Piranha (1978)

When flesh-eating piranhas are accidently released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.

Director:

Joe Dante

Writers:

Richard Robinson (story), John Sayles (story),

Stars:

Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies-Urich, Kevin McCarthy

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bradford Dillman	...	Paul Grogan
Heather Menzies-Urich	...	Maggie McKeown (as Heather Menzies)
Kevin McCarthy	...	Dr. Robert Hoak
Keenan Wynn	...	Jack
Dick Miller	...	Buck Gardner
Barbara Steele	...	Dr. Mengers
Belinda Balaski	...	Betsy
Melody Thomas Scott	...	Laura Dickinson (as Melody Thomas)
Bruce Gordon	...	Colonel Waxman
Barry Brown	...	Trooper
Paul Bartel	...	Mr. Dumont
Shannon Collins	...	Suzie Grogan
Shawn Nelson	...	Whitney
Richard Deacon	...	Earl Lyon
Janie Squire	...	Barbara Randolph

Storyline

When flesh-eating piranhas are accidently released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.

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Plot Keywords:

piranha | river | fish | water | experiment | 

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Taglines:

A hideous death lurked unseen in the river...

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 August 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Piraña

Filming Locations:

Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$600,000 (estimated)

Gross:

SEK 1,585,673 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New World Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 106 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was designed to jump on the huge success of Jaws. Roger Corman was known for producing films that were veiled imitations of more successful movies. But it still took a further three years to raise enough money to make the film. By which time Jaws 2 had already been made.

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Goofs

In several of the "summer" camp scenes it is clearly early spring. Many of the trees still have no leaves.

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Quotes

Dumont: People eat fish, Grogan. Fish don't eat people.

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Crazy Credits

The FBI warning at the end of the credits ends with the phrase "So There." Producer Jon Davison used the same joke for the FBI warning in his later picture "Airplane."

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Connections

Referenced in Starz Inside: Fantastic Flesh (2008)

User Reviews

Really Bad

I was really looking forward to seeing this film, I had heard so much about it & John Sayles of Alligator fame had penned the script so how bad could it be? Actually it was really terrible. Possibly this is one of those films that has not stood the test of time. The opening is O.K, and there are some nice creature effects, but the acting is so bad and some of the sub plots so corny that there is no doubt that you are watching a Roger Corman production

• and a bad one at that. Only watch it if you really have a burning

desire to see it - otherwise stay away.