Piranha — Piranha(DVD)
The use of misleading titles is an old trick within exploitation cinema, and this early 1970s film is a prime example of this trope. The brutally munching fish of the title don't appear until an hour into the film- and when they do it’s fleeting. Yes, we do get two Piranha-based deaths- but these happen towards the end of the film, and again are fleeting. What the film is a jungle adventure- later- thriller, which finds a female photographer, her womanizing brother, and a guide going into the Venezuela jungles- coming across a cruel & callous hunter. Here from Cheezy Movies is a region-free DVD release of this somewhat forgotten/ lost film.
Piranha (working title Caribe) is from the year 1972. It was directed by one William Gibson- this is his one & only credit. And to be frank, it’s easy to see why- the dialogue feels stretched out & unintentionally awkward/ amusing, the film is often badly cut together, and there is way, way too much nature footage- which is clearly here to pad things out.
The film opens deep in the jungle, where we see monkeys being caught in metal cages- as hunter Caribe just chuckles at the animals’ screams. Playing the part is the most known/ notable actor here William Smith- who has an impressive 278 acting roles to his name. With his mean-set stare & dark hair, he quite often played the bad guy, but I remember him most for prizing fighting action comedy Any Which Way You Can(1980) which saw him fighting against Clint Eastwood.
The film opens up properly at a Venezuelan airport as we get introduced to the three leads- brother Art(Tom Simcox), his sister Terry Green(Ahna Capri), and American guide Jim(Peter Brown). Art is somewhat of a ragged shoulder-length blond- who has a devil-may-care attitude & an eye for the ladies. Terry gave me a rather tousled-hair Janice Joplin vibe- she’s a photographer, and that’s the main point of their trip. Lastly, Jim seems focused & at ease in his job of guide- though he & Terry do butt heads initially.
The three are heading out into the country's jungles to get as many pictures as they can. One night after travelling through the hot & dusty day on motorbikes the trio lands at an isolated bar just on the edge of the jungle. One of the few patrons present is Caribe(Gibson) who is, to begin with, is a man of few words, but once he gets warmed up he starts boasting about his game hunting & cruelty, which he is very proud of.
It's foolishly decided that the three will follow Caribe deeper into the jungle- to his own smallholding, and things rather go from bad to worse. I won’t detail much of this last half or so, but we do get moments of fleeting violence( stabbings, razor-teethed attacks)- with a fair bit of tension moving towards the swamp bound-finale.
As with other Cheezy Movies releases we get an untouched scan of the film, and boy it’s not great looking at it best like a VHS, and at it’s worse washed out/ grainy with all manner of film damage. And we have just an original trailer, and trailer reel as an extra.
In finishing don’t be fooled by the title- as this isn’t a when creatures attack film, but instead a rather mediocre adventure/ thriller- which really takes far too long to warm up/ get going. I guess fans of Gibson will enjoy this, but he’s really playing to type- though I guess maybe a touch more nasty than usual.