Piranha Blu-ray offers solid video and decent audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
"Operation Razorteeth," a government project involving the breeding of mutant piranhas, gets way out of hand
when the fish raid a lake at a summer camp for kids in this Roger Corman-produced, Joe Dante-directed classic.
Heather Menzies stars as Maggie McKeown, an insurance investigator out to trace a missing teenage couple who
have disappeared in the woods. With the help of a drunken recluse, Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman), they come
across a supposedly deserted army base inhabited by Dr. Robert Hoak (Kevin McCarthy) who has been breeding
the deadly fish in secret. In their hunt for the missing couple McKeown and Grogan drain the army pool,
unleashing millions of mutant piranhas into the lake of a nearby children's summer camp and a newly opened
tourist resort.
They breed like flies...there'll be no way to stop them!
Here's a "Horror" movie where the creatures don't swallow a victim whole, split them in half, tear out
their intestines, rip off their heads, pop out of their stomachs, shoot them with lasers, melt them with
acid, or do whatever it is that Horror movie baddies usually do. Nope, in Director Joe Dante's
(Small Soldiers) Piranha, the title fish peck their victims to death. The
formula: toss a couple of teenagers into a military testing salt water tank, throw some campers in
intertubes onto the lake, feature an old man dangling his feet off a pier, show a father reaching for
something under a boat, or place a park full of nearly-naked young adults into the water and let loose
some fish with razor-sharp teeth, a ravenous appetite, and a stomach capacity that would make Kobayashi wet his pants, and the result
is a "Horror" movie that's more funny than it is scary, but, surprise, it works. Piranha is one
of the finest of the Roger Corman-produced low-budget drive-in rip-off gems of the 70s and 80s; with
some honest production values, decent acting, and not all that much gore, it's easily one of the more
audience-friendly pictures of its kind, and, yup, there's a remake coming soon...in 3D.
'Piranha:' it gives a whole new meaning to "stop picking on me!"
Maggie McKeown (Heather Menzies) has been sent to a rural area of Texas to locate two missing
hikers, who, unbeknownst to her, were mysteriously killed when they wandered into a secret
military salt water tank filled with deadly piranhas. She teams up with an unwilling accomplice, a
woodsman named Paul (Bradford Dillman), who's familiar with the area and has a daughter
attending a nearby lakeside camp. They find evidence that the two missing hikers stumbled into
the military base; while there, though, Maggie and Paul inadvertently let loose the piranhas into
the local water
supply. They learn from the only person manning the base -- Dr. Robert Hoak (Kevin McCarthy) --
that the deadly piranhas were bred in hopes that they could play a part in winning the Vietnam
War. Now, the three find themselves at war with a deadly swarm of hungry fish who are feasting
on every human body part they come across. Their ultimate destinations: a summer camp for kids
and a popular lakeside getaway for adults. With the military bumbling along with their heads in the
sand, it's up to Maggie, Paul, and Dr. Hoak if there's to be any hope in ridding the waters of one of
the greatest threats man has ever known: pint-sized Piranhas.
Piranha's not exactly original. It's a cheap knockoff of Jaws but with hundreds of
little fish rather than one big menacing bad boy to terrorize victims. In a way, Piranha
serves up a scarier proposition. While a shark might bite someone's leg off, imagine a swarm of
hungry little fish nibbling on about 50 people at the same time. Granted, it doesn't work nearly as
well on the screen as it does in theory and on paper. Part of that is the fact that, cinematically, a
shark looms
larger than a bunch of piranhas; part of that is the budget; and part of that is the fact
that Joe Dante is no Steven Spielberg. That's not to diminish Dante's excellent work in
Piranha; he does some fantastic things and turns what should otherwise be a cheap movie
of the week into an entertaining little gem that holds up well even some thirty years after its
debut. Dante keeps things on the level, lending to the picture strong direction and, usually,
wonderful pacing save for a slightly sluggish stretch in the middle. He also shies away from going
full-throttle into typical Corman territory, leaving out the gratuitous nudity and violence in favor of
building story and atmosphere instead. There's still some T&A, a few halfway grotesque shots, and
plenty of blood in the water, but compared to films like Forbidden World and
Galaxy of Terror,
Piranha is downright tame for a Roger Corman picture.
Ultimately, though, there's only one word that really describes Piranha: "camp." Serving
up far more intentional and unintentional laughs than scares, not to mention the complete
randomness of the plot, Piranha is little more than an exercise in mindless fun moving at
24 frames per second. The picture suffers through some slow stretches but does try and do the
right thing by developing a few characters but only to the point that there's a wee bit of emotion
when they or those around them are attacked. Some elements just seem completely out of left
field, like the fact that nobody really likes the guy in charge of the children's camp, but it's a small
complaint amongst the much larger picture that showcases Piranha as a movie worth
watching, particularly among the cult-classic crowd and those that want to expand their cinematic
horizons beyond Transformers: Revenge of the
Fallen and Kick-Ass. No, it's not going
to end world hunger or bring about peace in the Middle East, but Piranha is an exceptional
piece of campy low budget filmmaking that's good for some laughs, a bit of blood, a few bare
breasts, Kevin McCarthy, and plenty of nibbling piranhas. Not bad, Mr. Corman and Mr. Dante. Not
bad at all.
