Even in the late 70's studios were trying to cash in on the "Jaws" phenomenon and to this date they are still doing it. This is a Roger Corman produced film and he never saw a genre that he didn't exploit. Story is about an insurance investigator named Maggie McKeown (Heather Menzies) who is trying to locate two lost campers and she runs into an alcoholic hermit in the woods named Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman) and she persuades him to give her a ride to a supposedly closed military facility. They look around and Maggie finds the campers gear certifying that they were there. They start to drain the pool to see if they drowned and they're attacked by a man who says not to let the water drain. They knock him unconscious and take him back to Paul's cabin. They tie him up and with the use of a raft they head downstream to the authorities. While on the raft they find out that his name is Dr. Robert Hoak (Kevin McCarthy) and he has been working for the government undercover and has developed a mutant species of piranha and that they let them out of the pool and into the river! The military comes in and they try to keep Maggie and Paul quiet but they escape and try to stop the piranha from heading downriver and into the ocean. The piranha chew up several people and even little kids swimming at camp. A local businessman named Buck Gardner (Dick Miller) is opening a resort on the river and even though he knows about the piranha he doesn't delay the grand opening. This was the directorial debut of Joe Dante and even though this was made on a shoestring budget his talent is very evident. Yes, the film is silly but the special effects are not that bad and the script was written by John Sayles. The only flaw (For me that is) is that Dillman and Menzies spend way to much time on that raft. The film does slow down a notch but luckily it's not for that long. There is one truly scary scene and it's where the piranha attack the little kids at camp. The kids really get chomped on and the scene where a pretty counselor is killed is very effective and well made. The opening scene in the film is a direct "Jaws" rip-off where the two campers go swimming at night and are eaten. Menzies is then seen playing a "Jaws" video game. Like all Corman films this has many recognizable faces in the cast like Keenan Wynn, Barbara Steele, Paul Bartel, Belinda Balaski, Richard Deacon and Sayles himself plays the Army guard that is fooled when Dillman and Menzies escape. Definitely a film that you don't take seriously but this is pretty well made and a must for fans of Corman and horror films.
Review of Piranha
