Long before Joe Dante directed Gremlins and the vastly superior Gremlins 2 (fight me), he made Piranha for Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. Corman was hesitant to make a Jaws rip-off, as that movie was so good, but had no qualms about making a Jaws 2 rip-off, as that movie was so bad. Universal Studios considered suing Corman, but legend has it that Steven Spielberg himself intervened, having seen and loved an advance showing of the film; he would later hire Dante to direct a segment of The Twilight Zone movie and Gremlins.
In Piranha, a school of genetically modified piranhas are making their way down an unspecified North American river, eating everyone who’s unfortunate enough to be swimming in the their path. As luck would have it, the bloodthirsty fishies are on a direct course to a summer camp downstream, which just so happens to be holding swim-team tryouts that day. When even Friday the 13th films are reluctant to harm children, you can typically roll your eyes whenever most filmmakers employ children-in-peril scenes to build suspense… but this is a Roger Corman production, by god, and the legendary film producer is well aware that his fans would feel cheated if at least a few children didn’t die.
A spunky young private investigator (Heather Menzies), an alcoholic living off grid (Bradford Dillman), and the mad scientist responsible for the mutant fish (Kevin McCarthy) must race downstream to warn the camp counselors before the piranhas reach them. Unfortunately, the military arrests the heroes as part of a cover-up operation. I’m not going to dwell on why the military’s involved because the movie doesn’t care that much, either. Dante is only concerned with giving the audience exactly what it wants to see: girls in bikinis, bloody violence, and a stupendously fun climax that goes above and beyond what’s required of it.
It’s an acquired taste, to be sure, but few B-movies have embodied Roger Corman’s unique blend of subtle humor and self-awareness. He and the many filmmakers who got their start with him made these films for the love of the craft… so long as it the pursuit of art didn’t get in the way of a profit. I would describe Piranha as one of the quintessential Corman productions, right up there with Death Race 2000.
Dick Miller is fantastic as always and I’m always thrilled to see cult icon Barbara Steele in literally anything, but Kevin McCarthy’s mad scientist is chewing the scenery with the same gusto as Jack Palance in his later flicks. The novelty has worn off for the modern day imitators—the cocaine bears, the meta anacondas, the hybrid animal-disasters with loads of horrible CGI and too much winking at the camera. The B-movie used to be a sacred thing, the only place you could get cheap thrills and fucked-up laughs, but there used to be an art to it. I can think of few examples better or more authentic than Piranha.
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