Piranha [Roger Corman's Cult Classics]

However it was shipped with zero protection and arrived cracked.

Product arrived on time and as described

This review is for the Steelbook Blu-Ray edition of Piranha released in June, 2019.This Steelbook edition is for the original 'Piranha' made in 1978.For those interested only in the picture and extra's, just look below.BLU-RAY & EXTRA'S: The picture is made from the original camera negative and is a 4K scan. The picture didn't look as good as I would have hoped. I know very little about film transfers and I'm guessing that the this is as good as this movie is going to look. The movie is shown in it's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The extra's are plentiful. They are:-New audio commentary with Roger Corman - I did not particularly like this. Almost the entire commentary is of Corman being interviewed about his career. He says very little about this movie. Don't expect to learn much about 'Piranha'. Corman's career has been documented extensively elsewhere. Dick Miller died shortly before this commentary was made.-Audio Commentary with Director Joe Dante and Producer Jon Davison - This is a very good commentary. Dante is always good at commentaries and in this particular instance, it is his movie! He tells you virtually every detail he could remember as you go scene by scene through the movie. This is the way all commentaries should be. When Dante recorded this audio commentary, he was watching this movie for the first time in 15 years.-Additional footage from TV version of 'Piranha' - This consists of about 12 minutes of scenes. This is not all new footage. A lot of the footage is of extended scenes. There is additional footage of the scenes with the kid and father in the canoe, scene in the tent, scene on the river with Dr. Hoak, scene with the colonel along with some other scenes. In addition, there is a new scene with a commercial being shot.-The Making of Piranha - There are interviews with Roger Corman, Joe Dante and many of the actors and production people involved.-Bloopers and Outtakes-Behind the Scenes Footage-Still Galleries-Theatrical Trailers-TV and Radio Spots-Behind the Scenes Photo Archives*****WARNING - LOTS OF SPOILERS BELOW*****PLOT/SUMMARY: Maggie McKeown is looking for a couple of teenagers who went missing in Lost River Lake. Maggie comes across a depressed local named Paul. He agrees to help her look for the missing teens. They come upon a closed fish hatchery that has been turned into a secret military facility. Once inside they meet Dr. Hoak (Kevin McCarthy). Unfortunately they have an altercation and Hoak is knocked out. Maggie finds a switch and drains a pool that is outside of the main building. In doing so, she releases top secret piranha into the local river. The hatchery was being used to breed experimental piranha. These were to have been unleashed in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam war. Dr. Hoak takes off in Maggie and Paul's Jeep but ends up crashing. Dr. Hoak tells the two about 'Project Razortooth'. Dr. Hoak doesn't tell them everything he knows and the trio uses a raft to travel down the river. Paul's child is at a summer camp nearby and he fears for her life. Once alerted, the military enters the picture. Together, they must figure out how to stop the Piranha from advancing.PRODUCTION: This movies was released by New World Pictures and United Artists in 1978.-The budget was around $660,000 and was a big success for New World Pictures.-According to the producer Jon Davison, the shooting schedule was a total of 30 days, 22 days on land and 8 days in the pool. 20 of the shooting days were in Texas with the other 2 in Griffith Park in California.-Universal Studio's wanted to stop this movie from being released but ultimately reconsidered.-This was Joe Dante's first directorial job after his very low budget 'Hollywood Boulevard'.-Dick Miller gets a pretty sizable role. He is of course famous for being 'That Guy'.-Barbara Steele returns to the United States in a minor role.-The underwater scenes were shot in the Olympic pool at USC.-Dante got the military to approve of the script despite their concerns that he would make them look bad. He made them look bad!!!-The movie attempted to use stop-motion early on. The creature shown in the laboratory was going to change sizes but ultimately, it was decided to give up on this.-Eric Braeden, the star of 'Colossus: The Forbin Project' was originally cast as Dr. Hoak. He is actually swimming in one scene. He backed out after getting 'cold feet'. He was worried about the low production standards of the movie. Kevin McCarthy ended up with his role.COMMENTS: DO I LIKE THIS MOVIE?: Not really. I know that this movie is a cult classic but to be honest, I find it pretty boring. It's an original. I get it. It's just not the type of movie that I'm going to watch over again anytime soon. For it's day, it was a pretty good thriller. If it was release in today's day and age, it would be extremely forgettable. Of course, it wasn't released today, it was released in the 70's. IS BARBARA STEELE 'ALL THAT'?:-I just don't get the popularity of Barbara Steele. I understand that she is quite popular. However, I find it amazing that she had such a long career with her attitude. She seems to have had a very bad attitude and I never thought she was that good looking to begin with. Yes, I know, she has fans that think she is gorgeous. To that I say, "To each, his own". I also don't think she is a good actress. If you listen to the commentary, she wasn't even prepared for her role in this movie. She was quite fortunate to have found somebody to hire her in Italy. I can't believe she just walked off of the set of an Elvis movie! I think saying that she didn't age well is an understatement. You can already see her looks going down hill in this movie. OK, so I'm dumping on Barbara Steele. I'll stop since I'm probably offending a few people! CLEAR ENDING?: The ending isn't all that clear... literally. Supposedly the piranha are killed via being 'polluted to death!' OK... if they say so... Soon after they would be flying... I'm not kidding... just watch the sequel. OTHER COMMENTS:-I know they didn't have the budget to re-shoot scenes but I have to point out that you could see the kids laughing in some of the scenes in which they are being attacked.-It was nice seeing Kevin McCarthy in the movie, even if it was only for a short while. I doubt he had much to do at this point in his career but they still couldn't afford him for too long.-Near the beginning of the movie you can see the video game 'Jaws' being played. This is a rare 70's arcade game and a 'shout out' to 'Jaws'.-Supposedly a bunch of kids die in this movie. I didn't actually see any kid die.-Our hero, Paul, is underwater way too long. Joe Dante admits to this and points it out in his commentary. However, there just wasn't anything he could do to make the underwater sequence shorter.CONCLUSIONS: Everyone knows that this movie is a rip off of Jaws. It proved to be influential and helped to launch a whole genre of low budget movies of this type and for that reason it is a cult classic. I think that the director, Joe Dante, did as good of a job as you can do with such a limited budget.If you want the Steelbook version then you are probably a fan of the movie. The picture isn't great but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for better. IS THERE A SEQUEL?: Yes there is. There is a sequel called 'Piranha II - The Spawning' and there are two remakes. One was made in 3D. The sequel assumes that the Piranha have gotten into the ocean and they are hanging out near a beach resort in a shipwreck. It's up and coming director, James Cameron, called it "the greatest flying piranha movie ever made".RATINGS:Plot: 5/10 - Just so-so by today's standards but pretty good in it's day.Picture: 7/10 - It's a scan from the original negative but somehow it just doesn't look all that great.Extra's: 9/10 or 4 1/2 stars - Plenty of extra's, this is a strong point of the release.Steelbook Cover: 5/10 or 2 1/2 stars - This is not especially good for a steel book cover.Overall: 7/10 which I'm rounding up to 4 stars.

