Piranha (1978)


Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...a bunch of little fishies start nipping at your toes.  And your legs.  And your arms and fingers.  Even your bum bum.  These little creatures are piranha.  They are the primary antagonist of the film, you guessed it, Piranha.

The basic idea is that a specially bred school of Piranha gets loose in a town or county’s water system and wreaks havoc upon the people living or vacationing in the area.  It’s a fairly basic story.  It’s similar to Jaws which is why I used the Jaws 2 tagline.  People in water, something in the water attacks the people, people start to die.  What sets this movie apart is that Joe Dante directed it.  Sure, Spielberg is a master of direction and he did Jaws, but Spielberg is no Joe Dante.

I would say that the direction of Piranha is excellent.  Joe Dante manages to build up to each death with magnificent skill using sound, small reveals, escalating character fear, and timing.  The honing of skills in this movie helped Joe Dante with his later great, Gremlins.  Both movies are different monsters in and of themselves but come down to the same core.  Can you create a scary/creepy film for audiences to watch?  I’d say both were successes.

This has really turned into “Joe Dante...durr...I like Joe Dante...durr...Dante!”  That’s because this movie does not have great acting or writing.  The story is basic.  You pretty much substitute in some piranha for a shark and tweak a few character bits.  The acting is...this is a Roger Corman produced film.  Take that as you will.  It is acceptable but nothing special about the acting.

This is a rather short one.  I didn’t have much to talk about for Piranha.  I enjoyed the movie.  It isn’t above and beyond anything I’ve seen before but it did point towards some things to come in horror and movies in general.  It also had a sequel and two remakes.

Man, this overview kind of sucks.  I wouldn’t want to read this one.  Sorry whoever read this far.  And to think I started it so well too.

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