Piranha 2 : Les Tueurs volants

Hard to believe it's Cameron, that's right. The directorial wizard who brought us such great films as "Terminator 2" produced this crap first time around. Well, not crap really. This film is okay. The piranhas looked OH! SO FAKE! And the storyline was average, which is BELOW AVERAGE for Cameron. But what kept this sinking ship afloat was Gabby. Gabby was the king of guy that would make you laugh on a rainy day. He's brave (standing up to Henriksen, for example), he's funny(without trying to be), and he's really, really wicked("I'm gonna kill 'em all, Anne!"). Gabby was a great addition to this barely average film. And if I ever watch it again. It would be just to see Gabby work his magic, in his very first film! However, unless you are a die hard Cameron fan, avoid this muddled mess! **out of****

Cameron defends his first film opus as being, "without a doubt, the finest flying piranha movie ever made." I must agree with The King of the World on that one.

This movie just goes to show that none of us should take early knocks in our careers too hard. From here to Titanic in 17 years is pretty good.

This follow-up pretty much matches the first film for pacing and thrills, which isn't saying much. Seeing how the fishies are introduced in the opening scene (to devour a pair of underwater lovemakers!) but then disappear for 20 minutes to set up the bland characters. Despite what other IMDBers have said, I thought the cast looked fine. O'Neill is cute, the two cruel babes on the boat were NICE, and the busty, though never glimpsed, sea captain's daughter was good. She does the "dirty deed" with some dude in a waterfall, but the scene is so dark that you cant see squat. And there's actually a survivor so to speak of all these performers: veteran actor Henricksen, who went on to bigger and better, and is till working these days. As for the action, I liked the idea of the flying munchers. Though laughable, it gave them an extra dynamic to exploit on the victims. But even with that inventive idea, the effect of them taking flight is extremely cheap looking. Whenever they chew someone, its always done in close up, as if some stagehand was trying to stay out of the shot as he held the fish against the actors face/neck. I do have to give credit for the scene involving the nurse. If you don't get a jolt when that little sucker pops out of the dead body, I'd be surprised. As for superstar director Cameron, his first offering is what you'd expect out of a low budget horror film; cheaply made, dark and badly photographed nonsense. And that early "Titanic" influence is evident in a number of scenes that take place in the hulls of a sunken ship. But he manages to make you jump here and there, and I enjoyed the opening credits, that featured some good, creepy violin music and creatively done wavy, water-like effects as the names came on screen. As most have said, this may go into a lot of peoples "so bad, its funny" file, but it entertained me as much as the first film did, which was very little.

The fish swimming underwater looked better than the original. Also gorier. Just as cheesy and with as much nudity as the first movie. It isn't as good as the first but still kinda fun. Yes, James Cameron made a film about killer flying fish. Could you imagine how good he'd make a b-movie if he made it now?

If you guessed Sidney Poitier you'd be wrong. So begins James Cameron's fascination with water. And what humble beginnings they are. Cameron would probably like to forget this one, because it is sadly less perfect than Dante's original. In Piranha II: The Spawning you're no longer safe outside the water. This time they can fly. Now, with a premise like that you expect certain things. Evil, flying, man-eating fish just begs for comedy. But I assure you, this film is never played for laughs; and that's its downfall. Dante's Piranha had elements of comedy in it and this one should have followed suit (especially with flying fish!!!). Make-up legend Giannetto De Rossi did the effects for the film, however, the picture quality on the VHS I was watching was so muddled I couldn't appreciate them. The fish themselves are still accompanied by that menacing sound effect, so they still have that going for them. Unless you're a hardcore Lance Henriksen/James Cameron fan, I'd say you can miss this one.