Review of Piranha II: The Spawning

As you will probably have gathered from my alias, I am a huge Cameron fan. For a long time he was my favourite director, only recently being overtaken by David Lynch. For months I saw this film lying in a £5 DVD bargain bucket and wondered whether or not I should get it. Finally, after seeing the original on TV just a few days ago, I figured 'what the hell'. You can look at this film from two points of view - as a piece of filmmaking, in which case you cannot comprehend how bad it is, or as a fun B-movie. I chose the latter. Yes, it has the most dire plot known to man, yes, the fish are as convincing as, well, badly made plastic fish and the acting is sub-standard at best, but it is nonetheless a fun movie to watch late at night. The acting from the leads - notably Lance Henriksen - is moderately good, although supporting roles raise the question "Was the casting director on drugs?" as we are presented with some of the worst acting of the 80's. The special effects are atrocious and despite the fact that we are led to believe that there are thousands of flying piranhas on the shore, only a handful fly out of the water on wires. Out of the few gore shots, they are all obviously rubber appliances/models and the actors really let us know that they are in scrutinizing pain by whispering 'Ah.'

To be honest, I found it incredibly hard to believe that this was James Cameron's work. Perhaps it could be put down to the fact that he did not write it and had no support from the production side. A microscopic budget would not have helped matters either, but nontheless, it aint all that bad.

Watch it when you're drunk with some mates for a laugh, but for God's sake, don't take it seriously or else you'll end up having a mental breakdown.

Three out of ten.