Directed by:
Joe DanteScreenplay:
John SaylesCinematography:
Jamie AndersonComposer:
Pino DonaggioCast:
Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies-Urich, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Dick Miller, Barbara Steele, Belinda Balaski, Bruce Gordon, Barry Brown, Paul Bartel (more)Plots(1)
Scripted by John Sayles and directed by Joe Dante, this tongue-in-cheek thriller stars Bradford Dillman as an antisocial mountain man and Heather Menzies as a rookie detective who race a school of mutant piranha downriver. Dante and Sayles provide the requisite blood and gore for this drive-in meat market: a kids' summer camp and a waterfront amusement park await the little beasties. Along the way, riverside retiree Keenan Wynn gets his ankles stripped clean, camp counselor Paul Bartel is chomped on the cheek, and hordes of unlucky bathers are caught in the centre of a feeding frenzy. What differentiates this little gem from the legion of similar knockoffs are the satirical swipes at military arrogance and crass commercialism, Dante's energetic enthusiasm, and the bursts of black humor plus the culty cast including Invasion of the Body Snatchers's Kevin McCarthy as the hysterical scientist guarding the creatures, horror diva Barbara Steele as a devious government researcher, and longtime Corman regular Dick Miller as an unscrupulous entrepreneur. (Via Vision Entertainment)
(more)Cast
Bradford Dillman
USA
Best movies:
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
The Bridge at Remagen (1969)
Compulsion (1959)
Heather Menzies-Urich
Canada
Best movies:
The Sound of Music (1965)
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969)
Hawaii (1966)
Kevin McCarthy
USA
Best movies:
'Weird Al' Yankovic: The Videos (1996) (video compilation)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Columbo (1971) (series)
Keenan Wynn
USA
Best movies:
Dick Miller
USA
Best movies:
The Terminator (1984)
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
V: The Final Battle (1984) (series)
Barbara Steele
UK
Best movies:
8½ (1963)
Young Törless (1966)
For Love and Gold (1966)
Belinda Balaski
USA
Best movies:
How the West Was Won (1976) (series)
Black Eye (1974)
Gremlins (1984)
Bruce Gordon
USA
Best movies:
The Naked City (1948)
The Street with No Name (1948)
Hello Down There (1969)
Barry Brown
USA
Best movies:
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
Bad Company (1972)
Daisy Miller (1974)
Paul Bartel
USA
Best movies:
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Basquiat (1996)
Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)
John Sayles
USA
Best movies:
Matewan (1987)
Passion Fish (1992)
Gridlock'd (1997)
Joe Dante
USA
Best movies:
Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)
Hollywood Boulevard (1976)
Oscar (1991)
Eric Braeden
German Empire
Best movies:
Titanic (1997)
How the West Was Won (1976) (series)
Morituri (1965)
Melody Thomas Scott
USA
Best movies:
The Beguiled (1971)
Marnie (1964)
The Shootist (1976)
Richard Deacon
USA
Best movies:
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
The Young Philadelphians (1959)
The Proud Ones (1956)
Guich Koock
USA
Best movies:
North Dallas Forty (1979)
The Sugarland Express (1974)
Texas Justice (1995) (TV movie)
Jack Pauleson
Best movies:
Piranha (1978)