In perfect condition. No hairline scratches or damage to case.

Piranha is the best example I have seen of precisely how to do a rip off. It may sound like an oxymoron to call a rip off impressive, but this is what accurately describes Piranha. Today, we have the Asylum, a direct-to-DVD company which gives us so-called "mockbusters" that completely lack the heart and fun of a film like this. Instead, those are merely dull "just-going-through-the-motions-to-make-a-small-amount-of-money" displays of ineptitude.There are several things to strongly commend this movie for, like the fact that the lead characters are likable so that you care what happens to them (unlike in some horror films), the way it is very self-aware and has small tributes to Jaws, the campy sound effect of the school of fish, the excessive amounts of blood that is shown in a comic manner, and how it is genuinely comedic and yet not a pure spoof in the way that films like Scary Movie are. Basically, the film comes just close enough to Jaws to be an obvious attempt to cash in on its success, and yet also stays just far away enough from Jaws that one isn't bored by a repetition of the same story all over again.I also feel that this film did something well that I don't typically see in creature feature films. And that is that it maintained a good balance between the screen time that the piranha attacks had, and that the background story about the people and the origin of the problem had. I say "piranha attacks" because admittedly, the fish themselves are hardly shown close-up at all, but it didn't really feel as if I was missing anything by not seeing very much of their fins. Usually, the scenes involving the creature itself are short as well as far and few in between, while I am bored with all the meaningless dialog (a good example of this is "Demon of Paradise" where I was thinking "When do I get to see the monster?"). But in this movie I did not have that disappointment.As a matter of fact, the scenes where the human characters are talking actually interested me and had me curious what would happen next. It is very rare for me to enjoy these types of scenes.See this movie if you like B movies, by all means. However, if you aren't a fan of that type of cinema, Piranha probably won't convert you. We all have different tastes. I know people who simply don't enjoy a schlocky low budget B movie, even if it's great at being what it is. As for me though, I'll take this little exploitation film over Jaws, because it's just more fun.P.S. The DVD extras include a feature commentary, some extra footage from when they were filming, and a small documentary on the making of the film. You get your money's worth.

In Conclusion: Piranha has aged well. The sequels are fun. The plot is actually a pretty good idea. (Specially bred Piranha to use against the Viet Cong and North Vietnam only to be abandoned once the war ends.) The characters (despite thier sexual choices) are well written. In fact, what really sets Piranha apart is the John Sayles script. As I have said in many a review. You went to all the trouble to get a camera and some actors. There is no reason not to have a good script.

