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Columbia Pictures
Piranha Collection
It started as a vacation...
A scuba diving instructor, her biochemist boyfriend, and her police chief ex-husband try to link a series of bizarre deaths to a mutant strain of piranha fish whose lair is a sunken freighter ship off a Caribbean island resort.
Wuchak
Sep 21, 2026 · via TMDB
***The mutated piranha threat switches from a river in Texas to Jamaica*** Everyone knows this is the film where James Cameron debuted as director, albeit he got fired after only four days, not to mention a week’s worth of pre-production (searching for locations and so forth). Cameron believed Greco-Italian producer Ovidio Assonitis would hire American directors to get funding from studios for his projects and then find an excuse to fire them so he could direct himself. The claimed support for this is “Beyond the Door,” “Madhouse,” and this movie. Disregarding the behind-the-scenes drama, is the film as bad as its reputation? Not at all. It’s a perfectly watchable creature feature in the tradition of the original 1978 film and the “Jaws” flicks, as well as Assonitis’ own “Tentacles.” No, it’s not great like Dante’s “Piranha” or the first two “Jaws” movies, but it’s an improvement over “Tentacles.” Those in the mood for an oceanic thriller like “The Deep,” “The Great Alligator” and “Zombie” should appreciate it. Lance Henriksen stars as the harbor police chief and it’s interesting seeing him with a full head of hair at the age of 40yo during shooting. Meanwhile blonde Connie Lynn Hadden stands out in the female cast as Loretta, but her role’s unfortunately too small. Dark brunette Carole Davis as Jai is also worth a mention, not to mention petite Leslie Graves as teenager Allison and Tricia O'Neil as the main protagonist (who’s reminiscent of Adrienne Barbeau, albeit more attractive IMHO). It runs 1h 35m and was shot Feb-Apr 1981 on the north side of Jamaica in Ocho Rios, with lots of scenes done at the resort hotel there; underwater sequences were filmed almost 300 miles to the west off of Grand Cayman. Additional studio work was done in Rome. GRADE: B-
r96sk
Feb 23, 2025 · via TMDB
<em>'Piranha II: The Spawning'</em> is woeful. You'd expect more with James Cameron at the helm, but everyone has to start somewhere; he followed up with <em>'The Terminator'</em> and <em>'Aliens'</em> so he did alright! This, his feature directorial debut, is proper rubbish though. It's seemingly less to do with Cameron anyway in fairness, it sounds like producer Ovidio G. Assonitis had his hands all over this; Miller Drake was the original director, who Assonitis evidently fired. I think that speaks for itself. Either way, it's low-quality and I hold no positives. The editing is all over the place, there are moments where it cuts to characters for a relative few seconds for no apparent reason; notably with Chris & Allison and that random couple whose names didn't even register. Some of the character interactions, mainly early, are weird too. How the film utilises the piranha is the big issue, though. Unlike the Joe Dante original, we see so much of the fish that it becomes ineffective; less is more and all that. And that's without mentioning the biggest howler produced: they made them fly. It plays as terribly as it sounds. I don't have anything all that noteworthy to say about the cast, but to be honest this film's issues have very little to do with them. Tricia O'Neil is the standout if I had to pick one. Perhaps only an all-star cast would've saved this, but probably not given all the offscreen problems.
Gimly
Jan 25, 2018 · via TMDB
You've finally got a fix for "Hey you can beat this villain by just staying out of the water" and then they **barely ever use it**. Sure, it makes no sense that the piranha can fly, but seeing as they can, you may as well have used that ability to the max. But 99% of the victims are still water-bound. Whatever, it's a modicum of fun in that dated practical effects way. _Final rating:★★ - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product._
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Tricia O'Neil
Anne Kimbrough
Steve Marachuk
Tyler Sherman
Lance Henriksen
Police Chief Steve Kimbrough
Ricky Paull Goldin
Chris Kimbrough
Leslie Graves
Allison Dumont
Carole Davis
Jai
Connie Lynn Hadden
Loretta
Ted Rusoff
Opening Victim (voice) (uncredited)
Roberto Forges Davanzati
Camera Operator
Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli
Director of Photography
Roberto Forges Davanzati
Second Unit Director of Photography
Roberto Forges Davanzati
Underwater Camera
Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli
Underwater Director of Photography
Nicoletta Ercole
Costume Design
Giannetto De Rossi
Makeup Designer
Giannetto De Rossi
Prosthetic Supervisor
Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli
Cinematography
Gino De Rossi
Special Effects
Ovidio G. Assonitis
Co-Director
James Cameron
Director
Ovidio G. Assonitis
Executive Producer
Hisako Tsukuba
Producer
Stelvio Cipriani
Original Music Composer
Giannetto De Rossi
Special Effects Supervisor
Charles H. Eglee
Screenplay
James Cameron
Screenplay
Ovidio G. Assonitis
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Hila
Reversal
2001
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
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