disc rating:
company: New World Pictures
year: 1978
runtime: 94′
director: Joe Dante
cast: Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies,
Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn,
Dick Miller, Barbara Steele,
Belinda Balaski, Melody Scott
Paul Bartel, Bruce Gordon
writer: John Sayles
and Richard Robinson
cinematography: Jamie Anderson
music: Pino Donaggio
Reviewed from a screener provided
by Shout! Factory, LLC.
Pre-order this film from Amazon.com:
DVD
| Blu-ray
Piranha is due out on special edition DVD and Blu-ray from Shout! Factory on August 3rd (the 32nd anniversary of its original theatrical debut). The title can currently be pre-ordered through Amazon.com and other online retailers.
Plot: While investigating the disappearance of a pair of teenagers a private detective and an alcoholic recluse inadvertently release a swarm of genetically engineered Vietnam-era weapons-grade piranha into a river just upstream from a recently constructed tourist trap.
A king among low budget cult films, Piranha is easily one of the most successful and best remembered of the movies produced by and released through Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. Directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins) from a sharp script by John Sayles (Alligator, Passion Fish) and cast with an impressive slate of name stars and cult icons including Bradford Dillman (Bug, The Swarm), Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), Keenan Wynn (Once Upon a Time in the West) and Barbara Steele (Black Sunday, Shivers), the film blends gory horror with a wickedly sardonic sense of humor to make inimitable B-movie gold.
