Main Cast: Tricia O'Neil, Steve Marachuk, Lance Henriksen, Ricky G. Paull, Ted Richert, Leslie Graves
Release Year: 1981
Country: IT
Run Time: 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
This poorly scripted horror film about miniature, finny "jaws" details the mating rituals of the fictional "grunion" fish (falsely introduced as "piranhas" for more box-office recognition) and their need to attack and kill humans -- either inside or outside the water. These saber-toothed wonders have been hatched from a canister of eggs on a sunken ship in front of a posh Club Med resort, which features the mating rituals of humans who at times need to attack and kill fish. The product of a series of secret genetic engineering experiments, the toothy fish are to be tracked down by an undercover biochemist (Steve Marachuk), who is soon joined by the resident scuba diver at the resort (Tricia O'Neil). With believable gore but second-rate special effects, this film in no way presages the coming success of its debut director, James Cameron. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Review
A flying-piranhas movie helmed by James Cameron should by all means be better than this bland horror sequel -- proving that the picture's behind-the-scenes story is ultimately more involving than movie itself. As a film study, the picture shows nothing of Cameron's talent, which could possibly be because of his rumored noninvolvement in most of it. Shut out from most of the production, the special effects technician-turned-stand-in director obviously wasn't involved with most of the final product, as evidenced in its watery take on such an outrageous premise. Airborne deadly fish should be comedy gold -- ironic or not -- but the sly humor of the the original Piranha film, written by John Sayles, is sorely missing from the proceedings. Instead, the flick plays out in a fairly straightforward tone that kills the entire flick. Though it is interesting to see Lance Henriksen and Cameron together at even this early of a stage in their careers, Piranha II is devoid of any other cinematic merit -- other than being the first film to open with an underwater sex scene involving scuba divers. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
Carole R. Davis; Arnie Ross; Tracy Berg; Albert Sanders; Anne Pollack; Dorothy Cunningham
Credit
Medusa Paltrinieri - Art Director, James Cameron - Director, Roberto Silvi - Editor, Ovidio G. Assonitis - Executive Producer, Steve Powder - Composer (Music Score), Giannetto De Rossi - Makeup Special Effects, Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli - Cinematographer, Chako van Leuwen - Producer, Jeff Schechtman - Producer, Chako VanLeeuwen - Producer, Giovanni Corridori - Special Effects, Giannetto De Rossi - Special Effects, Antonio Corridori - Special Effects, Carbonaro - Special Effects, James Cameron - Screenwriter, Lee Reynolds - Screenwriter, H.A. Milton - Screenwriter
Piranha II: The Spawning is a 1981horror movie, the sequel to the 1978 low-budget movie Piranha, and the feature-film directorial debut of James Cameron. The film is also known as Piranha II: Flying Killers.
In a Caribbean island, a couple is found dead inside a sunken ship. The scuba diving instructor of the local resort Anne Kimbrough breaks in the morgue with her acquaintance Tyler Sherman and finds that the bodies have been eaten in many parts. Anne explains that she studied marine biology, this let her know right away that something was very, very wrong. While studying the photographs of the damage, she and Tyler have a one night stand. Anne goes to get a picture of the piranha to prove they exist, and she is rescued by Tyler. Tyler tells her that he is a biochemist that has developed a specimen of genetically modified piranha capable of flying to be the ultimate weapon. Unfortunately they had lost a cylinder full of the new breed in the water. During the fishing party promoted by the resort, the piranhas attack the guests. Anne and Tyler decide to blow up the ship to destroy the nest of the predators.
Production history
James Cameron was originally hired as the special effects director for this film and took over the direction when the original director left (his hand in story-writing can be suspected under the H. A. Milton pseudonym on the original script). Due to budget limitations the crew was composed essentially by Italians, none of whom spoke English. Some however did have prior experience on horror/fantasy movies so they were, to some extent, able to satisfy Cameron's requirements.
After the first week of shooting, the set harmony was disturbed by some discussions about the work between the director and the producers (the executive producer, Ovidio G. Assonitis, asked to verify the day-to-day activities, arguing most of Cameron's choices), so whilst Cameron was just responsible for the shooting, most of the decisions are under Assonitis' authority. According to Dreaming Aloud, a biography of James Cameron by Christopher Heard, Cameron was not allowed to see his footage and was not involved in editing. He broke into the editing room in Rome and cut his own version while the film's producers were at Cannes, but was caught and Assonitis re-cut it again.
In a 2008 interview on The Hour, Cameron jokingly denied breaking into the editing room, then recounted the story as a "hypothetical scenario", and told host George Stroumboulopoulos how he "would've broken into the office" if he actually did it.
As in the first film, which was one of many horror films inspired by the success of Steven Spielberg's 1975 film Jaws, piranhas act as the antagonist monsters harming human life, and have developed the ability to fly, which they did not have in the first film. On the Terminator 2: Judgment Day commentary track, Cameron jokingly defended the film, tongue firmly in cheek, as "the finest flying killer fish horror/comedy ever made." He would later employ some of the same mechanisms used to make the piranhas fly in the facehugger animatronics for Aliens.
Most of the underwater scenes were filmed off Grand Cayman Island, and the stand-in for the Club Elysium is the Mallard Beach Hyatt. Interior scenes were filmed on a soundstage in Rome.[1]
Reviews
Some critics called the film "abject". Others opined that "the piranhas...look as though they had been remaindered from a joke shop" and that they resembled "haddock with dentures".[2] According to Tim Healey in The World's Worst Movies (1986) the film is "a strong contender...for anyone's list of all-time horror turkeys.[3] The film holds an 8% positive review rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[4]
James Cameron consistently refers to The Terminator as his first feature length film, despite the fact that it was made in 1984, three years after Piranha II: The Spawning.
