Piranha Part Two: The Spawning

Plot synopsis:
Off the coast of a Caribbean island, a young couple flee the hotel in the middle of the night to have sex in the sea. But they swim into a sunken wreck which is also a piranha lair and they are both killed and eaten by the unseen piranha.The next day, a group of tourists, including Tyler Sherman (Steve Marachuk), are taking the diving courses provided by Anne Kimbrough (Tricia O'Neil), an employee of the Hotel Elysium. One of her divers swims into the wreck, which she has strictly forbidden to her divers. Leaving Tyler to take over and lead the others to the surface, she discovers almost immediately that her 'missing' student has swam into the wreck and been killed there when his badly chewed up body is found.Anne's estranged husband, Steve (Lance Henriksen), a police officer, refuses to listen to Anne about her wanting to have a look at the body, because she needs to know what happened. The death does not seem to match the attack pattern by any of the marine life in this area, which she knows better than anyone. For her not to know what killed a diver is a dangerous sign. Steve intercepts Aaron (Aston S. Young), a dynamite fisherman, and his son, and threatens to confiscate their boat, but as Aaron explains, Steve, Anne, and he, are old friends.Meanwhile, as the guests begin to flirt with each other (a middle-aged widow, named Bevelry, flirts with a younger man, named Leo, who is a dentist), a pair of women, named Jai and Loretta, arrive on a large sailboat. By their own admission, they are sea bandits. One sneaks into the kitchen to steal food, but is intercepted by Mal (Arnie Ross), a cook. She flirts with him, and he offers instead to make her a wonderful dinner. But as he goes to their boat with the meal, they take the meal and then undock, letting the boat drift. They try to convince him to jump, and he tries, and fails, so they mock him and sail off. That night, Jai and Loretta sail too far out, and are attacked by the piranha, who have developed the power to fly. Jai is attacked and her throat ripped out while Loretta falls into the water and gets eaten alive by the fish in the water.Worried about what's going on, Anne finds that she is being frequently bothered by Tyler Sherman, and so she takes him with her to the morgue to get a look at the body. It is revealed there that she became a marine biologist before she married Steve, and so she begins taking pictures. There, she finds that the body of the tourist has been eaten in many parts. A nurse comes in, kicks them out, and ends up quickly dead, for a piranha was hiding in the body and escaped in it. Armed with the power to fly, it kills the nurse by bitting her throat out and escapes out a window into the night.In her hurry, Anne left her credit card behind at the scene. Anne and Tyler have a one night stand back in her room. But the next morning, while he sleeps, she begins to study the pictures, and is horrified by what she discovers. Steve arrives, throwing the card at her, angry first that she went to the morgue in defiance of him, and secondly that she has man in her bed. She tries to warn him of what she's discovered, but he ignores her and thinks she's a murderess.Anne tries to tell Raoul (Ted Richert) the pompous hotel manager, that she's cancelling the dives because it isn't safe. Raoul at first pretends to be concerned, but swiftly fires her, thinking she is crazy. Attempting to capture one for further study, or at the very least take some pictures so she can prove what she's trying to tell Steve and the manager, she is intercepted by Tyler, who swiftly informs her that he is a biochemist and member of a team which has developed the ultimate weapon: a specimen of genetically modified piranha, with some other fish's genes intermixed, capable of flying. Earlier, and unfortunately, the team mistakenly deposited (or lost) a cylinder full of these fish when a cargo ship was sunk the water where the dead couple were found.Aaron provides the proof Anne needs to Steve, calling him and showing him, not merely some flying piranha he's recently caught, and never seen before, but also that they're a serious danger, because they're turning on each other. This is a sign that they're running out of food and will soon attack whatever they come near, including humans.At a meeting, Anne tries her best to reason with Raoul, to no avail. Steve surprises her, standing up for her and proving her case for her by throwing the body of a dead piranha onto the table. Steve tells her that she can't trust Tyler, because the army says he's crazy. She argued that Tyler's just been using her to get the message of