“There’s nothing left to fear.”
With zero intentions to disguise their intent of cashing in on the success of Jaws (1975), Roger Corman, New World Pictures, and Piranha Productions gave the world 1978’s Piranha. The film was shot for roughly $600,000 and raked in a whopping sixteen million dollars at the box office. It featured a decent story, an amazing musical score, and a cast of strong character actors that lifted the film above water.
The plot is simple but effective. Basically, a skip tracer looking for two missing skinny dippers unwittingly empties a school of mutated piranha into a local river. The school of beasts are headed downriver. Along the way they kill a few locals and then feast on a summer camp and the grand opening of a new resort in the area. The skip tracer and the local drunk that she hired as a guide try to stop the monsters and uncover a dark military secret. Can they stop the fish before they feast on the flesh of innocent children and scantily clad swimmers? Watch Piranha to find out!
The film is surprisingly well done. With Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling, Small Soldiers) at the helm in his first solo directing job, the pacing is great and the acting is much better than expected. In fact, the film’s two stars, Heather Menzies (Maggie) and Bradford Dillman (town drunk, Paul Grogan), have amazing chemistry on screen. While there is never really a moment of romance between them, there’s light tension that hints at what might be in the future. Dick Miller, who worked on numerous Joe Dante projects, is great as the greedy resort owner, Buck Gardner. Barbara Steele has a small but central role as Dr. Mengers, Dr. Hoak’s former lover and fellow researcher who attempts to keep military secrets. Dr. Hoak is portrayed by Kevin McCarthy, one of a number of brilliant character actors in the film including Keenan Wynn, Bruce Gordon, and Richard Deacon. The cast also featured soap opera legend, Melody Thomas Scott, as Laura, a camp counselor, and Belinda Balaski, who works with Laura.
Pino Donaggio (Dressed To Kill, Gor, Hercules) scored the film, giving it just enough frenzied music to amplify the terror. Seventeen year old Rob Bottin and a young Phil Tippett handled the special effects, all of which were done for roughly $50,000. Despite the limited budget, the effects look pretty convincing. They still hold up over forty years later.
I recommend checking out Piranha if you haven’t seen it yet. Be sure to keep an eye out for the blatant wink at Jaws and a brief glimpse of a creature inspired by the work of Ray Harryhausen.
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