Piranha 2: The Spawning (1981)

 

This is often credited as the first film legend James Cameron ever directed. This is not entirely true. Sure, it was the intention, but producer Ovidio Assonitis had other plans and fired Cameron rather rapidly and then did things his own way, which seems fitting as this is way more akin to a sleazy Italian knockoff than something Cameron would do. 

Then again, if Cameron wasn't fired, he would never have gotten the inspiration for 'The Terminator', so there's that.

A very loose sequel to Joe Dante's wonderful 'Jaws' ripoff, the setting is a Caribbean island and a resort closeby where people start to either disappear or turn up dead and munched upon. The diving instructor has no idea what kind of animal could cause this, as she doesn't recognize the bitemarks on the remains of the victims. It turns out that a group of mutated piranhas have taken up refuge in a wreck in the vicinity of the resort and are now so hungry they'll eat anything and anyone. 

Of course the owner of the resort doesn't want to shut down or cancel any of the activities and of course most people don't believe the instructor. Because you need to copy almost every beat of 'Jaws' once again, right?

During the grand event at the resort the piranha attack en masse, prompting the instructor to head to the wreck and plant bombs, as the fish retreat there every day as they shun the light.

Oh, and they can fly. 

No really. Why are you laughing?

I mean, it is what it is and that is a cheap knock off of a great many creature films, but mostly 'Jaws' yet again. Most of the acting is pretty awful and even a young Lance Henriksen is visibly annoyed most of the time. Probably because the producer did manage to piss him off to no end. The editing and continuity are all over the place and motivations of characters are fairly random. 

Assonitis did include random shots of nude or topless ladies because it wouldn't be exploitation without some T&A now, would it? Does it add anything to the film? Heck no. It's not even shot in a teasing fashion. Oh, and the piranha look like what they were: rubbery objects. The flying effect is hilarious, as you can see the strings by which they flail them about at the end of fishing lines. 

Hell, there's even an underwater shot where two divers are investigating the reef and you can clearly see the camera crew for the wide shots, even though there's no one supposed to be there. 

Great job, Assonitis.

The gore is plentiful and fairly well done though, which I believe to be Cameron's contribution that remained. 

It's a stupid little sidenote in cinematic history and you might get some chuckles out of it, but mostly it's a pretty substandard film. Not even boobies could save it.