the piranha out for him, to protect both himself and the residents of the hotel.Later that evening, a piranha attacks Gabby's son and kills him in his shack, leaving a bereft Gabby to vow revenge by killing the fish in the wreck they hide in. Anne tries to dissuade him, but it's too late. Having ignored Anne's advice, Raoul hosts a nighttime fish party to capture grunion, who come up to the beach to spawn at this time, making them easy prey for humans to capture and kill. Unfortunately for the residents, the piranha are also partially grunion and share the same instinct. During the fishing party promoted by the resort, the piranhas fly out of the water and attack the guests on the beach and at the hotel's courtyard pool. Anne leads those who survive into hotel, where they shut the doors and windows. Aaron tries to attack them, but they overwhelm and kill him as well.In the morning, the piranha withdraw, for Anne had discovered that they are not fond of daylight. Tyler and Anne decide to undertake Aaron's plan, and blow up the ship to destroy the predators. Meanwhile, the situation gets even tenser, for not merely can the piranha fly, but Anne and Steve's teenage son Chris (Ricky G. Paull) has been hired, against their wishes, by a local ship 'Captain', and his lovely daughter Allison (Leslie Graves). Chris and Allison sail away, and strand themselves on an island, leaving them vulnerable to piranha attacks that never actually happen. Getting lost at sea, they try to set sail again, heading straight toward the wreck.When Chris and Allison are stranded in a raft above the shipwreck, Annie and Tyler arrive in a motorboat and don scuba gear to dive down to the wreck to plant the timer charges that Aaron left behind. With only 10 mintues to get out of the wreck before the bomb explodes, Anne and Tyler are trapped in one of the sunken ships rooms by the murderous piranha who all return to the wreck. On the surface, Steve, piloting a police helicopter, ditches the chopper and swims to Anne and Tyler's motorboat where Chris and Allison are. With minutes left to spare before the bomb explodes, Steve powers up the boat and takes off. Down in the wreck, Tyler sacrafices himself to allow Anne to escape out of a porthole and to tie a survival rope around her waste allowing herselt to be pulled away by the motorboat on the surface. At the last second, Anne gets clear and the bomb detonates, destroying the sunken ship and the piranha with it. With all the murderous fish dead, Anne swims to the surface and is picked up by Steve and the two kids in their boat.

Tags: horror, violence, mystery

Review:
After the opening scene which is similar to the one in Jaws 2, (except here the two divers are lovers trying for some underwater coupling), the film introduces a variety of characters, most of which are surprisingly endearing in a 'B' movie kind of way; particularly two topless good-time girls who get provisions from a stuttering chef with the promise of a threesome.Lance Henriksen, who continued a lucrative association with Cameron, plays the police chief, who is a hybrid of Brody from 'Jaws' and Colonel Kilgore from 'Apocalypse Now'.
The flying piranha attack like vampire bats, going for the throats of their luckless victims; whilst they also have Alien-like trends, one bursting out of a dead body to attack a nurse.As can be gathered, I found this film great fun - most production values are of a reasonable standard, particularly the underwater photography.
Cameron defends his first film opus as being, "without a doubt, the finest flying piranha movie ever made."  I must agree with The King of the World on that one.This movie just goes to show that none of us should take early knocks in our careers too hard.
Yes, James Cameron made a film about killer flying fish.
Sitting down to watch this movie in 2011, I was quite surprised to see James Cameron was involved in this movie, and I was also surprised to find Lance Henriksen on the cast list.I have seen the first part of these movies and it wasn't too bad.
Not so with Piranha Part Two: The Spawning, a sequel so undeniably bad even its director, one James Cameron, prefers not to mention it, despite the fact that it's the first film he ever directed.
Their lair is a sunken ship off the coast of a Caribbean island, and when a couple decide to go swimming nearby, the killing spree begins, with only a scuba diving instructor (Tricia O'Neil) a biochemist (Steve Marchuk) and the local sheriff (Lance Henriksen) willing to stop them.Retaining only the effective piranha sound effect from the first film, The Spawning goes off into its own direction and derails almost immediately.
