PIRANHA

CAPSULE REVIEW –– As if I needed another reason to stay out of the water. This film isn't half as good as JAWS, but, on a certain level, it's twice as terrifying. The idea of being eating alive by hundreds of little fish seems a much worse way to die than getting chomped on by a shark. People survive shark attacks, but the piranha leave no survivors. Being a Roger Corman film, the effects aren't the greatest, however, all you need is good sound and a lot of blood and those puppets become creatures of shear terror. Of course, these aren't your normal piranhas. Bred as a weapon by the government and long forgotten, they are accidently released into a resort river by a private investigator looking for two lost teens. (They got naked, so they got what they deserved – in horror land.) It's now a race against time to reach the resort before the fish have the meal of their lives. It goes without saying that they take out a number of people along the way. The plot is basically a low-rent JAWS rip-off, missing the intelligence and great acting. However, it has more than it's fair share of blood-letting and is somewhat suspenseful with occasional funny dialogue. Granted its not really a surprise that people are chewed to tiny bits, yet I found myself on the edge of my seat anyway. If you like your slaughter obvious and campy than this is the film for you.