Piranha

"A hideous death lurked unseen in the river..."

1978 1h 34m EN

😐

6.0

MID

★6.0TMDB · 786

HorrorScience FictionComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.

“A hideous death lurked unseen in the river...”

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Cast

Bradford Dillman
Paul Grogan
Heather Menzies
Maggie McKeown
Kevin McCarthy
Dr. Robert Hoak
Keenan Wynn
Jack
Dick Miller
Buck Gardner
Barbara Steele
Dr. Mengers
Belinda Balaski
Betsy
Melody Thomas Scott
Laura Dickinson

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joe Dante
Writers: John Sayles, John Sayles, Richard Robinson
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.7M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $16M — a 24.2× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

48 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Piranha Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joe Dante, shot by Jamie Anderson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Pino Donaggio. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Joe Dante shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Bradford Dillman and Heather Menzies and Kevin McCarthy carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joe Dante directs. Jamie Anderson behind the camera. Pino Donaggio scores. Joe Dante cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.7M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $16M — a 24.2× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
348 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "Piranha Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Joe Dante, shot by Jamie Anderson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Pino Donaggio. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Joe Dante shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Bradford Dillman and Heather Menzies and Kevin McCarthy carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "A hideous death lurked unseen in the river...".
10IMDB entry: tt0078087 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 14 themes, including "fish", "experiment", "summer camp", "river".

The technical file

Cinematography: Jamie Anderson
Original score: Pino Donaggio
Editing: Joe Dante
Makeup / hair: Vincent Prentice
Stunt coordinator: Conrad E. Palmisano
Runtime: 94 min · 1h 34m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $660,000
Box office: $16,000,000
Return: 2424% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Piranha (1978)

Part of

Piranha Collection

A film series about a swarm of killer piranhas.

Also by

Joe Dante

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Gimly2018-01-25
★ 4/10
Not a terrible film, but there was a remake in the 90s with the exact same story featuring better acting and better effects, so you can probably skip straight ahead to that one. Now I know that if I had been around when that remake came out, I'd probably be the first in line to complain "Why'd you even bother? It's just the first movie over again!", but seeing as I watched them both in retrospect, I can ignore the fact that I'm being a total hypocrite and move right ahead to recommending you just watch the remake. Final rating:★★ - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product.
Wuchak2018-07-10
★ 8/10
Adventuresome and fun "Jaws" homage with far superior women RELEASED IN 1978 and directed by Joe Dante, “Piranha” chronicles events when genetically-enhanced piranha are accidently released into a river system in central Texas, which threaten kids & counselors at a Summer Camp and vacationers at a lake resort. A spirited skip tracer (Heather Menzies) and a backwoods drunkard (Bradford Dillman) team-up to save the swimmers. Kevin McCarthy and Barbara Steele play military scientists who experimented with the escaped piranha. While "Piranha" is sort of a "Jaws" (1975) knockoff, it’s different enough to not be a rip-off: The story takes place in a river system deep in the mainland and not the ocean; the ‘monster’ consists of teams of little vicious fish rather than a huge Great White Shark; the beach sequences involve quaint campground-like beaches rather than major ocean beaches; unlike “Jaws,” there’s a focus on alluring young women, although “Jaws 2” (1978) delivered the goods in this area as well; there’s more of a sense of adventure and even suspense; and the tone mixes-in amusing elements with the horrific mayhem. As inferred, the picture is highlighted by several quality females with curvy Belinda Balaski (from "The Howling") and cutie Melody Thomas Scott (from The Young and the Restless) featured in prominent roles. Moreover, voluptuous Janie Squire has some worthy screen time in the prologue. There are superb women in the periphery as well. Interestingly, the 2010 quasi-remake, “Piranha 3D,” took the sleaze route with loads of nudity, but the women are ironically hotter here, not to mention the film’s all-around more entertaining. THE MOVIE IS LEAN and filler-free at 93 minutes and was shot along a river near San Marcos in the heart of Texas, Northeast of San Antonio. WRITERS: John Sayles and Richard Robinson. GRADE: A-
Kamurai2020-07-28
★ 5/10
Decent watch, probably won't watch again, but can recommend for fans of Jaws or any other version of this movie. There is a 1995 remake of this movie that I would probably watch instead if I wanted to watch this gain. Not-trigger warning: There is a surprising LACK of gore in this movie. This has a decent story to it, but it shares aspects with Jaws, Friday the 13th, other movies of the era. Particularly the "hide the effect" routine that Jaws made famous. The practical effects aren't very good, which is why the best use of them was to hide the fish whenever possible. In a way, it really works if the threat is massive, unstoppable, and nearly invisible. The whole "secret government project" angle is a little irritating as this crossed my movie watching with my "otherworldy research": things like this are presented in movies as an absurd idea when they are reality. Maybe not to this extent, but as the government used to claim Area 51 didn't exist, that should prove my point. They cast was fine, I didn't see any problems, and I didn't see anything extra-ordinary from them. This isn't a bad movie, there are just so many better things to watch, including the re-make, I guess.