One can attribute this to first-time director Cameron being kicked out of the cutting room and losing all kind of control over the project (which is why he generally considers The Terminator his directorial debut), but the truth is the project was flawed from the very beginning: taking the Corman-derived cheapness to the extreme, the movie is sunk by lackluster writing (at least the original had some kind of subtext beyond the mayhem), poor performances (even Henriksen looks completely lost) and, most disappointingly, scaled-down special effects, namely winged fish that look so fake they lose all their credibility after a few minutes.All in all, there are several inferior sequels, but few are as shockingly embarrassing as Piranha Part Two: The Spawning, which also "stands out" as a tragic footnote in the otherwise admirable filmography of a great director.3,5/10.
This sequel to 1978's Piranah was the initial stepping stone that put James Cameron on the map.Its hard to believe that the man who is known for Terminator 2, Aliens & Titanic started his career making a movie about flying man eating fish.Following the same format as the original with a stubborn businessman shrugging off the notion of killer piranah in his waters this time the film is an utter contemptible mess.Poorly made even Cameron and the always excellent Lance Henriksen couldn't save this embarrassment.The flying piranah simply cannot be taken seriously, from the ridiculous noises they make to the blatant plastic sfx.Piranah fans should skip to the 1995 remake or even Piranah 3D.The Good: Lance Henriksen The Bad: Awful sfx Horribly made Things I Learnt From This Movie: Underwater sex scenes look seven shades of awkward Every time Lance Henriksen smiles an angel gets its wings During a feeding frenzy flying piranah sound like pigeons.
The original film was released the same year as "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes!".This movie features piranhas that are actually genetic experiments that are able to fly.
I'm sure James Cameron did not have the freedom or control that he has had on films that followed and that this is not a reflection of his talents as a director.The premise of the film about flying Piranha at a Caribbean resort is just too ridiculous but it seems to take itself seriously rather than poking fun at itself.Cameron's "The Terminator" would only come a few years later putting him on the map and making this early film debut, a little noticed footnote in the Academy Award winning director' career..
I mean, to any person that participated in this film making, it's a negative point for their careers (and could actually flunk it if it's to be discovered that they had anything to do with it).The only use of Piranha the Spawning is to be used as a blackmail device for getting some money from the disgraced actors that appeared in this movie (pretty sure they had been the last 20 years trying to forget this miserable mistake in their lives)..
A scuba diving instructor, her biochemist boyfriend, and her police chief ex-husband try to link a series of bizarre deaths to a mutant strain of piranha fish whose lair is a sunken freighter ship off a Caribbean island resort.This is just classic Italian-American horror sequel-making at its finest.
No better or worse than the 1978 original, this barely related sequel was James Cameron's first movie (although he later stated that he was fired after two weeks, with Ovidio G.
He stated in an interview that in fact he was fired after a week, the producer shot and edited the rest of the film and Cameron couldn't get his name taken off the credits.The movie feels like an early sun-drenched porno flick with all the sex cut out.This certainly isn't the worst film I've ever seen and doesn't deserve it's reputation.
this movie marks James Cameron's feature length film debut,(he also wrote the screenplay)and i gotta say,it's not good.unlike the first movie,which did not take itself seriously,this one is played straight,and that is its major failing.it's just too ridiculous too be taken seriously.plus,i found it to be one ginormous snooze fest.i really had to force myself to stay awake,in the hope that the movie would improve.sadly,it was all in vain.there's almost zero tension in the film.maybe if they had at least tried to inject some comedic elements in to it,it would have been more bearable.i can't in good conscience recommend this one.however,i have seen worse than this.for me,Piranha Part Two: The Spawning is a 3/10.
If not good as the original but I do think better then remake sequel piranha DO When j first saw this sequel , I did like it at all compared to the first movie However over years this movie and grown on me a litte There are that I really enjoy and liked the bloody parts of the movie and didn't mind the flying fish.It dose take long for the movie getting going but the killing starts and I loved the part on beach Let's eat raw fish , that was great scene , silly but really fun to watch I know it was intended to be funny but it was still great fun to watch The acting was decent and fish effects ts were okay for the time5 out of 10.
Well, everybody's got to start somewhere, and in retrospect it's good to see that a piece of crap like Piranha Part Two couldn't ruin Cameron's career before it even began.The plot deals with a holiday resort that is being plagued by a school of genetically altered piranhas that can fly like birds and make a weird whirring sound while moving (even when underwater).
