Guilty Pleasures: Piranha 2: The Spawning
This Friday we will see the release of Piranha 3DD. This is the Summer Release of the Summer to me. Fuck Spiderman, Avengers and Dark Knight Rises because guess what I promise those movies won’t have 3-D titties. I can not define my excitement levels for seeing this movie and I’m pissed that I won’t see it until Sunday Morning (stupid Philadelphia Wizard World).
So what movie should I pick for this week’s guilty pleasure? Well Obviously I had but one option. You see Piranha and Piranha 3D were both critical hits as well as cult favorites. However Piranha 2: The Spawning was critically despised and has only a small following (if one at all), yet I like it more than the original.
Most people only know one thing about this infamously bad horror movie, that it’s James Cameron’s directorial debut. I’m going to go as far as to say it’s my favorite of all his films. Sure you can have your The Abyss or The Terminator or Avatar (seriously though if Avatar is your favorite Cameron film shoot yourself) but for me he doesn’t get better than piranha flying around and attacking a beach resort.
Yes, you read that correctly. The plot-line surrounds what happens when a mad scientist mixes Piranhas and Flying Fish to create the most horrifying creature known to man. The writing is not as funny or quick witted as the original Piranha but the fish effects and gore have taken a major in the right direction.
Most of the cast members are italian with minimual english and the characters are bizarre creatures including a stuttering man who’s constantly insulted an harrassed, a woman who needs to get laid and two teens in love. When the Piranha attack the resort there’s nowhere to hide.
The original plot-line from the original director explained that the flying fish/piranha combo came from Kevin McCarthy’s character at the beginning of the film. Sure you saw him get eaten in Piranha (Spoiler alert?) but original director Miller Drake felt that he could survived (just badly deformed) and those driven to get vengence for his disfigurement.
Drake didn’t last too long on the project before he was replaced by special effects artist James Cameron who is mostly ashamed of this film. He occasionally jokes around that he made the “best flying fish horror comedy of all time” in interviews and on commentary tracks, but the film is quite good (specifically by Roger Corman standards).
The film itself feels a little more like a Troma film than a Corman film. It’s a little more blantly tongue in cheek, over the top and uses quite a few goofy sound effects typical of a more Kaufman style horror-comedy.
It’s a good film to throw on with friends and look for moments the remind you of Cameron’s much more successful career.
