I hadn't seen Piranha in a number of years. I recently found a copy cheap and bought it. I watched it tonight and enjoyed it. John Sayles wrote the screenplay and Joe Dante directed. John appears briefly in the movie along with director pal Paul Bartel. Roger Corman is the producer and the film is released as part of his Cult Classics series from Shout Factory. The movie looks fine and there are some nice extras, like a commentary by Joe Dante and some making of featurettes.
A couple of stupid teens sneak into an abandoned military installation, one with working electric lights and man eating fish. They get munched on. Heather Menzies plays a skip tracer sent to find the couple. She stumbles on Bradford Dillman, a local drunk and guide, and they team up to try to find the teens. At the military instillation they find Kevin McCarthy and drain the pool. Sadly, they've fucked up and released the experimental piranha into the local river. Now they have to deal with that. Lots of people die, it's the summer and the river resorts are filled with piranha food.
If only that Heather had not acted like such a dope, hardly anyone would have died. Lesson learned: Don't drain anyone's pool, especially at an abandoned military base. All in all, it's an OK movie, a good solid 6, and entertaining. I've seen it a couple of times in the past and I'd watch it again.
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