‘They bred the ultimate killing machine… now you’re not safe OUT of the water!’
Piranha II: The Spawning, also known as Piranha II: Flying Killers, is a 1981 horror film, the sequel to the 1978 low-budget cult film Piranha, and the feature film directorial debut of James Cameron.
The original director of Piranha II was Miller Drake. Drake was yet another Roger Corman graduate who had labored alongside Joe Dante in the New World trailer department—and had essayed the role of “First Mutant” in Dante’s directorial debut, Hollywood Boulevard—before becoming Corman’s de facto head of postproduction. Executive producer, Ovidio G. Assonitis removed Drake from the movie and decided to replace him with James Cameron.
James Cameron was originally hired as the special effects director for this film and took over the direction when the original director left. (He also apparently re-wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym H. A. Milton). After the first week of shooting, the set harmony was disturbed by some discussions about the work between the director and the producers (the executive producer, Ovidio G. Assonitis, asked to verify the day-to-day activities, arguing with most of Cameron’s choices), so while Cameron was only responsible for the shooting, most of the decisions were under Assonitis’ authority.
Off the coast of a Caribbean island, a young couple flee the hotel to have sex in the sea. But they swim into a sunken wreck which is also a piranha lair and they are both killed and eaten by the unseen piranha.
The next day, a group of tourists, including Tyler Sherman, are taking the diving courses provided by Anne Kimbrough, an employee of the Hotel Elysium. One of her divers swims into the wreck, which she has strictly forbidden to her divers. Leaving Tyler to take over and lead the others to the surface, she discovers almost immediately that her ‘missing’ student has swum into the wreck and been killed there when his badly chewed up body is found…
‘Of course, Assonitis wasn’t going to let an untried 27-year-old actually make a movie; he kept a pretty firm grip on the film’s reigns from behind the scenes, and didn’t let Cameron anywhere near the editing room. Which is good, because it means that we can maintain that this isn’t really a James Cameron film, but just sort of a James Cameron exercise. Certainly, no dedicated auteurist nor a Cameron fanboy would be able to take a great deal of joy from Piranha II, a film that bears little resemblance to anything he’d make in the future.’ Antagony & Ecstasy
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Cast:
- Tricia O’Neil - Anne Kimbrough
- Steve Marachuk – Tyler Sherman
- Lance Henriksen - Steve Kimbrough
- Ricky Paull Goldin - Chris Kimbrough
- Ted Richert – Raoul, Hotel Manager
- Leslie Graves - Allison Dumont
- Ancil Gloudon – Gabby
- Carole Davis - Jai
- Connie Lynn Hadden – Loretta
- Captain Kidd Brewer Jr. – Lou
- Jan Eisner Mannon – Lisa
- Arnie Ross – Mal the Cook
- Tracy Berg – Beverly
- Albert Sanders – Leo Bell, D.D.S.
- Anne Pollack – Mrs. Wilson
- Lee Krug – Ron ‘Ronny’, the Lifeguard
- Sally Ricca – Cindy
- Dorothy Cunningham – Nurse April
- Phil Mullins – Trip Director
