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Produced by Roger Corman and directed by Gremlins mastermind Joe Dante, this is one of the few post-Jaws rip-offs worth a damn.
Military-engineered Piranhas are accidentally let loose in a river close to a resort and summer camp. Chaos ensues and the body count is insanely high. Everyone and everything in their path is eaten as a few survivors attempt to keep the Piranha from getting further downriver.
How do you do that?
Flood the river with chemicals, of course.
Environmentally questionable? Sure. But when you’re dealing with man-eating piranhas, sacrifices have to be made.
The body count is pretty high, and the Piranha puppets are pretty good. When the blood flies out of the water, you pull your goddamn feet up. Yes, you can see some of the strings but it doesn’t take you out of what is an otherwise fun and bloody creature feature
The supporting cast features some greats in Dick Miller ( The Burbs, Gremlins) and Italian Horror queen Barbara Steele ( Black Sunday, Pit and the Pendulum, Shivers) Bradford Dillman (Escape From The Planet of The Apes, The Enforcer) plays Paul the grumpy mountain man hero trying to save the camp kids from being eaten.
The remake is fun but this original still holds up well, in my opinion, and is leaps and bounds better than most of the Jaws sequels. We will just forget the James Cameron Piranha sequel altogether.
