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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9786305596240
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Special Edition, NTSC
ISBN: 6305596247
Label: New Concorde
Manufacturer: New Concorde
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Pan & Scan
Publisher: New Concorde
Region Code: 1
Release Date: October 26, 1999
Running Time: 92 minutes
Sales Rank: 7695
Studio: New Concorde
Theatrical Release Date: August 03, 1978
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Roger Corman produced this shameless Jaws rip-off at the height of the 'nature gone wild' boom of American cinema and struck B-movie gold. Scripted by John Sayles and directed by Joe Dante, this tongue-in-cheek thriller stars Bradford Dillman (doing his best Rip Torn impression) as an antisocial mountain man and Heather Menzies as a rookie detective who race a school of mutant piranha downriver. Dante and Sayles provide the requisite blood and gore for this drive-in meat market: a kids' summer camp and a waterfront amusement park await the little beasties. Along the way, riverside retiree Keenan Wynn gets his ankles stripped clean, camp counselor Paul Bartel is chomped on the cheek by a hungry little bugger who takes to the air, and hordes of unlucky bathers are caught in the center of a feeding frenzy. What differentiates this little gem from the legion of similar knockoffs are the satirical swipes at military arrogance and crass commercialism, Dante's energetic enthusiasm, and the bursts of black humor: 'Lost River Lake: Terror, horror, death. Film at 11.' The culty cast also includes Invasion of the Body Snatchers's Kevin McCarthy as the hysterical scientist guarding the creatures, horror diva Barbara Steele as a devious government researcher, and longtime Corman regular Dick Miller as an unscrupulous entrepreneur ('Sir, the piranha are eating the guests').
The DVD features good-humored commentary by director Joe Dante and producer Jon Davison, who also narrate the 10 minutes of good-quality home-movie footage shot by Davison. There are also six minutes of outtakes. --Sean Axmaker
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Drive-in horror show
I purchased this dog on the basis of a positive review in Leonard Maltin's movie book. It was supposed to be a comedy, a rip-off of Jaws, and filled with sly shots at 1950s scare films. In fact, there is no comedy or satire at all; it's a horror flick for drive-in theaters. A topless woman in the first scene gets the "R" rating--before she's devoured by hungry fish. Lots of blood everywhere. Lots of screaming. It's almost enough to make a couple in a drive-in look up at the screen.
Rating: - Locals will get a kick out this
This film was shot at Aquarena Springs resort in San Marcos, Texas, home of Texas State University, the school from which president LBJ graduated. The park was once the oldest and most popular west of the Mississippi until more thrilling theme parks were born with roller coasters, etc. The resort used to have mermaids and scuba divers put on shows along with a swimming pig. Some couples were even married at the park in underwater ceremonies housed in the submarine theatre, the "aqua arena" that gave ... Read More
Rating: - Scary, but a short film...
I don't know whether to give this film (3)stars or (4). I saw this movie I believe in the 1980's I was born in 1974, so to young to know about this film all the way. During the 80's when I saw this film it was quiet scary, now after just watching this movie in 2007, well its still scary but its alittle rusty from over the years. The one disappointment is the film is a tad bit to short of a film. Maybe back in the 1970's this was normal, maybe not. It really just came and went. At the end there's ... Read More
Rating:  - Jaws it isn't, but it's definitely worth a watch
Somehow this B horror movie manages to be entirely ridiculous, and yet still entertain. Piranha walks the thin line between intentionally campy and seriously trying to scare. And it does so better than most horror films. I think the grainy films of the 70's just work better for horror. When everything's crisp you actually have to have good acting, good script, and good effects.
This film has a mediocre amount of all three of those. The piranha (genetically altered by the government, MUTANT ... Read More
Rating: - I'l have a little bite of this and a little bite of that...
This film has various things going on in it. At times it is quite funny and tongue-in-cheek. But it does have it's ominous moments. One that stands out the most is when the summer camp kids are being nibbled on and watch their nice counselor get taken down by the relentless fish. The music during that scene is intense. But it doesn't stay too serious for very long. Not when we still have a large supply of annoying tourists to take care of down the river.
Here's the thing with a film like this: If ... Read More
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