I remember the summer of '78, I was 9 years old, and at Hollywoodland Girls Camp. The swimming pool was all gross and off limits. They filmed the fish hatchery scenes in the beginning, and quite a bit of the cabins when the two main characters are headed towards the hatchery, stairs, etc. It was a long long summer for us girls. I've never seen this movie til now. It's just a run of the mill "nature vs.humans" debacle that dominated the '70s. Nothing special...

Peut-être suis-je trop généreux en mettant 5 étoiles à ce film...Mais la nostalgie de mon enfance était omniprésente en le revoyant!Franchement ce film d'horreur aquatique est top. Il est volontairement drôle en même temps qu'il est gore ( ça saigne bien croyez moi), il ne se prend pas au sérieux et Joe Dante savait bien que son film ne rivaliserait pas avec " Jaws" et son incroyable trame avec le grand blanc.Dante ( de la mer) lui s'est intéressé à d'autres carnivores et ses piranhas ont la dalle, mais alors bien!Dénonçant au passage la négligence des scientifiques et l'envie de toujours créer de nouvelles armes du gouvernement, le film passe très vite et l'on se prend vite d'affection pour le curieux duo qui va tenter de stopper les " dents de rasoir " déchaînées et à l'appétit insatiable...Ce n'est pas le meilleur film du genre, mais ça nous ramène à une époque où les réalisateurs avaient un vrai sens du divertissement avec des effets spéciaux datés mais cools.Ce film est de 1978, je l'ai vu en vhs quelques années plus tard à l'époque des vidéos clubs. Je viens de me le repasser et le bon souvenir que j'en avais est justifié.La note maximale, car ici on a affaire à un pur classique des 70's. Génial!

There! I said it and I'm sure there are others who agree with me. As great as Jaws is, it is a very overrated film while Joe Dante's Piranha is a very underrated film. The poor product description of this film describes Piranha as a shameless rip-off of Jaws. Give me a break! Roger Corman himself has said that Jaws was inspirational in the creation of Piranha but Piranha is his hommage to Jaws. Even Steven Spielberg has stated that Piranha was a good film in its own right. I never understood how this film is considered a B movie and Jaws isn't. Even by '70s standards Bruce the shark looks really fake (but cool) and this alone puts the film into B movie territory. Also add the character of Quint. He almost appears like a cartoon character with his cheesy dialogue and even cheesier expressions. People can say what they want about how bad Piranha is but even the worst scenes in Piranha are easier on the eyes than the suits that Murray Hamilton wears in Jaws.Don't misunderstand me, though. I like Jaws a lot but I'm sick of the praise that film still gets when a movie like Piranha is left unknown to many and criticized for the wrong reasons. Aside from fish that can eat you there is no comparison between the 2 films. Piranha has a one-up on Jaws also in that it gives you a detailed background as to why the piranha are there. After years of viewing Jaws I still don't really know why the shark is there. It must have been mentioned in one of Richard Dreyfuss's many boring monologues and I probably go for a snack at the same spot every viewing. Needless to say, both films are good, I just like Piranha more. I like the story more, the characters, the music, the sound effects. I think the piranha themselves look better than Bruce and even though they're small they appear far more deadly than a shark. Hunting in packs, piranhas don't stop until they reach the bone. Good luck surviving that.

I love horror movies of the 70s and early 80s. Piranha is one of those movies. Lots of camp and fun for a poor man's Jaws.

I have the remake of this which I thought was brilliant. I like to see the originals of remakes and I like old school horror films to. The remake followed this awesome film almost to the Letter.For it's age, the golden age of special effects before CG started to worm it's way in to movies and looking more fake than physical effects. The SFX in this film are primitive but very effective and the well presented HD picture doesn't spoil them buy showing them up.I like the story line too. It's not too cheesy which is of course a lot of what good old horror films are about, great late night cheesy viewing but for those of you who don't like the old school horror films to be really cheesy. I'd say this is for you and remember it is a 1970s film.Great fun

Serte le film à un peut vieillit et n'est plus dans les standards du film actuel, mais c'est avec un profond plaisir que l'on suit cette histoire de Piranhas génétiquement modifiés qui créent la terreur dans une petite bourgade balnéaire.Ici rien de numérique, que des trucages en live, des maquillages, des prothèses et c'est là que réside le plaisir coupable de redécouvrir ce bon film de Joe Dante.Le transfert sur blu-ray n'est pas exceptionnel, mais le film à été bien restauré et les traces de l'age ne sont plus présentes. Un blu-ray techniquement honnête pour un film de cet age.