tone mixes-in amusing elements with the horrific mayhem.As inferred, the picture is highlighted by several quality females with curvy Belinda Balaski (from "The Howling") and cutie Melody Thomas Scott (from The Young and the Restless) featured in prominent roles. Moreover, voluptuous Janie Squire has some worthy screen time in the prologue. There are superb women in the periphery as well. Interestingly, the 2010 quasi-remake, "Piranha 3D," took the sleaze route with loads of nudity, but the women are ironically hotter here, not to mention the film's all-around more entertaining.THE MOVIE IS LEAN and filler-free at 93 minutes and was shot along a river near San Marcos in the heart of Texas, Northeast of San Antonio. WRITERS: John Sayles and Richard Robinson.GRADE: A-