Cover Art

Credits

Director: Joe Dante Starring: Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Dick Miller, Barbara Steele Screenplay: John Sayles Music: Pino Donaggio Tagline: They're here...Hungry for flesh! Who can stop them? Country: USA

Absolutely useless private investigator Maggie McKeon (Heather Menzies) travels to a mountain retreat to find two missing hikers. Upon arrival she enlists the help of local alcoholic mountain man, Paul (Bradford Dillman) and together the pair travels to an abandoned Army research station to see if the hikers are there. They search the lab, but Maggie is dead certain that the pair's bodies must be in the pool there, even though they are excellent swimmers. She empties the pool into the river that runs down the mountain, not realizing she is releasing a horror into the river. A horror with fins and sharp teeth! Maggie and Paul gain help from Doctor Hoak (Kevin McCarthy), but the army soon gets involved, and they believe that they can stop the piranha with poison. Hopefully they are right, because if the piranha avoid the trap laid for them they could decimate Buck Garder's (Dick Miller) new riverside resort and the local summer camp run by Mr. Dumont (Paul Bartel) and cause many deaths…

With a cast on genre favs like McCathy, Barbara Steele, Bartel and Miller, and directed by the man who gave us Gremlins and Innerspace (OK, he gave us Looney Toons: Back in Action as well, but cut him a little slack) you really can't go wrong. It kitsch, it's corny and it waves its B movie banner proudly and with heart. It is worth pointing out that some of the effects are done by SFX and makeup legends Phil Tippet, of Star Wars and Starship Troopers fame, and The Thing's Rob Bottin.