Piranha

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Piranha

R

1978

1h 32m

Horror

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

72%

Tomatometer

29 Reviews

53%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Two people (Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies) unwittingly free a mad military scientist's (Kevin McCarthy) mutant fish near a summer camp and resort lake.

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Critics Consensus

Performed with a wink and directed with wry self-awareness, Piranha is an unabashed B-movie with satirical bite.

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

01/10/2006

B+

Of all the late '70s-early '80s Jaws knockoffs, none balanced tongue-in-cheek humor with out-and-out gore as deftly as Joe Dante's Piranha.

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Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

08/17/2023

3.5/5

Ultimately Dante is the star and his personality seeps from ever pore of the movie. From his snarky jabs at the military and political apparatuses to silly flourishes that seem to come from out of the blue, Dante’s fingerprints are everywhere.

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

08/09/2023

3.5/4

Dante’s talented, sure hands assemble a fun little horror-thriller that deserves to be seen as more than just a post-Spielberg rehash, but a winking and skilled thriller in the summer escapism style.

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Stephanie Archer

Film Inquiry

07/30/2022

While Piranha may not be the best horror film, even boarder lining ridiculous at times, it is undeniably entertaining.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

10/26/2021

3/4

Even Jaws director Steven Spielberg counts himself among the film's fans.

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

08/30/2020

5/10

The actual attack sequences are fairly convincing, using rapid cuts, panicked thrashing, inserts of toothy fish picking at flesh, lots of blood, and frenzied sound effects.

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Tyler G

Aug 12

Enjoyable for a low-budget horror Jaws knockoff.

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Michael H.

@CaptainBeardo Aug 2

A classic 70s horror movie with lots of piranhas killing lots of people. What more can you ask for?! You won’t see that many kids attacked and killed in modern movies, a sign of the times.

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Gregory V

Jul 26

What a great Summer movie! Good way to pass some time in the air conditioning, if you have it. I laughed out loud for a few scenes, which was fine, because yes it's a horror movie, but with some humor thrown in. Campy, cheesy, fun 1970's era movie.

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STEVEN M

Jul 23

A gold plated cast + taut direction + man eating mutant fish + Barbara Steele looking as pretty as ever make this one helluva film!

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Stephen C

@bob25009 Jul 4

Meant to scare me in 1 hour and 32 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Bronn B

Jun 18

This is a low budget spoof of the Jaws genre, but real effort was put into the writing and visual effects. There are some great actors in the movie, and sometimes they give good performances, but the movie fails because they can’t decide what to do with it. Is it a horror comedy, or is it a serious jaws movie? The jokes don’t land very well, and there’s way too much gratuitous (but well done) gore. Credit should be given to the effects people, as they do a great job with the piranha attacks and the stop motion walking piranha in the lab. It’s an earnest effort, and you can see the ingredients are there, but it needed more money and talent to elevate it from a B movie.

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Joe Dante

Director

Bradford Dillman

Paul Grogan

Heather Menzies-Urich

Maggie McKeown

Kevin McCarthy

Dr. Robert Hoak

Keenan Wynn

Jack

Dick Miller

Buck Gardner

C.H.U.D.

43%

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Synopsis

Two people (Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies) unwittingly free a mad military scientist's (Kevin McCarthy) mutant fish near a summer camp and resort lake.

Director: Joe Dante
Producer: Jon Davison
Screenwriter: John Sayles
Distributor: New World Pictures
Production Co: New World Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 3, 1978, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 3, 2018
Runtime: 1h 32m
Sound Mix: Mono

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