Metacritic-Rezensionen

Dante makes films that Spielberg’s id might make, movies that double down on pop cultural know-how and riotous thrills without pausing for anything so unentertaining as an earnest assessment of humanity.

Like all the best exploitation flicks, Piranha is driven by a ruthless desire to entertain and, in this non-pretentious ambition, it succeeds magnificently.

A delight; a silly B-movie with a smart script and an amusing anti-authoritarian undercurrent.

With Piranha, Dante delivers a superior Jaws rip-off with a light, goofy touch that anticipates the anarchic, gleeful mayhem of his later work.

Engaging tongue-in-cheek exploitation pic.

The silliness of the whole concept is handled with a sly sense of humor by director Dante, with some tongue-in-cheek appearances by Keenan Wynn, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Bartel, Barbara Steele, and Dick Miller adding to the fun.

Whether Piranha was made as an intentionally cheesy spoof of Jaws or a cynical bargain-basement imitation, the fact remains that it's just bad enough to qualify as good. As long as you don't take it too seriously (after all, the filmmakers clearly didn't).

This is one film where the fish win.