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Piranha is a horror film series that consists of five films. The original film is a parody of the 1975 film Jaws .
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2023) |
Piranha is a horror film series that consists of five films. The original film is a parody of the 1975 film Jaws .
| Film | U.S. release date | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Producer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piranha | August 3, 1978 | Joe Dante | John Sayles | Roger Corman, Jon Davison and Chako van Leeuwen |
| Piranha II: The Spawning | November 5, 1982 | James Cameron | Ovidio G. Assonitis, James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee | Chako van Leeuwen and Jeff Schechtman |
| Piranha | October 1, 1995 | Scott P. Levy | Alex Simon | Chako van Leeuwen and Mike Elliott |
| Piranha 3D | August 20, 2010 | Alexandre Aja | Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg | Alexandre Aja, Mark Canton, Marc Toberoff and Grégory Levasseur |
| Piranha 3DD | June 1, 2012 | John Gulager | Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan and Joel Soisson | Mark Canton, Marc Toberoff and Joel Soisson |
Piranha is a 1978 American horror B movie about a swarm of killer piranhas. It was directed and co-edited by Joe Dante and starred Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Steele, and Dick Miller. Produced by Roger Corman, Piranha was inspired by the 1975 film Jaws, which had been a major success for distributor Universal Studios and director Steven Spielberg. It has since inspired a series of similarly themed B movies such as Grizzly .
The film involves a private investigator Maggie McNamara from Lyon Investigation. She was hired by the wealthy J.R. Randolph to find his niece, who disappeared with her boyfriend. Maggie seeks out the lonely environmentalist Paul Grogan to help her to look for the teenager. They head to an abandoned army facility and Maggie decides to drain the pools to see if the body of the girl is one of them. They are assaulted by a man with a crowbar, but they subdue him. However, he escapes, and soon they learn that the man is Dr. Robert Hoak, who, for military purposes, is researching a hybrid species of piranha that is capable of surviving in fresh and sea waters. Furthermore, Maggie has released the piranhas in the river, and they are heading to the Lost River Lake Resort.
Piranha II: The Spawning, also known as Piranha II: Flying Killers, is a 1982 horror film and the sequel to the 1978 low-budget cult film Piranha. The film is the feature film directorial debut of James Cameron.
Piranha 3 was announced in October 1991 as part of a slate of films to be produced by Ovidio G. Assonits' International Movie Service in Variety for sale at the American Film Market. [1] The plot concerned a scientist releasing flesh-eating fish into the pool system of a ski resort. [2] The film was never made.
In April 1994, rights holder Chako van Leeuwen announced the revival of her film company, Chako Film International, to produce Spirit (later released as Raging Angels with Sean Patrick Flanery and Diane Ladd) and Piranha III to be backed by United Artists. [3] Again, no film was produced.
Piranha, also known as Piranhas, is a 1995 American horror film directed by Scott P. Levy about a school of killer piranhas descending upon the bustling Lost River Lake Resort. Produced as part of Roger Corman Presents , a series of TV films by Roger Corman for Showtime, it is a remake of the 1978 film Piranha.
Piranha 3-D: The Invisible Menace was announced in April 2007 to be produced by Ovidio G. Assonitis and his production company KOA Films Entertainment. [4] In February 2008, it was announced that Alexandre Aja's remake would be produced in 3D and Piranha 3-D: The Invisible Menace was dropped from KOA Films Entertainment's production slate. [5]
Piranha 3D is a 2010 American 3D horror comedy film and a remake of the 1978 film Piranha. It was directed by Alexandre Aja and sports an ensemble cast featuring Steven R. McQueen, Jessica Szohr, Jerry O'Connell, Richard Dreyfuss, Christopher Lloyd, Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Kelly Brook, Riley Steele, Ving Rhames and Eli Roth. The film begins with a sudden underwater tremor that frees scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish. An unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area's new razor-toothed residents.
Piranha 3DD is a 2012 American 3D comedy horror film and sequel to the 2010 film Piranha 3D. It is directed by John Gulager from a screenplay by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton. It stars Danielle Panabaker, Matt Bush, David Koechner, Chris Zylka, Katrina Bowden, Gary Busey, Christopher Lloyd, and David Hasselhoff. Production began on April 27, 2011 with a release scheduled for November 23, 2011, but a month prior to release this date was revised to an unspecified 2012 date. The film was eventually released in the UK on May 11, 2012 and in the U.S. on June 1, 2012.
