Piranha! (1978)

[trekgeezer]

"Terror, horror, death... ...film at eleven." That sums up this Roger Corman produced classic which was directed by Joe Dante and written by John Sayles. Andrew has reviewed this film.

It was on IFC tonight and I had to watch. I think this is the first time I have seen it in its entirety since I was the cashier at the local drive-in in 1978.

Anyone know how they did the effects of the fish feeding frenzies? They looked pretty good, but the fish swimming in formation was really bad.

Bradford Dillman did actually have parts in good movies from time to time and was a pretty good actor.

[Cheecky-Monkey]

I loved this movie. Great special effects, gory death scenes, fast pace, a hellofalot more entertaining than Jaws was!

[h.p. love]

The thing I love about Piranha is the lake setting. I didn't grow up around an ocean but I currently live right by a big lake. So, when I swim, instead of deep-water sharks I think of mutant piranhas with sharp little teeth. When I'm on the shore I think of the flying piranhas of the inferior sequel.

[Wence]

Is this the part where the sea turns blood-red at the end of the film (because some of the Piranhas escaped into the ocean)? Or was it part II?
- that was ridiculous.

[lester1/2jr]

probably my all time favorite from my youth.  Used to stay up late and watch Elvira on saterdays for stuff like this.  Part 2 was a little over the top with the flying pirahnas.

[Ash]

Which Piranha film had the scene with a piranha jumping out of the water right into some dude's face?

[Yaddo 42]

What's bad is that they reused some of the effects shots from the first film in the 90s remake with William Katt, and they still looked better than the new footage that was shot. Although it matched up pretty badly continuity-wise, which actually seems to be an intentional tradmark of Corman produced films by now.

Weren't there fish jumping out of the water shots in both films? I though one jumped out at Paul Bartel during the attack at the summer camp when everyone is trying to get out of the water.

[Flangepart]

Yeah, maby, but i think they had actual wings in the sequal.

[trekgeezer]

I haven't seen the sequel, but from what I read about I'm probably glad I didn't. Interesting fact about Piranha II, James Cameron directed it.

The meanie camp counselor did get chomped on the face when the Piranha attacked the kiddies.

[Yaddo 42]

They did have wings in the second one, but were very fake looking. A very lousy movie all around. Cameron was interviewed on, I think, "Headliners and Legends" and said it was a miserable film to work on. The Italian producers kept second guessing him, and I want to say he said he was fired near the end or during the editing process. So he had a bad film with his name listed as the director, yet he had no say on the final product.

Anyone ever seen the rip-off "Killer Fish/Deadly Treasure of the Piranha" starring Lee Majors? I have vague memories of it being good for a few laughs.

[DaveMunger]

All I can really remember about any of the piranha movies was that in one of them, near the begining when they're not sure what's killing people, someone looks at a body in a morgue, and a piranha flies up out of the body onto the guy's face.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Yeah, that's from "Piranha II." If there ever was a film that needed to be MSTKed, that's the film. I don't know whether the people who made the film wanted it to be a comedy or not, but it is good for a laugh--advertent or inadvertent.

[Neville]

I sort of like the original. It is quite effective in the suspense department, and the occasional gore succeeds in creating an eerie atmosphere around the whole thing. The cuts to the summer camp are also very well crafted. They work very well because althought we are almost sure the piranhas will eventually get there we don't know exactly when.

But for some reason I don't like the ending. I think Dante and Corman overdo the piranha action too much (the lousy sound effects certainly don't help). Maybe the whole problem is that watching people being eaten alive is not much fun after all.

Oh, and the whole thing about James Cameron disowning "Piranha 2" is true. I once read that he was working with an italian team on very tight budget constraints, and that producer Assonitis (yep, the guy who made "Tentacles"), made the whole editing without Cameron. The article I read went as far as saying that Cameron tried to ilegally enter the editing room at night to mend the whle thing as much as he could.

[lester1/2jr]

there was also a beaver shot in pirahna 2 that my local late night movie channel missed, much to my delight.

[Flangepart]

ASSONITIS?
No kidding?
A film producer named Assonitis.....so many things come to mind...

Truth in advertising....Justice....poetic justice.....There IS a God, and he has a sence of humor...