Piranhas II - Die Rache der Killerfische (1979)

Jewel thieves attempt to recover treasure from piranha infested waters. Mistrust and betrayals happen amongst the gang in the quest for gold.

Director:

Antonio Margheriti (as Anthony M. Dawson)

Writer:

Michael Rogers (screenplay)

Stars:

Lee Majors, Karen Black, Margaux Hemingway

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lee Majors	...	Lasky
Karen Black	...	Kate
Margaux Hemingway	...	Gabrielle
Marisa Berenson	...	Ann
James Franciscus	...	Paul Diller
Roy Brocksmith	...	Ollie
Dan Pastorini	...	Hans
Frank Pesce	...	Warren
Charles Guardino	...	Lloyd
Anthony Steffen	...	Max
Fábio Sabag	...	Quintin
Jorge Cherques	...	Police Inspector
Chico Arago	...	Ben
Gary Collins	...	Tom
Sônia Oiticica	...	Nurse

Storyline

Jewel thieves attempt to recover treasure from piranha infested waters. Mistrust and betrayals happen amongst the gang in the quest for gold.

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Plot Keywords:

betrayal | piranha | jewel | treasure | water | 

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

Italy UK Brazil USA

Language:

English Portuguese

Release Date:

7 December 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Deadly Treasure of the Piranha

Filming Locations:

Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fawcett-Majors Productions, Filmar do Brasil, Incorporated Television Company (ITC)

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of a cycle of 1980s and mid-late 1970s movies that got made after the box-office success of Jaws (1975). The films include that movie's three sequels, Jaws 2 (1978), Jaws 3-D (1983), and Jaws: The Revenge (1987), as well as Orca (1977), Piranha (1978), Tentacles (1977), Piranhas II - Die Rache der Killerfische (1979), Barracuda (1978), Tintorera: Killer Shark (1977), Blood Beach (1980), Piranha Part Two: The Spawning (1981), The Last Shark (1981), Up from the Depths (1979), Humanoids from the Deep (1980), Screamers (1979), Devil Fish (1984) and Mako: The Jaws of Death (1976).

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Goofs

During Diller's demise, his hair is wet, yet right before his last struggle before he disappears under the water one final time, his hair is bone dry.

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Quotes

Kate Neville: Have you ever broken it before?
Hans: Probably.

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Connections

Featured in American Grindhouse (2010)

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Soundtracks

THE WINNER TAKES ALL
Written by Barry Leng, Simon May, Guido De Angelis & Maurizio De Angelis
Performed by Amii Stewart

User Reviews

Almost a "guilty pleasure"

This movie mixes together two sets of characters at a Brazilian lake-resort: a gang of jewel-thieves fresh from a heist and a company of people involved in photographing a fashion layout. The tensions and turmoils which occur when these two groups come together are not without interest but they create too much clutter. To correct this, some of the characters, (such as those played by Marisa Berenson and Gary Collins), might have been eliminated. A few of the incidents in the first half of the movie might also have been shortened or cut entirely in order to concentrate on the movie's strength -- a long but suspenseful sequence in the last two reels in which a number of people are trapped on a boat which is sinking in the middle of a piranha-infested lake.

At least the clutter provides room for a large and rather bizarrely-diverse cast. Where else can one find, on one marquee, Lee Majors, Karen Black, Margaux Hemingway, Marisa Berenson, James Franciscus, Gary Collins, and Dan Pastorini?

Lee Majors has a brief and disappointingly modest shower scene and James Franciscus gets to take his shirt off for a weight-lifting shot but most of the movie's "beefcake" is provided by 27-year-old football-quarterback Dan Pastorini of the Houston Oilers. There's a scene on his hotel-room bed in which Karen Black examines his bare chest for injuries following a car crash. This scene serves as kind of a warm-up for his appearance, two years later, in a Playgirl Magazine photospread set inside a shower room. While most of these photos showed Pastorini in a wet, filled-to-capacity jockstrap, others featured him in poses which suggest that his position on a football team should not have been "quarterback" but rather "tight end."

The Brazilian backgrounds provide a bit of scenic interest, though not as much as one might wish, and there are some passably-good special effects when a dam breaks, creating a tidal wave of havoc.