Site created 12/15/97. |
|
review added: 4/7/00
Piranha
Special
Edition - 1978 (1998) - New Horizons
review by Adam Jahnke of
The Digital Bits
|
Film
Rating: B+
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): C/B/B+
Specs and Features
92 mins, R, full frame (1.33:1), single-sided, dual-layered, Amaray keep case
packaging, trailers for Piranha, Death
Race 2000, Humanoids from the Deep,
Knocking on Death's Door, Eat
My Dust!, Grand Theft Auto and
Big Bad Mama, audio commentary by director
Joe Dante and producer Jon Davison, behind-the-scenes footage with commentary by
Dante and Davison, bloopers and outtakes, talent biographies, 8-page booklet on
the history of Roger Corman, film-themed menu screens with animation and music,
scene access (24 chapters), languages: English (DD 2.0 stereo), subtitles: none |
"What about the goddamned
piranhas?"
"They're eating the guests, sir."
Back in the mid-to-late 1970s, there were really only two horror movies to
speak of: The Exorcist and
Jaws. And just as The
Exorcist begat The Omen,
Abby, and a myriad of other sequels and
rip-offs, Jaws spawned its own school of
imitators and wannabes. Enter Roger Corman, who never let a bandwagon pass by
without tossing one or two similar movies on board. Corman, of course, is known
primarily for two attributes. First, he churns movies out cheaply and
efficiently, providing a lot of bang for very little buck. Second, he can spot
and nurture talent like no one else in the business. For his entry into the
Jaws sweepstakes, Corman was able to
assemble a creative roster that was of a much higher caliber than movies like
this usually receive (and, some might argue, deserve). Piranha
has quite a pedigree. It was the first solo directorial effort of Joe Dante
(following Hollywood Boulevard, also done
for Corman and co-directed by Allan Arkush) and the first screenplay by current
independent film auteur John Sayles. With guys like this behind the scenes, Piranha
is able to acknowledge and overcome its less-than-artistic origins and
ultimately emerge as a first-rate B-movie.
The plot of Piranha holds few surprises
for anybody who's seen Jaws. A school of
genetically-engineered piranha are accidentally released from a decommissioned
military base into a bucolic river in Texas. Necessarily for a movie of this
type, the banks of the river are lined with homes, a summer camp, and a resort
that's about to celebrate its grand opening. It's up to a hard drinking loner
(Bradford Dillman) and an investigator (Heather Menzies) who's looking for a
couple kids who have already become fish food to stop the rapidly reproducing
creatures.
Obviously, the fun here is not in the wild twists and surprises of the story.
Piranha is made enjoyable by Dante and
Sayles' decision to be completely honest and up-front about their picture's
knock-off roots. They know that if you're the kind of person who will go see a
movie called Piranha, you're going to want
to see lots of people getting eaten by the title razor-tooth fish. Fortunately,
they also realize that you need a sense of humor. They deliver with plenty of
blood and gnawed flesh and Dante's usual barrage of in-jokes and homages. For
instance, the first time we see Menzies' character, she's playing a
Jaws video game (quite a 70s relic
itself). Dante also loads his movie with familiar faces including Kevin
McCarthy, Barbara Steele, Keenan Wynn, the great Dick Miller, and cult movie
icon Paul Bartel. Sayles himself even turns up briefly in an amusing cameo. Piranha
was released at the same time as Jaws 2
and proved popular enough to warrant a sequel of its own, Piranha
II: The Spawning, which was directed in part by none other than James
Cameron (although it is unlikely to receive an Abyss-style
DVD reissue any time soon).
For its 20th anniversary, New Horizons Home Video released a special edition of
Piranha as part of its line of Roger Corman Classics. All things considered, the
disc turned out quite well. The extras are highly enjoyable. The commentary
track by Dante and producer Jon Davison is terrific, managing to be both funny
and informative at the same time. The disc also presents behind-the-scenes
footage (essentially home movies) shot by Davison, also with commentary. It's a
good idea to listen to the feature commentary first since Dante and Davison make
several references in the behind-the-scenes stuff to subjects they've discussed
earlier. There's also about 7 minutes worth of bloopers, none of which are
particularly hysterical unless you just can't get enough of watching actors flub
lines and miss marks. The only thing that's really missing is the addition of
some extra scenes that were added to the TV cut of Piranha.
Dante refers to them in his commentary and we see a few outtakes from them in
the blooper reel but the scenes themselves are MIA. They would have perfectly
rounded out the package. Thrown in for good measure is a reproduction of the
original "Theatrical Marketing Guide" doubling as a 16-page insert
booklet.
The sound is presented in DD 2.0 stereo and its perfectly fine since this movie
was never exactly a sonic masterwork. The video is slightly frustrating. The
movie is presented full-frame, except for the credit sequence, which is
letterboxed at approximately 1.85:1. This discrepancy is even commented on by
Dante on his commentary track. While it does not appear that anything vital was
lost, purists may be disappointed that the entire film is not presented in its
original theatrical ratio. Other than that, the movie looks remarkably clear and
well-defined for a movie of its age and pedigree, with very few blemishes or
scratches to be seen.
Nobody is going to argue that Piranha is
to Joe Dante what Citizen Kane is to Orson
Welles, nor will they claim that the seeds for John Sayles'
Lone Star were planted in his scathing
indictment of Texas policemen in this screenplay. The highest claim a movie like
this can make is that is satisfies your need to see people get eaten by fish for
an hour and a half and doesn't make you feel like a complete idiot for wanting
to see it in the first place. On that score, Piranha
more than satisfies.
Adam Jahnke
ajahnke@thedigitalbits.com |
|
|