During production and post-production of Piranha 3DD, Dimension Films began developing a follow-up, entitled Piranha IIID but due to the commercial failure of 3DD no film was made.
Summer of the Piranha was announced in 2017. The project was known as Piranha JPN in Japan, but retitled as Summer of the Piranha internationally with Chako van Leeuwen and Roger Corman returning to produce and Christopher Lloyd was signed to star. [6] No film has yet been released.
| Character | Original series | Remake | Remake series | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piranha | Piranha II: The Spawning | Piranha | Piranha 3D | Piranha 3DD | Piranha JPN Summer of the Piranha | ||
| 1978 | 1982 | 1995 | 2010 | 2012 | 20?? | ||
| Paul Grogan | Bradford Dillman | William Katt | |||||
| Maggie McKeown | Heather Menzies | Alexandra Paul (as Maggie McNamara) | |||||
| Suzie Grogan | Shannon Collins | Mila Kunis (as Susie Grogan) | |||||
| Jack | Keenan Wynn | James E. Brodhead | |||||
| Laura Dickinson | Melody Thomas Scott | Soleil Moon Frye | Brooklynn Proulx (as Laura Forester) | ||||
| Betsy | Belinda Balaski | Chelsea Madison-Ciu | |||||
| Dr. Robert Hoak | Kevin McCarthy | ||||||
| Buck Gardner | Dick Miller | ||||||
| Dr. Mengers | Barbara Steele | ||||||
| Anne Kimbrough | Tricia O'Neil | ||||||
| Tyler Sherman | Steve Marachuk | ||||||
| Steve Kimbrough | Lance Henriksen | ||||||
| Chris Kimbrough | Ricky G. Paull | ||||||
| Raoul | Ted Richert | ||||||
| Allison Dumont | Leslie Graves | ||||||
| Leo Bell, D.D.S. | Albert Sanders | ||||||
| Beverly | Tracy Berg | ||||||
| Ralph Benotti | Phil Colby | ||||||
| Myrna Benotti | Hildy Maganasun | ||||||
| Gina Green | Kehli O'Byrne | ||||||
| Dave | Richard Israel | ||||||
| Sheriff Carl | Kaz Garas | ||||||
| Terry Wechsler | Leland Orser | ||||||
| Earl Lyon | Ben Slack | ||||||
| Jake Forester | Steven R. McQueen | ||||||
| Sheriff Julie Forester | Elisabeth Shue | ||||||
| Novak Radzinsky | Adam Scott | ||||||
| Derrick Jones | Jerry O'Connell | ||||||
| Kelly Driscoll | Jessica Szohr | ||||||
| Deputy Fallon | Ving Rhames | ||||||
| Carl Goodman | Christopher Lloyd | ||||||
| Andrew Cunningham | Paul Scheer | ||||||
| Maddy | Danielle Panabaker | ||||||
| Barry | Matt Bush | ||||||
| Chet | David Koechner | ||||||
| Kyle | Chris Zylka | ||||||
| Crew | Film | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piranha | Piranha II: The Spawning | Piranha | Piranha 3D | Piranha 3DD | Piranha JPN/Summer of the Piranha | |
| 1978 | 1982 | 1995 | 2010 | 2012 | 20?? | |
| Director | Joe Dante | James Cameron Ovidio G. Assonitis | Scott P. Levy | Alexandre Aja | John Gulager | — |
| Producer(s) |
| Chako van Leeuwen Jeff Schechtman | Chako van Leeuwen Mike Elliott |
| Chako van Leeuwen Roger Corman | |
| Screenwriter(s) |
| H.A. Milton |
| Pete Goldfinger Josh Stolberg | — | |
| Composer | Pino Donaggio | Steve Powder | Christopher Lennertz | Michael Wandmacher | Elia Cmiral | — |
| Cinematographer | Jamie Anderson | Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli | Christopher Baffa | John R. Leonetti | Alexandre Lehmann | — |
| Editor | Joe Dante Mark Goldblatt | Robert Silvi | John Gilbert | Baxter | Devin C. Lussier Martin Bernfeld Kirk Morri | — |
| Production company | New World Pictures Chako Film Company | Brouwersgracht Investments Chako Film Company | Concorde-New Horizons Chako Film Company |
|
| IXFilm Group |
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Piranha (1978) | 70% (27 reviews) [7] | 71/100 (8 reviews) [8] | — |
| Piranha II: The Spawning | 5% (19 reviews) [9] | 15/100 (5 reviews) [10] | — |
| Piranha (1995) | — [11] | — | — |
| Piranha 3D | 74% (132 reviews) [12] | 53/100 (20 reviews) [13] | C |
| Piranha 3DD | 12% (52 reviews) [14] | 24/100 (13 reviews) [15] | — |
