Piranha
Tags: tragedy, cult, comedy, violence

Plot synopsis:
David (Roger Richman) and Barbara (Janie Squire) are two young backpackers who happen upon a military post that seems to be abandoned. They discover a large man-made reservoir and decide to go skinny dipping. Within minutes they are attacked and consumed by some underwater presence, their death screams attracting the attention of somebody still inside the military facility.Maggie (Heather Menzies) is an investigator hired by Barbara's parents to find their daughter and her companion. With financing from her employer Earl (Richard Deacon), Maggie travels to the mountainous area where the two were last seen, and she seeks out the cabin of Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman). Paul is a backwoods type who lives in a log cabin with his young daughter, who is away at summer camp. Maggie convinces him to take her to the military facility, and they discover the pond. Paul notices that the water is salty. Exploring the buildings of the complex, they find a laboratory with numerous strange animals, including a bizarre, lizard-like creation. Maggie decides that it's possible that David and Barbara drowned in the pond, and she takes the initiative to drain the pond to find out. She flips the switch, and suddenly they are confronted by a white-haired man (Kevin McCarthy) who lurches at them in a panic, trying to shut off the drain switch. In the melee, he is knocked unconscious.Paul and Maggie go outside to the empty pond and find the bones of David and Barbara caught in the drain. When the mysterious man attempts to steal Maggie's jeep, he crashes it and injurs himself even more. Taking him down to Paul's cabin for the night, the man rables on about 'razorteeth' and that they are all in danger.The next morning, Paul and Maggie load the man onto Paul's homemade log raft and they set out downstream to take him to town. When he awakens, he reveals that he is Dr. Hoak, and he explains that Paul and Maggie have done something terrible. The pond contained a breed of mutant piranha, which Hoak had been developing for use in the Vietnam war. After the war, the military pulled the plug on the operation, but Hoak remained and continued experimenting with the piranha at the facility after it was closed down.The piranha begin to claim victims immediately. Paul's friend Jack (Keenan Wynn) dies when the piranha chew off his feet while he sits on the edge of a dock; he crawls away and bleeds to death. Downstream, a father and son are out fishing on the river; the father is killed while trying to fix the outboard engine from under the boat when he is pulled under the water and eaten alive. The boy clings to the capsized boat, but it is gradually sinking into the water. Paul, Maggie and Hoak come upon the scene and the doctor leaps into the water to save the boy. He manages to lift the child onto the raft, but the piranha attack him. Paul and Maggie pull him out of the water, but his wounds are too severe and he dies before he can offer them any advice about how to stop the killer fish.Paul is especially concerned about reaching the summer camp where his daughter, Suzie (Shannon Collins), is located. The camp is downriver from the piranha, and it is only a matter of time before the fish reach it. There is also a new resort further down the river that is about to open for business. Grogan and Maggie make frantic phone calls to both places, but their warnings are dismissed as fiction.Eventually the military gets wind of the piranha and they send Dr. Mengers (Barbara Steele) with a group of soldiers to investigate. At first, Mengers denies the piranha exist, but Maggie soon realizes that Mengers and Dr. Hoak were once lovers, and Mengers represents the military's desire to cover up the incident. The soldiers confine Maggie and Paul to their camp, imprisoning them and refusing to let Paul contact his daughter.Maggie and Paul escape the camp, but they are detained by the local police before they can get anybody to listen to them. Paul does manage to contact the head counselor at the camp (Paul Bartel), but he dismisses Paul's message due to his reputation of being an alcoholic. Maggie and Paul manage to break out of jail by subduing the officer who is left to watch them, and escape in his squad car.The next day, the piranha attack the summer camp. Suzie, who is afraid of the water, is hiding on the shore when the other kids and counselors begin to panic in the water. Suzie bravely tries to rescue her two friends, counselors Betsy (Belinda Balaski) and Laura (Melody Thomas Scott) by rowing out onto the lake in a rubber raft. She collects Laura, but Betsy falls into the water and is consumed by the piranha.Paul and Maggie arrive at the camp too late, but after ensuring that Suzie is alright, they race off to the resort. The owner Buck Gardner (Dick