Piranha

Director: Joe Dante Joe Dante

Overview

The sophomore effort for director Joe Dante, a future prot?g? of Steven Spielberg, this low-budget, high-camp horror spoof of Jaws (1977) features several chiller stars of yesteryear. Insurance investigator Maggie McKeown (Heather Menzies) is dispatched to find two missing teenage hikers near Lost River Lake. She hires surly backwoods drunkard Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman) to serve as her guide. Searching the area, they find an abandoned military facility. The only resident is Dr. Robert Hoak (Kevin McCarthy), former head of a top-secret project to breed piranha for use in the Vietnam War. The project was closed down years ago, but Hoak has continued raising a deadly strain of the flesh-eating fish. When Hoak is knocked unconscious, Maggie and Paul accidentally release the piranha into a local river, which leads to the lake where a children's summer camp and a newly opened tourist resort will provide plenty of fish food for the hungry predators. Maggie and Paul race to warn the locals, but their pleas fall on skeptical ears, such as those of resort owner Buck Gardner (Dick Miller) -- until the piranha reach the swimmers. Piranha (1978) was co-written by John Sayles, making his motion picture debut.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/03/2010
UPC:	0826663116823
Original Release:	1978
Rating:	R
Source:	Shout Factory
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:32:00
Sales rank:	2,073

Special Features

Audio commentary with director Joe Dante and producer Jon Davison ; Behind-the-scenes footage; "The making of piranha" featurette with new interviews from Roger Corman, Joe Dante, Dick Miller, Belinda Balaski and many more bloopers and outtakes; Piranha trailer with commentary by producer Jon Davison - courtesy of trailers from hell; Stills gallery with photos and posters from around the world; Behind-the-scenes stills gallery featuring photos from Phil tippett's personal collection; Additional scenes from the network television version radio and tv spots; New world trailers

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Bradford Dillman	Paul Grogan
Heather Menzies	Maggie McKeown
Kevin McCarthy	Dr. Robert Hoak
Keenan Wynn	Jack
Dick Miller	Buck Gardner
Barbara Steele	Dr. Mengers
Belinda Balaski	Betsy
Melody Thomas Scott	Laura
Bruce Gordon	Col. Waxman
Barry Brown	Trooper
Paul Bartel	Dumont
Shannon Collins	Suzie
Shawn Nelson	Whitney
Richard Deacon	Earl
Janie Squire	Barbara
Roger Richman	David
Bill Smillie	Jailer
Guich Koock	Pitchman
Jack Pauleson	In Canoe
Eric Henshaw	Father in Canoe
Robert Vinson	Soldier
Virginia Dunnam	Girl
Hill Farnsworth	Water Skier
Bruce Barbour	Man in Boat
Robyn Ray	Screaming Woman
Michael Sullivan	Dam Guard
Jack Cardwell	Brandy
John Sayles	Tom, sentry guarding tent
Nick Palmisano	Actor
Bobby Sargent	Actor
Roger Creed	Actor
Bill Smille	Jailer
Pino Donaggio	Composer

Technical Credits

John Sayles

Joe Dante	Director
Jon Berg	Special Effects
Roger Corman	Executive Producer,Producer
Jon Davison	Producer
Conrad E. Palmisano	Stunts
Jeff Schechtman	Executive Producer,Producer
John Sayles	Screenwriter
Chako Van Leeuwen	Producer

Editorial Reviews

This Roger Corman-produced cult favorite towers over its competition in the arena of Jaws imitators because it manages to deliver the goods that horror fans expect in effective style while also subtly spoofing the genre. The film benefits from a smart John Sayles script that is populated with appealing, believably quirky characters and overflows with quotable dialogue (the single best line arrives when an assistant tells his resort-owning boss "The piranhas are eating the guests, sir"). Director Joe Dante keeps the action moving at a rapid pace and knocks out a string of impressive set pieces in the process, including a nerve-jangling scene where a group of campers are attacked by the piranha and a suspenseful finale where the hero tries to open an underwater tank of poisonous waste to kill the piranhas before they get to him. Dante also works in plenty of subtle visual humor (for example, a beachgoer reading a copy of Moby Dick) and gets strong performances from his cast, including Bradford Dillman's stoic turn as reluctant hero Grogan and horror film icon Barbara Steele's icy performance as a quietly menacing scientist. All in all, Piranha is an intelligent blend of scares and wit that shows the genre-bending skills Joe Dante would soon develop to perfection on hits like The Howling and Gremlins.