From:
darkangel5@DONTEMAILMEbtinternet.com
Low budget Italian knock off of Piranha, by Antonio Margheriti. Starring
Lee Majors and a bunch of American B-movie actors.
A group of professional Jewel theives, lead by Majors, pull off a daring
heist at a diamond mine in South America. Then dump the loot in a nearby reservoir, until the heat dies down.
However, when a couple of the greedier members of the group decide to go
after the jewels ahead of time, they find unscrupulous boss James
Francissus has filled the reservoir full of piranha to stop them.
But when a storm bursts the reservoir, the piranha flood into the
adjacent lake and the surviving members of the gang find themselves on a sinking boat, squabbling over how to divide up the loot.
More of an action movie than a horror film, I remember this one being
shown on TV a few times in the early 80s, but has been rather elusive on
home video and the only DVD release to date was a fullscreen Italian disc.
Fortunately, Scorpion releasing dug this one up a couple of years back
and put it out on Blu-Ray in the US, which looks rather nice in HD.
Being directed by Antonio Margheriti, it features a lot of his signature
model work. Which still holds up fairly well in HD, although the wires
on the plastic piranhas are now more visible. The film also kind-of
feels more like a TV movie, but then this was produced by Lew Grade of
ITC Entertainment fame, who made a lot of British TV shows back in the
day, so I guess that's why.
Definitely one for fans of Italian cinema, it's actually quite
entertaining and features quite a good cast, including the
aforementioned Lee Majors (Six Million Dollar Man), James Francisus
(Beneath the Planet of the Apes), Karen Black (Cut and Run, House of
1000 Corpses), model Margeux Hemmingway and Frank Pesce, brother of Joe
Pesce. Sharper eyed viewers may also recognise the fat photographer in
this, played by character actor Roy Brocksmith, who's been in a number
of films, including Total Recall.
The Blu-Ray is a little sparse on extras, containing a trailer, which
looks like it was lifted off YouTube judging by the quality, and a 50min interview with the films co-star Frank Pesce, conducted by cult director William Lustig. Which is just basically the two having a bit a jolly
banter about Pesce's film career.
Overall, good fun, with an "interesting" disco soundtrack courtesy of
Amii Stewart, of "Knock on Wood" fame (though she doesn't sing that one).
--
Best Wishes
Simon (Dark Angel)
http://www.realmofhorror.co.uk
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