Miller) refuses to answer their phone calls (under the advice of Dr. Mengers and her commanding officer who is there), but eventually the piranha attack and mass casualties result as dozens of people are wounded or eaten alive by the vicious fish. Mengers superior is one of the casualties when he falls in the water as people cling onto a ferry boat and he is eaten alive along with several others.During the drive in the stolen police car, Paul remembers that the water in the test pond was salty, but the water in the rivers is fresh water. They conclude that Hoak had bred the piranha to survive in either salt or fresh water, hence if the piranha reach the ocean, they will contaminate the world's waterways, and probaly the oceans as well.Paul and Maggie arrive at the resort and comandeer a speedboat to take them down the lake. Paul's plan is to poison the fish with pollution from a nearby sewage plant, but when they reach the plant by boat, it is now underwater, having been flooded. Paul intends to swim for it, tying a rope around his waist and instructing Maggie to take off if he has not surfaced within two minutes. He swims down to the plant and manages to get inside, opening up the tanks containing the raw sewage, but the piranha approach and attack him. Maggie finishes her countdown and takes off, pulling Paul to safety.Paul is wounded and in shock, but alive. He is tended by Maggie and Suzy at the resort as the military and other medics tend to dozens of dead and wounded people. As the film closes, Dr. Mengers speaks to the media, assuring everyone that there is nothing left to fear of the piranha whom have been killed by the sewage waste at the edge of the lake. But, the open-ending question leaves the end up in the air: have the piranha really reached the ocean as was once feared?

Review: Debut film of B horror director Joe Dante is this fun, exciting Jaws spoof that's the best of its kind!
A school of deadly, mutant piranha is released from a government laboratory and it's up to an alcoholic man and his detective love-interest to warn folks down stream!A fast-paced, campy, and humorous ride all the way, Piranha is a genuinely entertaining B film that recalls not only Jaws but many of the classic monster flicks of the 50's.
This is "Piranha", the 1978 camp-classic horror film from acclaimed director Joe Dante and the production of Roger Corman.
Also the evil Colonel Waxman who is evil solely because he represents the US Government around the same era in history as the Vietnam War. And let's not forget the cocky highway patrol trooper who informs the main characters, "Don't try nothing 'cause I got my gun right here in my left hand." What I find most amusing about Piranha is the fact that the "good guys" (Maggie and Paul) are the two characters most deserving of a crucifixion over the events in the film.
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.
Joe Dante directed this and he would go on to direct Gremlins while James Cameron would direct its sequel and also go on to bigger things so you have to give it to Corman, he does tend to help people break into the business.So we get a rather fun Jaws ripoff, so while you are not getting the performances or tension of the superior film, you are getting more kills and more boobies too!
Instead, those are merely dull "just-going-through-the-motions-to-make-a-small-amount-of-money" displays of ineptitude.There are several things to strongly commend this movie for, like the fact that the lead characters are likable so that you care what happens to them (unlike in some horror films), the way it is very self-aware and has small tributes to Jaws, the campy sound effect of the school of fish, the excessive amounts of blood that is shown in a comic manner, and how it is genuinely comedic and yet not a pure spoof in the way that films like Scary Movie are.
Chronically inebriated recluse Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman) and audacious city skip tracer Maggie McKeown (Heather Menzies) searching for a missing pair of hikers attempt to warn those in the path, with little success.Scary, suspenseful and extremely witty little shocker with great visual effects, an eclectic cast, memorable score by Pino Donaggio and a superior screenplay courtesy of John Sayles.
Dick Miller has a fast-talking, scene-stealing part as the ostensible villain, whilst Barbara Steele, Kevin McCarthy, Bruce Gordon, Keenan Wynn, Richard Deacon, Melody Thomas AND Barry Brown (remember him?) comprise an immense cast (still amazes me how they managed to assemble that much talent for a New World exploitation romp).Naturally, there's an open ending prompting speculation of a sequel, which didn't take long to surface - 1981 - though it bares virtually no relation to this movie (which considering the standard of the successor, isn't a bad distance to enjoy).
