Woodyanders Review of Piranha II: The Spawning

Piranha II: The Spawning (1982)

James Cameron's cinematic debut is a fun piece of hot garbage

[8/10 · 21 February 2019]

A tropical island resort finds itself under attack from lethal flesh-eating mutant piranha with the ability to fly. The goofy premise alone promises a certain deliciously cheesy form of low-rent entertainment that this movie most definitely delivers on. Done with an Italian producer and crew, this flick has an always welcome and refreshing blithely trashy Italian exploitation aesthetic complete with a ridiculous plot played ludicrously straight, cardboard characters, tasty gratuitous female nudity, tacky (not so) special effects, a pretty mean-spirited tone, and a handy helping of in-your-face graphic gore. Tricia O'Neil makes for a spunky and appealing heroine while Lance Henriksen keeps his dignity as the no-nonsense police chief. Foxy brunette Leslie Graves, busty babe Carole Davis, and slim blonde Connie Lynn Hadden all provide scrumptious eye candy. Special praise goes to Ancil Gloudon for his enjoyably two-fisted portrayal of take-charge macho fisherman Gabby. The scenes with the fake rubbery puppet fish flying and attacking people are positively hysterical. Oh yeah -- and that guy who went on to do a lot of bloated big budget blockbusters like "Titanic" and "Avatar" directed this film and co-wrote the script. A real schlocky blast.