{"id":2965,"date":"2011-05-31T12:12:48","date_gmt":"2011-05-31T16:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=2965"},"modified":"2011-05-31T12:12:48","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T16:12:48","slug":"dvd-piranha-1995","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=2965","title":{"rendered":"DVD: Piranha (1995)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to: <\/strong>Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>P to R<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Film: Good\/ DVD Transfer: Good\/ DVD Extras: n\/a<\/p>\n

Label: New Horizons\/ Region: 1 (NTSC) \/\u00a0Released: July 20, 2004<\/p>\n

Genre: Horror \/ Roger Corman \/ Disaster<\/p>\n

Synopsis: A marine biologist and a private investigator try and stop a mass of hybrid piranha from reaching a local summer camp ground. Based on a super-true life event. Not.<\/p>\n

Special Features: n\/a<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

During the nineties, producer Roger Corman remade a handful of his classic horror productions for TV and home video, and with few exceptions, most were unnecessary efforts, and none came close towards eclipsing the original films.<\/p>\n

Joe Dante\u2019s direction of the first Piranha<\/strong> (1978) was snappy and tongue-in-cheek; John Sayles\u2019 script handled the ridiculousness of the concept with a balance of shocks, humour, and action; and the cast was drawn from old and new Hollywood (with the new quotient consisting of nascent TV stars). Even the lead special effects \u2013 often made of fake piranha fish heads stuck on broom poles – were effective in conveying a mass of hungry, water-bourn monsters capable of some advance reasoning, including getting at our heroes when they were safely floating on a raft.<\/p>\n

Corman\u2019s 1995 remake is worth a peek purely for the way Sayles\u2019 script was condensed and dialogue was upgraded with nineties pop culture references, and the curiosity value of whether the original scenes could stand on their own with the new talent pool.<\/p>\n

Writer Alex Simon kept the original heroes of P.I. Maggie (Alexandra Paul) and ex-marine biologist Paul (William Katt), but dumped the secretive military component headed by a mad doctor (largely because in the \u201978 film Dante was able to coax a local militia to appear, using a bogus \u2018benevolent army\u2019 script never intended for filming).<\/p>\n

He also changed the gender of the original scientist who created the vicious piranha to a younger woman (Darleen Carr), and once she dies at the maws of her creations, the story becomes a classic disaster scenario.<\/p>\n

Without the military element, the story\u2019s basically man vs. toothy fish, and follows Paul\u2019s manic efforts to reach the local camp and save his daughter Susie (a giant-headed Mila Kunis, in one of her first roles) before the evil spawn reaches the camp\u2019s little \u2018guppies\u2019 (girls) and \u2018minnows\u2019 (boys).<\/p>\n

Simon also compacted a few roles into one new character – wealthy developer \u2018J.R.\u2019 Randolph (Monte Markham) who not only hired Maggie to find his busty daughter (killed at the beginning, as she and her boyfriend skinny dipped in the piranha pool), but shrugs aside the advancing fish threat to meet the start date of a new waterfront revitalization project. J.R.\u2019s essentially drawn from the money-minded mayor in Jaws <\/strong>(1975), played by James Karen, who also appears as (what else?) the major in Corman\u2019s 1995 cable TV movies.<\/p>\n

Also expanded is the role of a commercial director, now a weasel film school grad (played by weasely Leland Orser) who attempts to woo the local camp counselor matron (formerly played by Paul Bartel, and now re-imagined as athletic Kehli O\u2019Byrne) only to watch her get turned into chum one sad night.<\/p>\n

The rest of Simon\u2019s script follows Sayles\u2019 design scene-for scene (right down to the ludicrous water skiing \/ exploding boat sequence), and in some cases scenes were filmed in locations nearly identical to the \u201978 film. Sets and props were also designed to be visually similar to the original, so Corman, ever the cheapskate, could re-use the effective piranha effects footage from the original \u2013 a tactic that actually works because of the fast editing that keeps the \u201995 TV movie moving at a frenetic pace.<\/p>\n

Some non-effects footage also seems to have been lifted from the original, such as the final glimpse of a drowning Laura (now played by Punky Brewster<\/strong>\u2019s Soleil Moon Frye); and the underwater pollution station, where Paul holds his breath for what seems like 5 minutes.<\/p>\n

A big plus for the production was composer Christopher Lennertz, who managed to transcend the TV movie\u2019s budget (and Corman\u2019s cheapness) by writing a big-sounding orchestral score \u2013 quite unusual among Corman\u2019s nineties remakes.<\/p>\n

Director Scott P. Levy, a former Corman hand, does a credible job in keeping scenes moving without the kind of hastiness one would expect from a scene-for-scene remake, and the performances at least match the earnestness of the original film, making this remake tonally consistent with Corman\u2019s vintage drive-in fodder.<\/p>\n

Just as amusing are the flagrant attempts to keep the T&A values high (which may explain the gender reversals). O\u2019Byrne takes off her top before her fatal river swim, and during a simple boardwalk shot in which the developer and sheriff stroll to a boat, Corman & Levy have a swimsuit bunny suddenly walk into frame, with her posterior bouncing back & forth before a hasty frame exit after Levy switches to a reverse angle.<\/p>\n

Few of Corman\u2019s nineties remakes are available on DVD, and while this 1995 version is fairly pointless, it ought to be released as part of some special set, if not a double-bill.<\/p>\n

Entries in Corman\u2019s remake wave include A Bucket of Blood<\/strong> (1995), Piranha<\/strong> (1995), The Wasp Woman<\/strong> (1995), and his riff on the 1958 Woolner production, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman<\/strong> – Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfolds<\/strong> (1995).\u00a0 During the prior decade, the producer also remade Not of This Earth<\/strong> (1988) and Masque of the Red Death<\/strong> (1989).<\/p>\n

Scott Levy\u2019s other directorial efforts for Corman include The Alien Within <\/strong>(1995), House of the Damned<\/strong> (1996), Baby Faced Nelson <\/strong>(1996), and Time Under Fire<\/strong> (1997).<\/p>\n

Films within the Piranha franchise include Piranha<\/strong> (1978), Piranha 2: The Spawning<\/strong> (1981), and Piranha 3D <\/strong>(2010).<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2011 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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Related links:<\/em><\/p>\n

Interview: \u00a0composer Christopher Lennertz<\/a><\/strong> (2006)<\/p>\n

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Related external links (MAIN SITE):<\/em><\/p>\n

DVD \/ Film: \u00a0Piranha 2: The Spawning<\/a><\/strong> <\/strong>(1981) —\u00a0Piranha 3D<\/a> <\/strong>(2010)<\/p>\n

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External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Buy from:<\/em><\/p>\n

Amazon.com<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0Piranha (1995)<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazon.co.uk <\/strong> – Piranhas [DVD]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> <\/em><\/em><\/em>\/\u00a0P to R<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to: Home \/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ P to R . Film: Good\/ DVD Transfer: Good\/ DVD Extras: n\/a Label: New Horizons\/ Region: 1 (NTSC) \/\u00a0Released: July 20, 2004 Genre: Horror \/ Roger Corman \/ Disaster Synopsis: A marine biologist and a private investigator try and stop a mass of hybrid piranha from reaching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[35,499,392],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-LP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2965"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2965"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2969,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2965\/revisions\/2969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}