It's little delights like the one just mentioned that make Piranha what is - the script doesn't take itself seriously, and that blends with the shameless ripping off of many a creature feature, and both of those in turn provide the audience with a very camp movie experience indeed.
The highlights among the ensemble are Barbara Steele, a regular in horror films, with performances in the likes of 'The Pit and the Pendulum' and 'Black Sunday', and Dick Miller; a cult star that Dante would go on to use regularly, but found his cult stardom in the Corman classic 'A Bucket of Blood'.
If you are a horror fan then I recommend that you watch Piranha!Movie Nuttball's NOTE:If you like director Joe Dante then I strongly recommend that you see Gremlins, Explorers, Innerspace, The Burbs (one of the greatest films ever in My opinion!), Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Matinée, Small Soldiers, and Looney Tunes: Back in Action!If you like sea monster movies then I recommend that you see Jaws, DeepStar Six, The Abyss, Leviathan, Deep Rising, Sphere, Lake Placid and Deep Blue Sea!.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsThe above OLS pretty much says all there is to be said about this entertaining little flick,which was purchased on the off-chance at a spur-of-the-moment retail indicisiveness.There is just so much to be admired on it's camp levels here.The funny little noises the piranha fish make they're attacking their victims,the rather plain/wooden acting of those in the lead roles,and the inevitably dated effects.Still,it's a good film,worth buying and treasuring.***.
Yes I'm aware it's not made as great or is considered a classic like Jaws but it's just as fun & yes piranha wouldn't exist without the phenomenon that was Jaws.Anyway Piranha is pure 70's creature feature fun & has excellent fx for what a low budget film it was & with every Dante film we have the BRILLIANT Dick Miller who i love R.I.P & Here he has a much bigger role than his usual bit parts so that's great & he's great as always & we have Bradford Dillman who makes a fun outdoors man type local hero who lives near the lake in the forest & that's got some beautiful locations & scenes around the summer lake & forests & lovely music all the way through, i love it it's a feelgood Horror adventure Thriller if that makes sense it's vicious with piranha eating carnage & gore but it's also done with that Joe Dante fun & humour tone, that dark fantasy fun like Gremlins & The Howling but when the piranhas attack the kids in the river it's as scary & violent as anything's Jaws did so piranha still stands out & way above water as just another Jaws clone.
Yes Piranha is a great old school 70's almost comforting little creature feature that's got some magic to it & that's down to Joe Dante directing this enjoyable fun filled B-movie gem.
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..
As for the visual and practical effects, they suffer the most from the low budget, which explains the wise decision to leave the piranha unseen most of the time, using (slightly campy) sound effects to produce thrills, although the cheap-looking creatures sort of fit the film's overall irreverent tone.As far as the acting is concerned, it embodies another Corman staple: not much to write home about, with cardboard characters played by relatively unknown actors, with the major exceptions of Dillman, who specifically asked to have his role properly developed, and Steele, evidently happy to help out another first-time director after her deranged performance in David Cronenberg's Shivers.
That said, McKeown isn't too bad either, although most people are more likely to remember her for one specific scene that doesn't require that much acting talent.So yes, this is a pretty cheap knock-off of a much superior film, and even by Dante's standards the effort comes off as sub-par at times.
it's a bit too melodramatic in parts for my taste.and those moments don't fit for me.but mostly it's intentionally cheesy, with tongue firmly planted in cheek.and on that level,it works.the acting actually is not that bad,from both the main character and the supporting players.the extras on the other hand,that,s a different story.i nearly died laughing at some of the death scenes.overall,the movie is fun,and it does get your adrenaline going.i don't think it's a movie that's meant to be taken seriously,and if you approach as a serous piece of work,you will be disappointed.for me,Piranha (1978) is a 7/10.
It's action packed, it has just the right amount of gore without going over the top, and with dependable B-Movie actors like Paul Bartel and Bradford Dillman never letting things get too serious, "Piranha" still holds up as a classic creature feature.