Piranha swims onto Blu-ray with what is a sometimes problematic but mostly nice-looking
1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer. No doubt the transfer at several junctures coughs up a few
less-than-handsome elements, notably coming in the form of excess noise, crushed blacks, a plethora
of spots and speckles, and a few random vertical lines. Generally, though -- and for the bulk of the
picture -- Piranha looks great for what it is. The image offers up a fait bit of intricate details in
clothes, hats, and faces, though some of the trees seen off to the sides of the frame often feature
clumpy rather than distinct bunches of leaves. The transfer appears mostly clear and sharp with only
the occasional soft shot and hazy detail. Colors are slightly dull but true to those seen in similar
low-budget pictures of the era. The image retains a fair bit of grain that spikes in places, though
there's some chunky background noise scattered about the film, too. Piranha is by no means
a pristine Blu-ray, but fans will appreciate the bump in resolution and nicely-realized elements Shout!
Factory's transfer affords the material.
Piranha floats onto Blu-ray with a decent enough PCM 2.0 soundtrack. This one's a touch too
loud at reference volume, but turning things down a few notches yields a pedestrian but serviceable
listen. This track sometimes sounds a bit stale and unrefined, lacking in space and clarity as it trudges
along with most of its elements emanating from the center channel. No one sound effect ever comes
across as natural or convincing, though there are no wholly indistinct elements within the track. Even
the distinct "piranha" sound effects lack much oomph and power; fortunately, though, the absence of
a more robust presentation doesn't really hurt the effectiveness of the film. Dialogue sometimes plays
as tinny and shallow while occasionally bleeding off to the sides. Though this is a basic, no-frills type
soundtrack, it suits and supports both the film and the Blu-ray presentation well enough.
Shout! Factory brings Piranha to Blu-ray with a nice assortment of extras, including an
audio
commentary track with Director Joe Dante and Producer Jon Davison. They discuss Roger Corman's
concerns over the budget, shooting locales, the name actors that appear in the cast, ideas for the
film that were never fully realized and incorporated into the final product, cinematic trickery and
shooting on
a budget, variations on the script, the differences between working for a major studio and working
for Roger Corman, James Cameron's sequel, and plenty of other interesting factoids and
observations. Fans will enjoy this commentary. Behind the Scenes Footage (480p, 9:35)
again features Dante and Davison speaking over a few minutes worth of raw footage from the
making of the picture. Next is The Making of 'Piranha' Featurette with New Interviews with
Roger Corman, Joe Dante, Dick Miller, and Belinda Balaski (1080i, 19:44), a collection of
interview snippets and clips from the film that cover a broad array of issues, including the script,
special effects, shooting on a budget and a time crunch, and plenty more.
The disc also features
a series of bloopers and outtakes (480p, 6:48), additional scenes from the
network television version of Piranha (480p, 12:21), several radio spots (1080p, 1:38), a
TV
spot (480p, 0:33), a poster and still gallery (1080p), and a collection of Phil Tippet's
Behind-the-Scenes
photographs (1080p). Rounding out the on-disc supplements is a trailer farm that features the
Piranha theatrical trailer (480p, 2:15); the Piranha trailer with commentary by
Producer John Davidson (480p, 2:28); the film's teaser trailer (480p, 0:33); and additional previews
for Humanoids From the
Deep, Up From the Depths, and Death Race 2000.
Also
included in the case is reversible cover art and an eight-page booklet that contains an introduction to
the film
with
Roger Corman and the essay "Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back in the Water
Again...For
the First Time...Sort Of" by Michael Felsher.
It's not Jaws, but Piranha is a perfectly good knockoff that plays as equal parts serious
Horror movie, parody, and campy cult classic. Director Joe Dante's picture is probably the pinnacle of
the Roger Corman catalogue; that's not really saying a whole lot, but his insistence on staying away
from the Corman staples -- excess gore and nudity -- pays off in a big way. Piranha takes
itself
just seriously enough to work, but the entire movie gives off a "just kidding" vibe that
really sells it and makes for a wonderful exercise in mindless filmmaking done right. No, don't look to
see if it was nominated for any Oscars, but Piranha is an all-star of low budget filmmaking
done right. Shout! Factory's Blu-ray release of Piranha sports a solid 1080p transfer, a
passable soundtrack, and a fair collection of extras. Recommended.
Shout! Factory has revealed the full details for the two titles it will release on Blu-ray on August 3 as part of its Roger Corman's Cult Classic collection: Piranha (Joe Dante, 1978) and Humanoids from the Deep (Barbara Peters, 1980). The latter will feature a ...
Shout Factory has informed that the Blu-ray release of the 1978 movie 'Piranha' is being pushed to August 3. The reason officially given for the delay is that more time was needed "to finalize the bonus content" – although this comes just as the upcoming remake ...
In April 2010, Shout Factory will commence a new series of home video releases under the banner, “Roger Corman's Cult Classics”, presenting classic titles from the New World Pictures film library. The first title to come out on Blu-ray will be Joe Dante's 'Piranha', ...
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