Piranha

Piranha (1978)

Runtime: 94 minutes

Directed by: Joe Dante

Starring: Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Dick Miller

From: New World Pictures

I was not expecting to review this movie at this time, especially a few days before I go and see the remake on the big screen in 3D. I went to the videostore on Thursday to look for something; it was out, but I noticed that new this week they offered the original Piranha movie, which I had never seen before. I changed my plans so I rented that for the night and watched it.

I’ll say that I don’t really care that this is getting the remake treatment. I mean, it’s not like it was a huge box office draw when it was released. It was a low-budget film from the low-budget master known as Roger Corman. Say what you will about the movies he directed/produced/whatever but many famous names got their start by being associated with him. From Jack Nicholson to Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese to Robert De Niro, a whole lot of huge names in Hollywood got their first big break by being associated with him. Hell, none other than James Cameron directed Piranha II, a badly regarded film that nonetheless was his feature film debut. Anyway, for the aforementioned reason I don’t mind this getting remade. Plus, the original (not to mention the remake, from what I hear) are goofy and tongue planted firmly in cheek, so no harm no foul, I say. It’s not exactly remaking Psycho here, or Friday the 13th or Hellraiser.

Note that this and the remake don’t have too much in common besides the fact that it’s about killer meat-eating fish that go on a rampage. The original here is about a scientist who creates an especially vicious and hard to kill strain of piranha that was to be used in the Vietnam War (no, I’m not joking). Things went awry but he kept on working on the fish. They manage to accidentally be released into the wild the same time that a skip tracer (someone who looks for missing people for the insurance company… or so the movie says) meets up with the town drunk living in a remote cabin (Menzies and Dillman, respectively) and they look for a pair of missing teens; in the opening we see the teens sneaking around the military institute and due to them being dumb teens they end up getting devoured by the piranhas. The fit hits the shan (so to speak) once the fish get let loose as they lay waste to whatever’s in their path in the local river, including reaching a kids campground and a new water-based theme park (ran by sleazy Miller).

The movie-a goofy riff on Jaws (Menzies even plays a Jaws arcade machine)-shouldn’t be taken seriously and if you shut your brain off you should have a good time with this. Lord knows the special effects look goofy and cheesy viewed in modern times. Yet, for the movie it works. It is not what I’d call a scary film. Still, you should be able to enjoy the carnage and all the fake blood and if you want to you can laugh at the low-budget effects. Plus, there is some female nudity for you horny males out there. I will admit that the movie is ruthless at times and I was surprised at some of the twists and turns. The cast of veterans of this genre do a great job That’s really all you need to know about the film and if it sounds appealing to you, it’s worth seeing. The new DVD print looks pretty great. Pretty soon I’ll see Piranha 3D so I’ll compare and contrast the two; I’m hoping it’s as fun and goofy as this movie was.

I’ll be back Monday night with some sort of review, hopefully for Piranha 3D, as a matter of fact.