It's up to an insurance investigator (Heather Menzies) and a drunken recluse (Bradford Dillman) to prevent the hungry piranhas from chowing down on children and vacationers, with the help of a scientist (Kevin McCarthy) who has been breeding the piranhas in secret.Producer Roger Corman responds to the success of Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" with this spoof/rip-off (and makes no apologies about it).
Having just watching this film last night on the TNT late movie for the umpteenth time only says how much I enjoy it.Since the first airing many years ago on NBC (heavilly edited),it has been a favorite since I was 10.Being that my alltime favorite film is JAWS,that is really saying a lot.Ever since it's first release it has been compared to Spielberg's classic.But PIRANAH holds up very well on it's own.With good writing,photography,and make-up effects,this little film also gets a little gutsy(so to speak).It is one of the few horror films where children fall victim to the title menace.Along with good acting,clever editing and sharp directing by Joe Dante,this film proves that you don't really need a multimillion dollar budget to make a good film.A good launching pad for Dante as well as many other now well known Hollywood players.An owner of the recent DVD release(wonderfull stuff on there)as well as a copy of the first videocassette release from 1982,I never tire of watching it.A true cult classic in the best sence..
The film is campy and has an irreverant tongue in cheek humor helped by its highly capable cast including Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Dick Miller, Kevin McCarthy and Barbara Steele and others.It comes across that the cast and crew had a good time making this film and Joe Dante's sarcastic sense of humor is at play here which can be seen in later films of his.The acting, creative filmmaking and story telling makes up for the low budget special effects making this one of the better underwater horror films since Jaws..
The genetically engineered piranha which are released into a mountain river and terrorize the waters (they're cross-bred with salmon, apparently, and intend to spawn downstream) are much more frightening when they are not seen, as in the creepy opening skinny-dipping "Jaws homage", so once you start actually seeing them dashing towards their victims the broad humor aspect of the movie is played up, thanks in large part to Paul Bartel as the Authoritarian Summer Camp Director, Bradford Dillman as the Grizzled Mountain Man, Kevin McCarthy as the Good Mad Scientist, and, of course, Barbara Steele as the Evil Mad Scientist, whose huge, shifty eyes are a punchline in and of themselves.The broad humor doesn't really sit well with a genuinely unpleasant attack on a bunching of swimming children or its bloody aftermath, and the following attack on a resort is anticlimactic (practically identical to the attack on the children), if in line with the film's politics (military experiment backlashes first against the nature lovers, then the children of the middle class, and finally the middle class itself, while the right-wing authoritarian and capitalist structure prevents the tragedy from being averted).
This is an exponent of this, and the video is worth watching for this reason alone.Put out 3 years after Jaws, one hopes that this is supposed to be a parody of this, if it's actually supposed to be a horror film I have judged Joe Dante badly.When mutated piranha are released into a river system in North America, it's at that point that you suspend any expectations of a serious film to follow.Plenty of gore, teenagers flapping around in water while being eaten (hmmm, where did they get that idea from?) and silly 70s films of this type make this a film to enjoy time and again for its plain awfulness..
There's no dull moments, and no filler, just a lot of good piranha action and a terrific cast that makes it tons of fun for film buffs.Marking the first solo directorial effort for Dante (after having co-helmed "Hollywood Boulevard" with Allan Arkush), it stars Bradford Dillman ("Bug") and Heather Menzies-Urich ("Sssssss") as Paul Grogan, a cranky loner / boozer and Maggie McKeown, a not terribly competent skip tracer who band together to find the objects of Maggies' latest search.
So now the mission is to save as many of the people in the piranhas' path as possible.You know you're in for a good time with a cast also including Kevin McCarthy ("Invasion of the Body Snatchers" '56), Keenan Wynn ("Point Blank"), Barbara Steele ("Black Sunday"), Dick Miller ("A Bucket of Blood"), Belinda Balaski ("The Howling"), and Paul Bartel ("Eating Raoul").
Take a Corman film and put it in the hands of the talented Joe Dante, and you are guaranteed to have a good time.Is this a ripoff of "Jaws"?
