Product Details

• Actors: Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies-Urich, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Dick Miller
• Directors: Joe Dante
• Writers: John Sayles, Richard Robinson
• Producers: Chako van Leeuwen, Jeff Schechtman, Jon Davison, Roger Corman
• Format: Color, Dolby, Full Screen, Special Edition, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: New Concorde
• DVD Release Date: October 26, 1999
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305596247
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,310 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Piranha (20th Anniversary Special Edition)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Roger Corman produced this shameless Jaws rip-off at the height of the "nature gone wild" boom of American cinema and struck B-movie gold. Scripted by John Sayles and directed by Joe Dante, this tongue-in-cheek thriller stars Bradford Dillman (doing his best Rip Torn impression) as an antisocial mountain man and Heather Menzies as a rookie detective who race a school of mutant piranha downriver. Dante and Sayles provide the requisite blood and gore for this drive-in meat market: a kids' summer camp and a waterfront amusement park await the little beasties. Along the way, riverside retiree Keenan Wynn gets his ankles stripped clean, camp counselor Paul Bartel is chomped on the cheek by a hungry little bugger who takes to the air, and hordes of unlucky bathers are caught in the center of a feeding frenzy. What differentiates this little gem from the legion of similar knockoffs are the satirical swipes at military arrogance and crass commercialism, Dante's energetic enthusiasm, and the bursts of black humor: "Lost River Lake: Terror, horror, death. Film at 11." The culty cast also includes Invasion of the Body Snatchers's Kevin McCarthy as the hysterical scientist guarding the creatures, horror diva Barbara Steele as a devious government researcher, and longtime Corman regular Dick Miller as an unscrupulous entrepreneur ("Sir, the piranha are eating the guests").

The DVD features good-humored commentary by director Joe Dante and producer Jon Davison, who also narrate the 10 minutes of good-quality home-movie footage shot by Davison. There are also six minutes of outtakes. --Sean Axmaker

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Camp Classic Deserves a Look May 30, 2000

By Bruce Lee Pullen

Format:DVD

Joe Dante's Piranha is a very humorous spoof and a fine homage to Steven Spielberg's classic Jaws. Though plagued with poor acting from Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, and Keenan Wynn, this is definitely not the type of film that you would ever take seriously. The inside film jokes and cinema references add a lot of intelligent spice to the film's proceedings, but it is the cheesy yet effective special effects by Phil Tippett (Robocop) that make Piranha a must see for mosnter movie buffs. Watch out for the obviously fake piranha as they make a spectacular bloddy debacle of a children's summer camp. The DVD edition of Piranha has many elaborate features including a Joe Dante commenty, a making-of-documentary, film bloppers, and other theatrical trailers of Corman films. P.S. Joe Dante would later go on to direct such horror classics as The Howling and Gremlins.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Get out of the water! October 8, 2005

By Jeffrey Leach HALL OF FAMEVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Where would we be without the venerable Roger Corman? Lovers of B-movie madness would likely have a lot more time on their hands to read books, interact with family, or take part in generally otherwise fulfilling life experiences had old Rog chosen a different career path. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, Corman sat out in Hollywood for three or four decades making low budget exploitation films. He also tried to cash in on every movie fad in modern cinema. And I do mean EVERY fad. You see, Roger had a dream to take an idea and make a profitable picture out of it that would entertain the masses. The problem was that someone else invariably had the idea first. Thus Lucas's "Star Wars" allowed Corman to unleash "Battle Beyond the Stars" on an unsuspecting public. Car chase movies saw Roger replying with "Grand Theft Auto" and "Eat My Dust." I could go on and on. There wasn't anything Corman couldn't do with someone else's idea. Perhaps the best example is "Piranha," a 1978 ripoff of Spielberg's "Jaws." This film made our man a lot of money, which allowed him to make even more spectacular ripoffs for years to come.

