I am a big fan of video games of the 70s and early 80s and collect fliers for those. For many of these games, it is the closest I will ever get to playing them or, at least, seeing the cabinet. 1975’s Shark Jaws is a big one for me, this being the only game Atari released under the fictitious distributor Horror Games. There is no mistaking the inspiration, with the “Jaws” part in huge text and the “shark” small enough to be barely noticeable.
In a way, 1978’s Piranha does a similar thing, emphasizing in its advertising a similarity to the massive Spielberg hit. In reality, it does a lot more than that and is all the better for it. It is horror, and it has action, but there is also a considerable amount of humor.
The first footage post-credits has Heathen Menzies at a Shark Jaws cabinet. There probably isn’t another viewer out there who was as thrilled to see footage of the game in action as I was. This game is in an airport where Menzies is waiting for her ticket. I was never certain exactly what was her profession, except she has been hired to find two backpackers who disappeared.
We know something she doesn’t, as the scene before the credits had that couple breaking into a restricted government facility that appears to be abandoned. They unwisely decided to go swimming in the pool there. That is the kind of questionable choices made by horny young people in horror films. As for my myself, I’m not sure how hormone-addled my brain would have to be to not consider whether this pool in the dark contains something other than water. At the very least, I would question swimming in what was likely long-untreated pool water.
At this point, we don’t see what kills the couple, yet we know what it was, because the next thing we see is the title of the picture. Also, I assume nobody blind watches this picture and is oblivious to what is happening. But these aren’t just any ol’ piranha, as the standard variety require fresh water and that it be warm The kind that have been bred in this facility can survive in fresh or salt water and in much lower temperatures.
We learn this from Kevin McCarthy’s scientist only after Menzies has drained the facility’s pool, thereby accidentally releasing these superfish into the local river. Now it is up to her and local recluse Bradford Dillman to keep this deadly school of piranha from killing people downriver, such as the bunch of school-aged kids at a summer camp. One of those kids is Shannon Collins, a cute lil’ moppet who is Dillman’s daughter. She is also afraid of water, which just might work in her favor.
That would be a simple enough setup, except we also have frogmen, a water skier, an attempted military intervention and the opening day of a waterside theme park owned by Dick Miller. Basically, a great many setups for mayhem, and that’s not even including Menzies and Dillman getting arrested and then breaking out of jail, or Dillman’s mad dash on foot to prevent a dam from being opened, or a guy who resembles Nicholas Cage getting pulled into the water and going full Cage, or Keenan Wynn’s rambling and cantankerous old guy who learns the hard way not to let your feet dangle in the water while fishing. Let’s just say Wynn gets a nibble, but not the kind the kind he wanted.
That leads to a moment of effective gore, where we’ll see bloodied bones are all that remain of his legs after he claws his way back up the shore. There will also be a great many shots of the fish striking fresh wounds in various body parts. Lightning fast edits sell the illusion of these artificial fish being the real deal. Among the things I learned in the commentary and mini-doc accompanying the movie on the blu-ray is a scene of these attacking a raft was accomplished by the actors on top of it puppeteering fake piranha through long poles struck through the mouths of the fish. Basically, the artificial fish (artifish?) are being pulled when the result looks like they were somehow pushed. It is innovative, on-the-fly solutions like that which is what makes many independent movies like this interesting to me.
The commentary is from director Joe Dante, and I always learn something new and interesting from him when he talks about one of his pictures. Another element of the effects I learned about is the Olympic-sized swimming pool used for the underwater shots, and how so much fake blood was put in it that it became a mess of bacteria which was extremely difficult to purge. It didn’t help that milk was used to make the otherwise clear water look more like a natural underwater environment. The way it the result is described, it sounds like all they would need is a bolt of lightning to have made their own primordial ooze.
I also learned Dante deceived the Army into providing so many soldiers and vehicles by showing them an alternate script which had them being the heroes who save the day. That is not what happens in the true script, which was scripted by John Sayles of all people. That’s right, the guy who wrote this was also the author of serious dramas Return of the Secaucus Seven, Eight Men Out, Matewan and Lone Star. Then again, he also wrote Battle Beyond the Stars for Roger Corman and The Howling for Dante.
A staple of Dante’s films is Miller, and he is as dependable as ever here, as basically this picture’s equivalent of the mayor of Amity. Actually, I cannot think of a single miscast actor, with Dillman being more believable in this than in most of the other movies in which I have seen him. Collins leaves quite an impression as his young daughter, making it even more curious she has such a scant filmography on IMDB. Wynn, unfortunately, barely phones it in during his few minutes on the screen. But I expected more from gothic horror legend Barbara Steele, who does little in her scant screen time in a role as a duplicitous scientist. Faring better is McCarthy, if only because he gets a significant amount of dialogue in his equally unsubstantial screentime.
That McCarthy is wearing a sweatshirt with suede patches on the elbows is an example of how subtle the film’s humor can be at times. Fellow Corman acolyte Paul Bartel gets some laughs as a draconian camp counselor, though even he gets a minor redemption arc. Still, that is only after a piranha jumps out the water a couple of feet and sinks its teeth into his face. Some humor is a bit more crass, such as this exchange between Menzies and Dillman where he tries to convince her to seduce a solider: “What if he’s gay?” “Then I’ll distract him.”
Piranha is somehow straight-up horror while also being a winking parody of the genre. It deftly walks a fine line at times, like when it puts children in peril but wisely decides not to portray that as humorous. It also takes some strange chances, such as a tiny stop-motion fish-man hybrid we only briefly see in a lab and which isn’t part of the overall plot. It also has solid action, such as a boat jumping over another boat which is exploding. All in all, the feeling of the movie might be best summarized by the very last words on the screen, appended to the standard legal notice: “SO THERE”.
Dir: Joe Dante
Starring Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Dick Miller, Barbara Steele, Keenan Wynn
Watched on Shout Factory blu-ray