With my purchase of the original 1978 Piranha, it occurs to me that Scream Factory gets a lot of my money. This is not an ad. I just really like how they do them. Piranha is no exception. The Blu-ray is clean and keeps all the fishy violence looking and most important to me sounding great. The SFX of the fish chewing is so good.
- Directed by: Joe Dante
- Written by: Richard Robinson John Sayles
- Starring: Bradford Dillman Heather Menzies-Urich
Kevin McCarthy
The Set-Up
Piranha starts with hiking teens taking a dip in mysterious, gated pool. Something unseen kills them, mostly off screen. The tiny munchy menaces are soon released into the wild, where they snack on the guests at a local summer resort.
Part of the emerging “fishsploitation” genre that was popularized by the success of Jaws—the main character is even seen playing a video game called “Jaws”—Piranha resists the urge to go bigger and instead opts for numbers.
The plot kicks off with Maggie, a skip-tracer searching for the missing teens with the help of the local drunk, Paul. The meat of the story makes it easy to ignore some cool subtext and themes going on.
Theme
Since the killer fish were part of an abandoned military experiment, it’s easy to pick out the anti-military sentiment. Since the Army picked up and left their toys without appropriate signage or security, it’s easy to blame them for the whole mess. Add in the creepy mutant lab and, with amazing practical effects, it’s not a good look for the military. The further we get into the plot, the worse it gets, as the U.S involvement in Vietnam becomes a vital part of the backstory to the mutant piranha.
Piranha is a story of mad science in the name of military aggression. The consequences always end up being felt by civilians, either in war or after. The best parts of Piranha show the mad scientist finally coming face to face with the reality of these consequences. It’s a brief but meaningful moment.
Then there is city vs rural folk. While neither Maggie nor Paul are sterling examples of good decision making, it’s Maggie that acts the most impulsively or emotionally. From releasing the testing pool without thinking twice, to her instantly taking on a nurturing role as soon as kids are involved. She’s the fish out of water (heh heh heh) in this scenario, dependent on Paul’s knowledge of the river and locals to save the day. She’s also intuitive and clever.
There’s also the bit about Paul’s reputation for being a drunk. Had that not been the case, both the camp counselor and the sheriff who stopped him would have believed him, and multiple injuries and deaths couple have been prevented. While it’s reasonable that they would have some doubt, the scene between Paul and the main counselor in the aftermath is heartbreaking. Yep, heartbreaking acting in Piranha.
Low Fish Count
For a movie with the monster’s name in the title, there are surprisingly few piranha shots. The body count is relatively low considering the swarm of creatures descending on the unsuspecting population, and most of the scenes are obscured by frothing or murky water. What deaths there are feel significant, from Paul’s friend Jake, who only wanted to live in peace with the river, to a kind camp counselor. Piranha is also not afraid to put kids in danger, as the swarm of killer fish descends onto a fun inner tube race. Despite the chaos, there are few fatalities here, but that doesn’t make it any less harrowing to watch.
As for the crooked mayor factor, the proprietor of the newly opened resort fails to heed Maggie’s warning. In fact, he’s in cahoots with the Colonel, a silent investor in the resort. This plot point may not make a lot of sense, but we need to keep things moving and the fish have some scuba divers to eat, so let’s just go.
A Minor Plot Issue
We’re mostly into the “giant stunts and explosions” part of the movie, as the resort guests are now an all-you-can-eat buffet for the fish. This is about the part where the crooked mayor trope loses its credibility. With Jaws, it’s a singular shark in a big ocean; statistics are on their side. Here, it’s a closed environment with a swarm, all known quantities. These attacks weren’t just plausible; they were impossible to avoid. What did the resort owner think was going to happen? Some minor tweaks to the script that would have seen a breeding group escape the attempt to poison them could have fixed or even removed the connection between the Colonel and the Resort Owner. The less the owner knows, the more sense everything makes.
At the end of the day, it’s not exactly nitpicking, but it’s also not an issue that bothers me all that much. The overall effect of Piranha is worth ignoring some of the uneven plot points. Especially given the ominous ending.
Final Thoughts
I like this movie. Not every movie could hide a critique early bio-weaponry and unregulated Army spending behind a façade of killer fish. Piranha pulls it off by keeping focus on the people and ecology the fish are impacting. Yes there’s heave themes, but’s it’s still a popcorn movie. That combination makes it a worthy addition to the catalog of man-eating fish movies. It’s also a movie I’m definitely not going to show H3. He already won’t go in the ocean; I’d hate for rivers to be off limits as well.
Piranha is available on blu-ray and streaming
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