The flick starts with a couple of kids breaking into some sort of rundown fish hatchery for an evening swim. Something in the water kills them. End of movie. Seriously, something rather nasty does do away with the two idiots. We then see an insurance investigator by the name of Maggie McKeown (Heather Menzies on loan from Julie Andrews) heading out to discover what happened to these two dolts. She rather quickly hooks up with an embittered alcoholic with a penchant for flannel named Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman channeling Grizzly Adams) who lives in a cabin down by the river. Somehow or other Maggie convinces Paul to head over to the fish hatchery with her. Sure enough they discover that something sinister has been going on there under the aegis of Dr. Robert Hoak (Kevin McCarthy). How do we know this? Because there's lots of nasty looking scientific stuff lying around all over the place. Anyway, Hoak eventually lets our two heroes in on a little secret: the government paid him a bunch of money to create a breed of piranha as part of some weapons program. Personally, I'm for anything that keeps communists out of our swimming pools, lakes, and rivers.

While all this nonsense goes on we know the piranha have escaped from the hatchery (thanks Maggie and Paul!) and are preparing a full-scale assault on the human race. A few locals fall prey first, but the real threat is the summer camp and an aquatic park downriver. Just to ratchet up the emotional element of the film a bit, we also learn that Paul's daughter is currently attending the camp. Oh dear! It's a race against time as Paul and Maggie set out with the twitchy Dr. Hoak in tow to stop the madness. As for the folks at the camp and the park, they haven't a clue as to what's about to happen. The only concern at the camp is the fascistic machinations of Mr. Dumont (Paul Bartel), a guy who takes great joy in ordering kids into the water and snooping on the foxy female counselors. At the water park, the owner plans on making a bundle on opening day and couldn't care less if a battleship full of exposed nuclear waste sailed into harbor. You can pretty much guess what happens in the last part of the film. Screaming, blood in the water, and a lot of out of shape Americans in unflattering bathing suits thrashing around on the beach in agonies. Fun!

I don't know whether to laugh or cry with this one, folks. Lots of people adore this film, and I probably would to if I'd seen it as a wee lad. I didn't, and I'm not that impressed. The swarms of piranha zipping through the water look so like the pieces of plastic they are that it's tough not to snicker. It's even worse when we see them up close chattering away on an exposed leg or belly. We're definitely looking at cheesefest central on a buck and a half budget here. At the same time, I did find a lot to like about the film. Seeing veteran horror babe Barbara Steele popping up from time to time as a government scientist named Dr. Mengers was a nice surprise, although she's largely wasted in the role. Kevin McCarthy plays frazzled well, and the script requires him to morph into a sniveling wimp for most of his screen time. Heck, we even see Richard Deacon (Mel from "The Dick Van Dyke Show") in a small role as Maggie's boss. Can't beat that. The talent behind the camera is moderately impressive too considering the budget. Joe Dante directed this flick, and John Sayles wrote the script. Both men went on to greater success, Dante with "Gremlins" and Sayles with "Eight Men Out," "The Howling," and several other mainstream movies.

Extras on the disc include a commentary track, extra footage, bloopers, and a few other odds and ends. Corman apparently took this film, or at least a similar concept, to television in the mid-1990s. If so, I haven't seen that version and thus cannot make a comparison. If the remake, or retread, or whatever it is looks and sounds like this movie, more laughs await us. Corman continues to churn out pap at an alarming rate, and has even recently inked a deal with Disney that will release his entire catalogue on DVD and keep it in circulation until the sun burns out. I've dogged on Corman quite a bit, but I do appreciate his films. If nothing else they are entertaining, and this one definitely works most of the time.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THE PIRANHAS ARE EATING THE GUESTS June 15, 2005

By Michael Butts HALL OF FAMEVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

A justifiable cult classic, PIRANHA boasts an impressive pedigree. Oscar nominated screenwriter John Sayles; director Joe Dante (Gremlins); and some fine character actors: Bradford Dillman, Keenan Wynn, Dick Miller, Paul Bartel, Barbara Steele. The attacks are vicious and quickly paced so you don't pay too much attention to the cheesy special effects. There's satire about the military as well. There are some good suspense sequences, and I almost forgot: Body Snatcher's Kevin McCarthy is on board as the misguided scientist. The best of the subsequent spinoffs, PIRANHA is a great little horror classic.