Investigating the wave of dead tourists are a local cop Steve (Lance Henriksen), his diving instructor ex-wife Anne (Tricia O'Neil) and her acquaintance Tyler (Steve Marachuk) – will they be able to defeat the killer fish before everyone in town gets eaten?What we get are all the clichés of low-budget horror cinema: exploitative nudity, crappy special effects and forgettable characters whose motivations and emotions have not been of interest to the writer.
piranha 2:the spawning is a sequel to piranha in name only,Italian made and directed by James Cameron who worked with roger corman on galaxy of terror(1981)this one has mutated flying fish/piranhas attacking beach goers, fishermen and just about anyone else.i saw the unrated version on cable TV years ago but it was under the title piranha 2:flying terrors.its pretty decent the cast is good.lance Hendrickson went on to do the terminater with Cameron.the scenes of the fish slashing into people are very bloody,i enjoyed piranha 2 almost as much as piranha.
its not James Cameron's best work but its a good start.if you like killer fish movies then reel this one in its a killer.7 out of 10..
The only really good things about these movies are: Lots of nudity, blood and guts, James Cameron, and a cool opening scene.
The scenes of flying piranha attacking a Caribbean resort freaked me out when I first saw the movie as a twelve or thirteen year old, but after several viewings I got hip and started looking for (and finding) the wires holding them up.
Unbelievably enough, A young James Cameron (yes, he of THE TERMINATOR, TITANIC, TRUE LIES, etc.) is credited with directing this film but as the story goes, he had very little to do with the editing or final cut of the movie.
here is a short story on impulse buying...by twmpyn_koala, aged 21 and a peanut...i had walked into a cult second-hand computer store in my home city...i was looking at the dvd section...before me stood a row of b-movies...i deliberated a thought; 'hmm, b-movies...always worth a quick look, usually full of black comedy undertones'...and so off my eyes went on their merry way to find me the most distinctive title from the row...they came across and stopped at this little beauty of a title; piranha 2: flying killers...it looked somewhat funny, i admit...so, i picked it up, went and brandished my money at the cashier and took it home...needless to say, i was a little undernourished at it as a whole...a bad story line, a cast far from their best, and one of the worst sex scenes ever...was it my worst purchase ever, i pondered?...well, i guess the chinese take away i was gonna buy in its place would have been more fulfilling, yes...however, it did provide me with a huge laughing fit at the thought of if i ever see titanic again, the images of piranha dicaprio and piranha winslet...at least its an honest comment to say that james cameron has completed a full circle in his career as a director of water-based film charades...peace, love and cookies (TradeMark).
The silly concept, camp performances, and iffy effects are precisely what makes this film such a blast, and the fact that it was directed by the man who eventually gave us Avatar is just the icing on the cake.I'm just glad that I'm one of those able to enjoy Piranha II for what it is—an unashamedly silly, tongue in cheek B-movie featuring some effective gore (courtesy of Gianetto De Rossi), quality T&A (in the form of MILF diving teacher Anne, a pair of sexy topless babes on a yacht, and busty jail-bait Allison) a cool soundtrack (love those opening credits), lots of flying fish suspended on wires or stuck on the end of poles, and quality underwater action from a director whose confidence working 'in the drink' would serve him well in years to come..
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsYes,this is where the now world famous director James Cameron started off.And to be honest,it's quite good.It's not up to a par with T2 but it's certainly way better than the over-hyped,overrated Titanic.Probably the worst thing about the film is the risible character development.Never will you care so less about the characters than you do here,with pretty bad acting all round,even from the usually reliable Lance Henriksen.However,it hardly drags at 92 minutes and the killer piranhas and the silly noises they make are as entertaining as they were in Joe Dante's original.***.
But this film is entertaining in some ways: there is a tongue firmly planted in cheek throughout the film, some decent acting from the likes of Steve Marachuk, Lance Henrikson, Ted Richert as a hotel manager, and Tricia O'Neil(also quite a good looking lady), some pretty girls dressed in nice bathing attire(or none at all), and some nice location shots.