Ryuhei Kitamura is a Japanese film director, producer, and screenwriter. Kitamura relocated to Sydney, Australia at age 17 and attended a school for visual arts for two years. In 1997, Kitamura directed and produced the short film Down to Hell, which received a positive response from students, teachers, and an award which motivated Kitamura to seriously pursue a film career. He went on to independently finance and direct his feature film debut Versus (2000). The film proved to be successful within the film festival circuit and opened doors for Kitamura to direct more high-profile films such as Alive (2002), Sky High (2003), Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), The Midnight Meat Train (2008), No One Lives (2012), the live-action adaptation of Lupin the 3rd (2014), and several other Japanese and Hollywood productions.
Rock 'n' Roll High School is a 1979 American musical comedy film directed by Allan Arkush, produced by Michael Finnell, and starring P. J. Soles, Vince Van Patten, Clint Howard and Dey Young. The film features the punk rock group Ramones.
The Gate is a 1987 supernatural horror film directed by Tibor Takács and starring Stephen Dorff in his film debut. The film follows two young boys who accidentally release a horde of demons from their backyard through a large hole in the ground.
Death Race 2000 is a 1975 American science fiction action film produced by Roger Corman, directed by Paul Bartel, and starring David Carradine. The film takes place in a dystopian American society in the year 2000, where the murderous Transcontinental Road Race has become a form of national entertainment. The screenplay is based on the short story The Racer by Ib Melchior.
Joseph James Dante Jr. is an American filmmaker, producer, editor and actor. His films—notably Gremlins (1984) alongside its sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)—often mix the 1950s-style B movie genre with 1960s radicalism and cartoon comedy.
Attack of the Giant Leeches is an independently made, 1959 black-and-white science fiction-horror film, produced by Gene Corman and directed by Bernard L. Kowalski. It stars Ken Clark, Yvette Vickers, Bruno VeSota and Jan Shepard. The screenplay was written by Leo Gordon. The film was released by American International Pictures on a double bill with A Bucket of Blood. Later, in some areas in 1960, Leeches played on a double bill with the Roger Corman film House of Usher.
Piranha is a 1978 American horror film directed and co-edited by Joe Dante from a screenplay by John Sayles, based on a story by Richard Robinson and Sayles. The film stars Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Steele and Dick Miller. It tells the story of a river being infested by lethal, genetically altered piranha, threatening the lives of the local inhabitants and the visitors to a nearby summer resort.
Night of the Living Dead 3D or Night of the Living DE3D is a 2006 horror film made in 3D. It is the second remake of the 1968 horror classic Night of the Living Dead. The first remake was released in 1990 and was directed by Tom Savini from a revised screenplay by George A. Romero. Unlike the first remake, no one involved with the original is involved with this version. The original film was never properly copyrighted, and so it has fallen into the public domain, making this remake possible with no permission from the original's creators.
Piranha II: The Spawning is a 1982 horror film directed by James Cameron from a screenplay by Charles H. Eglee and Cameron. The film stars Tricia O'Neil and Lance Henriksen, who would both later appear in Cameron's productions. It is the second installment in the Piranha film series and the sequel to Piranha (1978).
Piranha is a 1995 American made-for-television horror film directed by Scott P. Levy. It is about a school of killer piranhas descending upon the bustling Lost River Lake Resort. Executive produced by Roger Corman for the Showtime network, the film is a remake of the 1978 film of the same name and part of the Piranha film series. The film features Mila Kunis in her debut role.