A shoal of ravenous, genetically engineered piranha, the result of a top-secret US army experiment, are accidentally released into an American river system, threatening the lives of everyone downstream, including a group of children at summer camp and the guests of a riverside resort.Not just another lame Jaws rip-off, but rather a fabulously entertaining parody of the whole killer fish genre that emerged in the wake of Spielberg's classic, Joe Dante's Piranha brilliantly combines the director's trademark black humour with surprisingly disturbing scenes of genuine horror (FX legend Rob Bottin supplying the delightfully gruesome gore), features a superb cast of cult-movie legends (including Dante regulars Dick Miller and Kevin McCarthy), and, as befitting of any self-respecting schlock horror about killer-fish menacing helpless bathers, delivers some welcome female nudity, the film's obligatory skinny dip scene occurring within the first few minutes, with several other gratuitous boob shots throughout (sadly, the toothy critters fail to nibble away at the bikini strap of camp counsellor cutie Laura Dickinson, played by Melody Thomas).All in all, a great little film to sink your teeth into..
Not a Masterpiece but Good Fun. Piranha (1978) *** (out of 4)Of all the JAWS rips this one here from director Dante is clearly the best as it has a good sense of humor as well as great creatures and some rather nasty effects.
To open up the valves at the local water-treatment plant and let out all the pollutions that would kill the killer fish before they make it to the ocean.Scenes of piranhas looking like a cross between humming birds, when their attacking people, and kindergarten cardboard cutout, when their in formation in the water, don't exactly lift the movie to special effects Acadamy Award winning heights.
This is a near-brilliant spoof of "Jaws" which owes as much to the witty script by John Sayles as it does to the artful direction of Joe Dante, with lines of the caliber, "The piranhas are eating the guests, Sir." There is actually not as much blood and gore as the viewer might expect, coming from the crypt of Roger Corman.
Veteran actor Bradford Dillman plays the lead character Paul Grogan with just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek to give the entire film a feel of lightheartedness, even amid the horror of a lake full of kids being attacked and some killed by deadly mutant piranhas..
Before Joe Dante ("Gremlins") got really famous, he directed this "Jaws" send-up, in which man-eating fishes accidentally get released into a river and swim downstream, looking for people who dared to stick their feet in the water.What makes "Piranha" so neat is how it knows that it's a pretty corny movie, so it just lets the cast be as calm as they want.
Piranha is one of the better jaws rip offs,let me rephrase that jaws like movie,not rip off.roger corman co produced this cult classic which i think is an awesome monsters on the loose flick.genetically created piranhas that attack,mutilate and kill.there's a great cast Bradford dillman(bug)heather Menzies(sssssss!)Keenan Wynn(the dark)dick miller (little shop of horrors,gremlins)Kevin McCarthy(invasion of the body snatchers) Barbara Steele(black Sunday,castle of blood)and Paul Bartel.
(aka;the spawning)directed by James Cameron(titanic)if you enjoy mutated fish movies then you will like piranha.its a cult classic directed by Joe Dante(gremlins)from the famous school of roger corman.
At least they're funny.The Ugly:--The obvious "homage-to-Jaws" flavor of this movie will really kill it for some people.Memorable Scene:--This movie actually had the balls to have a bunch of children attacked by piranha.Acting: 6/10 Story: 6/10 Atmosphere: 6/10 Cinematography: 6/10 Character Development: 5/10 Special Effects/Make-up: 7/10 Nudity/Sexuality: 1/10 Violence/Gore: 7/10 (pretty decent gore) Dialogue: 8/10 Music: 7/10 (average for the time) Writing: 7/10 Direction: 8/10Cheesiness: 4/10 Crappiness: 0/10Overall: 7/10This is a fun classic horror flick.
After Spielberg set the standard w/ Jaws this entry in the water killer genre is pretty weak but does have a couple of readable qualities mostly found in the alcoholic antics of Bradford Dillman @ the beginning of the film and some hardcore piranha munching that happens later in this hungry little fish story.