Piranha

Alternate titles : Piranhas.

Tagline : "Lost River Lake was a thriving resort - until they discovered..."

Released to cash in on the success of Jaws, this 1978 horror film from infamous Producer Roger Corman stars US TV actress Heather Menzies as private investigator Maggie McKeown, who's been hired to locate a young couple that have gone missing, whilst out backpacking in some remote woodlands.

Enlisting the help of local man Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman), they stumble across an old army research facility up in the mountains, which appears to contain rather a large swimming pool. Finding the couples belongings nearby, they decide to drain the pool to see if they fell in, believing the old base to be empty and abandoned.

However, they are subsequently confronted by an irate Dr Hoak (Kevin McCarthy), who's been keeping an eye on the old facility, and informs them they have just released a deadly batch of genetically engineered Piranha into the local river.

With a lakeside resort located down stream and the Piranha devouring anything and everything in their path, it looks like they're going to have an opening weekend that won't be forgotten in a hurry...

Directed by Joe Dante ("Gremlins", "The Howling"), and featuring former horror siren Barbara Steele and B-movie actor Dick Miller, the film was huge hit a drive-in theatres during the late 70s and proved to be big hit on home video during the early 80s on both sides of the Atlantic.

Whilst the effects may look slightly dated by today's standards, it has lost none of its charm over the years and is tremendous fun, as we get to see numerous people, including a bunch of schoolkids, getting devoured by the ravenous fish. So if you love these "nature on the rampage" sort of films, then this comes highly recommended!

Overall Marks : 7/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• Alternate tag lines, "They're here...Hungry for flesh! Who can stop them?", "There's something in the water at Lost River Lake. Something you can't see...something you can't feel...until it's too late!", "Then... you were shocked by the great white shark - Now... you are at the mercy of 1000 jaws!"
• The "Jaws" arcade game Heather Menzies is playing at the start of the film, was put in deliberately as a jokey reference to the film it was trying to rip off.
• The films budget was $660,000.
• Shortly after filming had begun, producer Roger Corman almost pulled the plug on the production as he felt the budget was too high, however he relented after United Artists stepped in and agreed to co-finance it in return for handling the overseas distribution.
• Future special effects technicians Phil Tippet, who was 17 at the time, and Rob Bottin, who was 19, helped with the special effect on this.
• The original script was by Richard Robinson, who also scripted "Kingdom of the Spiders". But, producer Roger Corman disliked it, so he asked author John Sayles to re-write. Sayles would go on to work with director Joe Dante again for "The Howling".
• Whilst filming some underwater shots in the river, the divers didn't realise the riverbed was made of loose silt, so when they tried to stand on the bottom with their camera rig, they sank up to their waists and almost became stuck.
• During the scene where the piranhas attack the raft, Phil Tippet, who was doing the underwater effects, got accidentally bashed a number of times with the pole Bradford Dillman was using, as he didn't realise how close to the surface he was. The blows knocked off his mask and respirator and was nearly knocked unconscious before one of the crew realised what was going on and they dragged him back up.
• The role of Dr Mengers was originally intended to be a male character, but when Joe Dante found out they could get Barbara Steele in the film, they changed it to a woman.
• The scenes with the submerged control room were filmed in the University of Southern Carolina's swimming pool. Unfortunately, due to the amount of fake blood, various plants and dirt they used to create a realistic underwater scene, it caused a nasty fungus to develop in the water, resulting in some of the crew getting ear infections. As a result, the pool had to be drained, cleaned and re-surfaced before the university could use it again.
• Universal pictures apparently tried to sue the film makers for ripping off "Jaws". However Stephen Spielberg, who had seen the film and liked it, stepped in and apparently persuaded them against taking legal action.

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