Alexandre Jouan-Arcady, known professionally as Alexandre Aja, is a French filmmaker best known for his work in the horror genre. He rose to international stardom for his 2003 horror film Haute Tension. He has also directed the films The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Mirrors (2008), Piranha 3D (2010), Horns (2013) and Crawl (2019).
Ovidio Gabriel Assonitis is an Egyptian-born Greco-Italian entertainment executive, film producer, screenwriter, and director best known for his numerous B-horror films including Beyond the Door, Tentacles,The Visitor, and Piranha II: The Spawning.
Katrina Bowden is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Cerie on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013) and as Flo Fulton on the CBS daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful (2019–2021). She has also appeared in the films Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, Sex Drive, Piranha 3DD, American Reunion, and Scary Movie 5.
The Amityville haunting is a modern folk story based on the true crimes of Ronald DeFeo Jr. On November 13, 1974, DeFeo shot and killed six members of his family at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, on the south shore of Long Island. He was convicted of second-degree murder in November 1975. In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and their three children moved into the house. After 28 days, the Lutzes left the house, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there. The house became the subject of numerous investigations by paranormal researchers, journalists, and skeptics, including Ed and Lorraine Warren. These events served as the historical basis for Jay Anson's 1977 novel The Amityville Horror, which was followed by a number of sequels and was adapted into a film of the same name in 1979. Since then, many films have been produced that draw explicitly, to a greater or lesser extent, from these historical and literary sources. As Amityville is a real town and the stories of DeFeo and the Lutzes are historical, there can be no proprietary relationship to the underlying story elements associated with the Amityville haunting. As a result of this, there has been no restriction on the exploitation of the story by film producers, which is the reason that most of these films share no continuity, were produced by different companies, and tell widely varying stories.
Josh Stolberg is an American film director, screenwriter, and photographer. Stolberg is known for comedies, such as the film Good Luck Chuck, starring Dane Cook, Jessica Alba and Dan Fogler.
Patrick Melton is an American screenwriter, producer and novelist.
Piranha 3D is a 2010 American 3D horror comedy film that serves as a remake of the comedy horror film Piranha (1978) and an entry in the Piranha film series. Directed by Alexandre Aja and written by Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg, the film stars Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Jerry O'Connell, Ving Rhames, Jessica Szohr, Steven R. McQueen, Christopher Lloyd and Richard Dreyfuss. During spring break on Lake Victoria, a popular waterside resort, an underground tremor releases hundreds of prehistoric, carnivorous piranhas into the lake. Local cop Julie Forester must join forces with a band of unlikely strangers—though they are badly outnumbered—to destroy the ravenous creatures before everyone becomes fish food.
Mirrors is a 2008 supernatural horror film directed by Alexandre Aja, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, and Amy Smart. The film was first titled Into the Mirror, but the name was later changed to Mirrors. Filming began on May 1, 2007, and it was released in American theaters on August 15, 2008.
Piranha 3DD is a 2012 American 3D horror comedy film directed by John Gulager, and written by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton. It is a sequel to the 2010 film Piranha 3D and stars Danielle Panabaker, Matt Bush, David Koechner, Chris Zylka, Katrina Bowden, Gary Busey, Christopher Lloyd, and David Hasselhoff. Set after the events of the previous film on Lake Victoria, a prehistoric school of bloodthirsty piranhas invades a newly opened water park.
Hellraiser is a 2022 supernatural horror film directed by David Bruckner, with a screenplay by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, from a screen story they co-wrote with David S. Goyer. It is a reboot of the Hellraiser franchise, the eleventh installment overall, and a second adaptation of the 1986 novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, which was adapted into the 1987 film Hellraiser. The film stars Odessa A'zion, Jamie Clayton, Adam Faison, Drew Starkey, Brandon Flynn, Aoife Hinds, Jason Liles, Yinka Olorunnife, Selina Lo, Zachary Hing, Kit Clarke, Goran Višnjić, and Hiam Abbass. It follows a young woman recovering from addiction who ends up with a mechanical puzzle box that can summon the Cenobites, humanoid beings who thrive on pain and pleasure.