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Piranha | |
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Credits | |
Title: | Piranha |
Director: | Joe Dante |
Writers: | Richard Robinson John Sayles |
Producers: | Roger Corman Jon Davison Chako van Leeuwen Jeff Schechtman |
Composer: | Pino Donaggio |
Cinematography: | Jamie Anderson |
Editors: | Joe Dante Mark Goldblatt |
Production | |
Distributed by: | New World Pictures United Artists |
Released: | August 3rd, 1978 |
Rating: | R |
Running time: | 94 min. |
Country: | USA |
Language: | English |
Budget: | $660,000 |
Navigation | |
Previous: | — |
Next: | Piranha II: The Spawning |
Piranha was a 1978 comedy/horror film directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling). The film was intended as a spoof on the 1975 Steven Spielberg blockbuster hit Jaws. The film was released theatrically in the United States on August 3rd, 1978. Piranha is succeeded by a 1981 sequel, Piranha II: The Spawning as well as a 1995 made-for-television remake. A second remake, filmed in 3-D, was released theatrically in 2010.
Cast[]
Actor | Role |
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Bradford Dillman | Paul Grogan |
Heather Menzies | Maggie McKeown |
Kevin McCarthy | Robert Hoak |
Keenan Wynn | Jack |
Dick Miller | Buck Gardner |
Barbara Steele | Doctor Mengers |
Belinda Balaski | Betsy |
Melody Thomas | Laura Dickinson |
Paul Bartel | Mister Dumont |
Shannon Collins | Suzie Grogan |
Shawn Nelson | Whitney |
Richard Deacon | Earl Lyon |
Janie Squire | Barbara Randolph |
Roger Richman | David |
Bruce Gordon | Colonel Waxman |
Barry Brown | Trooper |
Bill Smilie | Jailer |
Guich Koock | TV pitchman |
Jack Pauleson | Boy in canoe |
Eric Henshaw | Father in canoe |
Robert Vinson | Soldier |
Virginia Dunnam | Girl |
Hill Farnsworth | Water-skier |
Bruce Paul Barbour | Man in boat |
Robyn Ray | Screaming woman |
Mike Sullivan | Dam guard |
Sally Bondi | Swimming Deb |
Eric Braeden | Robert Hoak (double) |
Joe Dante | Scuba Diver #2 |
Amy Holden Jones | Hertz clerk |
Andrew G. La Marca | Scuba Diver #1 |
John Sayles | Army sentry |
Phil Tippett | Scuba Diver #3 |
Notes & Trivia[]
- The tagline for this film is, "They're here...Hungry for flesh! Who can stop them?"
- Production on Piranha began on March 15th, 1978. Principal photography concluded on April 5th, 1978. [1]
- Screen writer John Sayles also wrote the screenplay for Dante's 1981 werewolf drama The Howling.
- Actor Barry Brown, who plays a trooper in this film, committed suicide with a handgun in Silver Lake, California two months after principal shooting was completed.
- First horror film work for camera operator Christopher Tufty. Tufty would go on to become the director of photography for A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge.
- When Maggie McKeown is first introduced, she is seen playing a Jaws video game.
- Director Joe Dante likes inserting clips from classic films into his movies. In this one, he provides a clip from the 1957 b-movie The Monster That Challenged the World.
- Barbara Randolph makes a reference to the Creature from the Black Lagoon in this film.