I love the premise of 1 and 2 simply because of the absurdity and how unbelievably believable of a premise it feels - like yeah, of course the United States military would have tried genetically modifying piranhas as a way to fight the Vietcong and it ended up horrifically backfiring and killing civilians, that sounds like something our military would do while grasping at straws. Not realistic in any sense, but something I can totally wrap my head around being a plausible scenario for a movie of this nature.

Piranhas, on paper, sound like a really awesome concept for a movie, and not just the realm of horror. Like if there was an action movie with a brief scene where they traverse a piranha infested water source, it would work well, it’s just when making a movie revolve entirely around them that I think it loses the scare factor. They’ve developed over time the reputation of being these vicious cheetahs of the waters, and you would think it would make for some interesting plot lines. I think the issue boils down to “we have a great idea on paper, but it isn’t translating to the big screen”

Factor in the corny appearance of these practical effects, factor in the stereotypical ocean bubbling/water turning red, and you see in real time how this cool concept starts losing steam. And it doesn’t ruin the movie entirely, you still have hot babes, cheap laughs and horrific deaths, but I feel like these piranha movies have a great kickoff, but the final results are underwhelming. I think a movie that goes the piranha route has to decide if they’re going the naked babe route like #2, or the “we gotta save the locals” route like #1

I would really love a movie that takes piranhas in a direction where it becomes an actually suspenseful experience, because right now it feels like they all start out strong in theory, but fall short sticking the landing. I don’t know how possible this is, because there are clear limitations on what can be done in terms of practical effects without animal cruelty, and there are lines in the sand of CGI usage where it would deflate any suspense.

Piranha II The Spawning (1982)