Piranha II: The Spawning

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Piranha II: The Spawning
French film poster.
Directed by	James Cameron
Written by	James Cameron
Starring	Tricia O'Neil Steve Marachuk Lance Henriksen Ricky G. Paull Ted Richert Leslie Graves
Music by	Steve Powder
Cinematography	Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli
Editing by	Roberto Silvi
Release date(s)	1981
Running time	94 min.
Country	Italy
Language	English
Preceded by	Piranha
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Piranha II: The Spawning (1981) was the sequel to Joe Dante's original movie Piranha (1978).

Both the titles are low-budget horror movies in which piranhas act as the monsters harming human life. Most inspiration is taken from the success of Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975).

Piranha II: The Spawning is James Cameron's directorial debut.

In Piranha II: The Spawning, the piranhas developed an additional skill which they did not have in the first film: they could fly.

1 Cast
2 Credits
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Cast

Tricia O'Neil - Anne Kimbrough
Steve Marachuk - Tyler
Lance Henriksen - Steve Kimbrough
Ricky G. Paull - Chris Kimbrough
Ted Richert - Raoul
Leslie Graves - Allison
Captain Kidd Brewer Jr. - Lou
Jan Eisner Mannon - Lisa

Carole R. Davis; Arnie Ross; Tracy Berg; Albert Sanders; Anne Pollack; Dorothy Cunningham

[edit] Credits

James Cameron - Director
James Cameron - Screenwriter
Ovidio G. Assonitis - Executive Producer
Giovanni Corridori - Special Effects
Giannetto De Rossi - Makeup Special Effects
Giannetto De Rossi - Special Effects
Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli - Cinematographer
Lee Reynolds - Screenwriter
Roberto Silvi - Editor
Antonio Corridori - Special Effects
Chako van Leuwen - Producer
Jeff Schechtman - Producer
H.A. Milton - Screenwriter James Cameron's pseudonym (?)
Steve Powder - Composer (Music Score)
Medusa Paltrinieri - Art Director
Carbonaro - Special Effects
Chako VanLeeuwen - Producer

[edit] Trivia

The making of this film had a difficult history. James Cameron was originally hired as the special effects director for this film (and his hand in story-writing can be suspected under the H. A. Milton pseudonym on the original script), and took over the direction when the original director left. Due to budget limitations the crew was composed essentially by Italians, none of whom spoke English, but some of them had prior experience on horror/fantasy movies, so they were able to satisfy Cameron requirements. 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 most of Cameron's choices), so whilst Cameron was just responsible for the shooting, most of the decisions are under Assonitis' authority. According to "Dreaming Aloud," a biography of James Cameron by Christopher Heard, Cameron was not allowed to see his footage and was not involved in editing. He broke into the editing room in Rome and cut his own version while the film's producers were at Cannes, but was caught and Assonitis re-cut it again.

Cameron has defended the film by saying that it's the finest flying piranha movie ever made. Some of the mechanisms used to make the piranhas fly were later recycled into the facehugger animatronics for Aliens.

Although Cameron himself (as well as his fans) have sought to play down his involvement in this film, he might have been more involved than he lets on. After all, Piranha II features some well-known Cameronian hallmarks, such as the dangers presented by an alien environment (the sea; outer space), man's technological hubris bringing nemesis (breeding mutant fish; building "unsinkable" ocean liners), and the presence at the center of the story of a seemingly average woman who finds herself thrown into a situation utterly outside of her experience, yet who shows great courage and resourcefulness in coping with it.

The 2002 DVD release adds some additional scenes that were cut out of the theatrical and VHS releases. The beginning of the film, for example, restores a scene of the doomed scuba couple Lou and Lisa conversing aboard their small boat prior to their fatal dive to the Dwight Fitzgerald. It endeavors to put their attempt at underwater lovemaking in some sort of context.