The movie starts when two teens go missing around Lost River. They trespassed into what appeared an abandoned military area, jumped in a sketchy pool in the middle of the night and were as one might think eaten by piranha. So investigator Maggie McKeown (Heather Menzies) teams up with the local drunk Paul Grogan (Bradon Dillman) who is supposed to be here guide so-to-speak to find the two missing teens. They too stumble upon the abandoned military area and go inside to investigate. While the two investigate the viewer gets to see some creepy creatures that we later find out are mutated piranhas but have no other significance to the movie other than being in that one scene. Finding the teens bags lets the investigators realize the two were there, but their search yields no results leaving them wondering if they could be in the bottom of that sketchy pool outside. Hmmm, so Maggie hits the drain switch on the pool after a fight with Dr. Robert Hoak (Kevin McCarthy) who shows up from nowhere. Had Maggie and Paul been reasonable adults they would have let Dr. Robert Hoak explain to them what was in the pool, but it seemed to them at the time a better idea to knock him out and drain the pool. This in turn drains the man-eating piranha into the Lost River that leads right into the Lost River Lake. At this point in the movie though the characters have no idea that there were piranhas in there.
Also going on at the lake is a summer camp full of kids and one belonging to the town drunk. That really doesn’t have a huge impact on the story but worth mentioning. The one really big aspect of this movie that connects it to Jaws aside from fish preying on humans is that both movies have that asshole character that is promoting the area no matter the dangers that wait in the water. In Piranha this character is Buck Gardner (Dick Miller). So this is the basis of the movie. From here on there are some deaths, some near escapes, an idiot piranha specialist and an ending that leaves you going, huh? That is of course why they made Piranha 2 directed by the Avatar man himself James Cameron.
The movie looks good. It doesn’t look like a B movie, which it is to some degree, and it’s scary. It’s no Penny Dreadful but what adds to the scariness is that like Jaws there is actually a real chance for something like this to happen. It could be devastating if piranhas were introduced into North American rivers and lakes. The attack scenes are pretty cheesy and the noise that the piranha make is this weird buzzing sound that I couldn’t really get behind. Excuse me for digressing. The look of the movie looks good. It looks as good as any big blockbuster of its time. I’d compare it to Friday the 13th by appearance. It’s very wooded; you see a lot of a summer camp and a lot of dead people. This is impressive because it was shot on a shoestring budget. The sound of the movie is pretty standard nothing really pops to mind aside from the weird fish feeding sound. The movie keeps you watching and waiting for the next victim. It’s kind of like baby bear’s porridge. The viewer isn’t over saturated with death after death but isn’t left feeling bored with too much dialogue.
The special features were so-so. Of course there is the commentary and interviews, which are really sweet, and for the true Roger Corman fans. Then the picture galleries are pretty cool and old ads are cool. The additional footage and blooper reels, however, were weak. The additional footage was comprised of mostly the exact same footage that was in the movie. One scene was the same with the exception of the child actor was different. There was only one scene in the additional footage that wasn’t in the movie or just barely altered. The bloopers were nothing to write home about. They were mainly just messed up lines followed by gratuitous amounts of cursing. Some were funny but the majority were just blah. The Behind the Scenes footage was my favorite though. You got to see the cast doing things other than just the movie stuff like playing with the fish, buying beer and interacting with each other out of character. That was interesting to see.
The case that this movie comes in Shout! Factory did an awesome job on. Its’ cover is 3-D and why shouldn’t it be with everything being 3-D now, and this may even be hinting at the new Piranha 3-D remake. The case has a reversible slip that can change allowing for two different case faces. One is a hottie on a float with the jagged teeth fish below her, and the other is a different hottie trying to swim away from the fish. So exactly like the 3-D cover. Both are original movie posters.
Overall the movie is pretty good. Definitely check it out before the remake comes out this summer in 3-D, and judging by the trailer it has a completely different story. You can watch this and then after leaving the new remake be the movie snob that says, “They totally screwed it up. The original is so much better.” Which it probably will be.