As a fan of the original Roger Corman classic, Piranha i just had to check this one out.the names of Lance Henriksen and director James Cameron (terminator, Aliens, the abyss) attracted me to the title.
the film appears to have many flaws with acting, plot, direction and obviously budget, but if you enjoy a mind numbing, silly good time with cheesy effects, and a healthy amount of nudity you won't be disappointed with Piranha 2: the spawning..
The interviewer (justifiably) crapped on and on about all the great stuff Cameron has made over his career, focusing on T2 and Titanic before commencing to fawn about Avatar for the next 12 minutes, with Cameron contributing about 5 smug "you know it" comments without actually talking himself up for fear of any "King of the World" backlash.Then the interviewer did the but you know he wasn't always this successful bit, you know when the guy drags out a clip of the interviewee when he/she was a kid in a commercial or something.In Cameron's case it was a little different, him being a director and all, so the clip was a 20 second burst of Piranha 2: The Spawning, his first film from the 80′s, a low budget drive-in special.Cameron's response?
The finest flying piranha movie ever made.P2 – Judgement Day is set in Saint Anna in the Caribbean and focuses mostly on one family really, which is lucky so Cameron doesn't have to spend too much time introducing new characters.
The amusing sign of the times is that there is a noticeable lack of enhancement surgery if you know what I mean, which in this case wasn't a bad thing as the 44DD era has been going for so long that sometimes a change is as good as a holiday.About half way through though it seems that the movie studio got the dailies through and demanded some flying killer fish.
But although James Cameron did direct Piranha II and was given the credit most of the filming was done by the producer Ovidio G.
The whole concept of Flying Fish does sound silly but that's what I like about the film, instead of making it like the first film and just have the same Piranha's eating people they did something different and make the Piranha's fly, the acting is good especially from Lance Henriksen (Who would appear in later James Cameron movies like The Terminator and Aliens) Piranha II: The Spawning is a great sequel to Piranha and should be seen.
It is a crying shame that this movie is at the opposite end of James Cameron's directing career from Leonardo DieCrappo, I would pay good money to watch him run screaming from a flock of fish suspended on wires.
Wow, a pretty good start, we've already seen underwater sex, nudity, killer flying piranha that make a silly noise, and a couple of deaths and we're less than ten minutes into the film.
Any movie that starts with a couple taking off their scuba equipment to make love underwater inside sunken ship and then being devoured by a school of mutant flying piranha before a James Bond style graphics sequence is immediately going to rocket to the top of any to watch list there is.
And Tyler even has the good sense to get chewed up by the monster fish, allowing Steve to not look like a moron that wrecked his own helicopter for no reason and instead the hero that saved his soon to be not ex-wife.Here's yet another untrue fact: this film is the first movie directed by James Cameron.
I thought the first movie was pretty bad, but at least it ripped off Jaws, shamelessly and in a fun way and it had action and a general fast pace.But the sequel, being a James Cameron movie, I expected it to be better than the original.
She reminds me a little of Ripley in Aliens in looks and acting.Steve Marachuk is doing a decent job.But the feel of the movie is like watching some nasty 70'ies porn movie.And for James Cameron being the master of creature movies during the 80'ies: The Terminator and Aliens, the flying piranhas are embarrassingly badly done.Lots of gore.
In the third act when all of the hotel guests are attacked by the flying piranhas, it would have been a great chance for some action, but even here the movie disappoints.
This is namely, the future character of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver of Cameron's Aliens fame) in which the star of this feature, Anne Kimbrough, looked eerily like.While the movie's original's government-approved, fresh-water and mutated killer piranhas are mentioned in this film, this sequel is pretty much stand alone.
But as it turns out, Piranha II: the spawning didn't really live up to my expectations.It tries to act like a sequel, but there are no returning characters, except for the mean little fishies.In this movie, the piranha's are an even more dangerous menace because they can fly!
Okay, there are a few scary scenes, but again; they could have done a lot better.Oddly enough, this is a movie directed by James Cameron.
With the help of her estranged husband, Steve, they must figure a way to stop these evil flying piranha.Now one of the great things about this film I have to say is the first scene.
Award winning James Cameron makes his directorial debut with Piranha II - The Flying Killers.