Tricia O'Neil

Steve Marachuk

Lance Henriksen

Ricky Paull Goldin

Ted Richert

Leslie Graves

Carole Davis

Connie Lynn Hadden

Arnie Ross

Tracey Berg

Albert Sanders

Anne Pollack

Hildy Magnasun

Phil Colby

Lee Krug

Sally Ricca

Ward White

Ancile Gloudon

Paul Drummond

Dorothy Cunningham

Aston S. Young

Paul Issa

Gaetano Del Grande

Myra Weisler

Johnny Ralston

Jim Pair

Pierce Oliver Brewer, Jr.

Jan Eisner Mannon

Carolyn De Fonseca

Ted Rusoff

Hisako Tsukuba

Charles H. Eglee

Ovidio G. Assonitis

Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli

James Cameron

Stelvio Cipriani

Vincenzo Medusa

Jeff Schechtman

Roberto Edwin Forrest

Ennio Brizzolari

Ruggero Salvadori

Alessandro Peticca

Roberto Forges Davanzati

Carlo Tafani

Franco Vanorio

Mirella De Rossi

Giannetto De Rossi

Erich Heindl

Maurizio Trani

Stephane Goulet

Nicoletta Ercole

Roberto Silvi

Alessandro Vivarelli

Ronnie Lombard

Gianni Caramanico

Ada Grimaldi

Stefano Paltrinieri

Luigi Pasqualini

Piranha Collection

Horror

Piranha II: The Spawning

Brouwersgracht Investments

Chako Film Company

Columbia Pictures

Italy

Netherlands

United States of America

English

beach

sequel

piranha

killer fish

Gimly

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._

'Piranha II: The Spawning' is woeful. You'd expect more with James Cameron at the helm, but everyone has to start somewhere; he followed up with 'The Terminator' and 'Aliens' 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.

Piranha 2 (1981) - "Flying Killers" Trailer (HD)

Piranha II: The Spawning( 1982)

It started as a vacation...

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A review by Gimly

Written by Gimly on Thu Jan 25 2018

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