Cheap Piranha (DVD) (Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies) (Joe Dante) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Piranha

"The piranhas....they're eating the guests, sir..."
We all know that producer Roger Corman made "Piranha" to exploit the success of "Jaws"--just look at the poster art for Spielberg's sake. But what was intended to be a low-budget knock-off became a classic B-movie because John Sayles produced a clever script and Corman assigned Joe Dante to direct. Dante would later go on to direct "The Howling" and "Gremlins," as well as "Rock and Roll High School" and "Amazon Women on the Moon" (the man does not forget his roots). Ultimately, "Piranha" is every bit as much of a spoof as it is a ripoff, which raises it to the highest level of B-Movie grandeur. The story, such as it is in such things, has flesh-eating piranhas being released into the river of the Lost River Lake resort. Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, and Keenan Wynn are the most recognizable faces trying to avoid being eaten by the wee beasties, although you horror film buffs will also recognize not only Kevin "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" McCarthy but Barbara Steele, Queen of the Italian Horror Films. The DVD extras clearly reflect a grand affection for this film with commentary from Dante and producer Jon Davison, deleted footage, theatrical trailer, a "making-of" featurette for this 1978 film, material from the film's press kit, and more. When you have a classic B-Movie with A+ extras on the DVD, you have to give it five stars. Ironically, "Piranha II: The Spawning," the 1981 sequel, was the first film directed by James Cameron, who also went on to some notable successes in his later films.

"Terror, horror, death. Film at eleven."
Jaws (1975) frightened a whole generation of people out of the water. Why? Because of the very real elements within the film, being that there are sharks in the oceans, and occasionally they do attack people. Do they ever get as large as the one in the film? Possibly...regardless, the fear was real enough...fast forward to 1978...prolific B movie director/producer Roger Corman, in an effort to capitalize on the immense popularity of the film Jaws, released Piranha, directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins, Innerspace, The 'burbs) and written by John Sayles (The Howling, Wild Thing), which, while didn't elicit the response anywhere near that of the film it borrows from, still provides us with a great deal of entertainment (genetically altered super fish just didn't come across with the same level of realism as a giant man-eating shark).

The film stars Branford Dillman, who, along with his extensive television credits, appeared in scores of films like Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) and The Swarm (1978), to name a couple. Also starring is Heather Menzies, who appeared in films like The Sound of Music (1965), SSSSSSS (1973), along with various television shows throughout the 70's. Rounding out the cast are Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), Paul Bartel, Barbara Steele (Caged Heat and Shivers), Melody Thomas Scott, and character actors Dick Miller and Keenan Wynn.

The film opens at night with two victims, er...I mean backpackers in a hilly area (somewhere in Texas, as we find out later), who happen to come across a seemingly deserted facility surrounded by a large fence, and signage stating 'Military Testing Facility' and 'Keep Out' (it seemed pretty clear to me, as I could read it, but these two knuckleheads completely missed it, bringing to mind the old adage, 'if it was a snake, it would have bit you'). Anyway, lunkhead number one and lunkhead number two, looking for a place to camp for the night, decide this looks promising, and make their way past the fence to find a large, in-ground cement pool. Do you think it contains piranha? And do you also think said piranha are hungry? I do, on both counts, especially given that it's the title of the film. Anyway, they decide to go swimming and quickly discover the pool contains more than water. We also learn the facility isn't entirely deserted...

Apparently someone cares about these two now missing backpackers, enough so to hire private investigator Maggie McKeown (Menzies) to look for them. While initiating her search in the general area, she find a shack occupied by Paul Grogan (Dillman), a divorced, reclusive, mass alcohol consuming (every five minutes he's swilling from a canteen, but never actually seems to get drunk) outdoorsman type, who she basically enlists to aid her, despite his protests, in her search. They find the deserted military facility, which was once some sort of breeding farm for fish, and decide to drain the large pool in hopes of finding clues. As they throw the switch, they get attacked by a wily old man (his name is Dr. Robert Hoak, played by McCarthy) as he freaks out learning that the fish have been released into the river system. The manage to subdue him, and he speaks of his experiments, specifically his genetic experiments for the military in creating a super breed of piranha, meant for use during the Vietnam conflict, but since the war ended, the program was terminated, but apparently no one told Dr. Hoak. So now the highly aggressive and carnivorous super fish are in the local river system. And they're hungry...and breeding...

For a B movie, this tends to one of the better ones I've seen. Even here you can see that Dante has talent in directing, despite what I am sure was probably an extremely tight shooting schedule (Corman always kept this aspect tight). Sayles provides a better than average script for this type of outing, and the actors present enjoyable performances. I do tire of the whole 'government and/or big business conspiracy' cliché that is so often used in films of any type to move the plot along, as it tends to indicate a lack of imagination (just look at some Steven Segal movies, specifically On Deadly Ground (1994) and The Patriot (1998), for a couple of examples). I especially liked the scenes with Keenan Wynn speaking of how much the river gives him, and also the scenes with Dick Miller, who plays the sleazy real estate agent and proprietor of Aquarena, an entertainment water park that recently opened along the river. He's got one of the more memorable scenes in the film when his assistant approaches him about piranha in the waters, and he asks, "What about the godd@mn piranha?!", to which the assistant replies, "The piranha...they're EATING the guests, sir". Paul Bartel also makes a great appearance as an uptight director of a summer camp located on the river (do you think a big part of their program involves swimming?). The special effects are quite good (no CGI work here) and there is a good helping of blood and underwater scenes with the fish tearing flesh off hapless victims.

Presented here is an excellent looking full screen print (Dante claims this is the original aspect ratio of the film, but the titles appear to be in wide screen format). Special features here are copious, including a commentary track by director Dante and producer Jon Davidson, original theatrical trailer, a blooper reel, a short 'Making of' documentary, cast biographies, a reproduction of the original Theatrical Marketing Guide, an eight page booklet titled 'The History of Roger Corman, and trailers for some of Corman's other films including Grand Theft Auto (1977) and Humanoids from the Deep (1980), among others. If I learned anything from Piranha, it's that if you are warn authorities about mutant piranha loose in a populated waterway, you're better off crying toxic waste, as they not apt to believe the piranha thing.

Cookieman108