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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 the resort its name.
The gondola rides are gone now but glass-bottom boat rides are still there. The university bought the park in 1994 to use as a preserve and study water and environmental resource issues by founding the Texas Rivers Institute. The area in which it was filmed (on the San Marcos River) is the most consistently inhabited region in all of North America, with archeological records showing a continuous presence for more than 12,000 years straight. Piranha is not the only film shot in San Marcos, a cozy college town in-between Austin and San Antonio, as the films The Getaway and The Ringer serve as other examples.
Viewers will get nostalgic to see the old Aquarena Springs and a time when San Marcos was small and even more laid back and uncorrupted by corporate chains. If you like silly, tongue in cheek flicks on a shoe string budget, you'll like Piranha. Joe Dante got his start directing films like this before he went on to make it big with Gremlins....
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 not really a clear understanding if the poison actually kill most of them or what? Now there is a Part 2 movie on Piranha, which even at the end of this movie she says they can't survive in the ocean, but they do, thus spawns a Part 2. Overall, this is a good movie for its time, and the special effects are good for a 1978 film. Its worth a watch.
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 piranha, I mean) are never really seen clearly, so their realism isn't that big a deal. The plot revolves around some campers that go missing and a woman sent to find them. She somehow immediately decides they must have disappeared at the old abandoned military facility and breaks through the locked gate to get in. Then she decides to drain their pool to see if the bodies are there, unknowingly releasing mutant piranhas into a quiet Texas river.
What ensues is one of the sillier horror/action(?) escapades ever on the screen. The two heros travel down the river on a makeshift raft to warn everyone of the piranhas and make sure that the dam doesn't get opened, releasing the piranha on to a children's summer camp.
Of course, the piranha know when anyone is in the river at any point throughout and will be there to nibble them apart in a matter of seconds. Anyway, the film never bores and the gore is pretty believable. It's also got the gratuitous breast flashing expected in early horror movies, and the open ending.
The best part of the DVD is the blooper reel. If I had my way, every movie would have a blooper reel. This one is especially good, because they're from the 70's. How many blooper reels are 30 years old?
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 you don't like your humour dark, you're not going to like it. But if you appreciate a good helping of cheese in your film diet, this film should fill you up. Happy Eating!!!
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