Reviews (51)

Walken from Heaven with a taste of Hell
I am a die-hard Christopher Walken fan and this is by far the best movie of his career (the 2nd best being Prophecy 2). Sure this movie is about the battle between Heaven and Hell for the destiny of the entire human race, but who cares? It's Walken that matters. As the holy-turned-evil angel Gabriel he is extremely creepy and powerfully scary, but the awesome twist is that he is hilarious as well. Some actors have good scenes and some actors can steal certain scenes, but Walken is so twistedly diabolical and shockingly funny that he steals the entire movie. So much that you find yourself dying for the next scene to happen just so you can see more of him. I was very surprised at how Biblical the film is without being Biblical at all. It's very smart that way. Very spiritually exciting in an epic Biblical possibility kind of way. And the action sequences and effects are charged with power. This is truly a masterpiece and the best "Biblical-esque" science fiction action/horror film I have ever seen. GOD and the Devil and the End of the world. But who cares? It's all about Christopher Walken!

Very interesting and thought provoking film
Throughout this decade I've watched some pretty horrible horror films. The only good films I could find were Candyman and Event Horizon. But then I came across The Prophecy, which is one of the best horror films of this decade. It's not frightening in your usual horror film sense, but has more of an intellectual feel to it. It's not an insult to your mind as most slasher films are. This film is full of intriguing thoughts and ideas, especially with writer-director Gregory Widen's version of how an angel's physical form on Earth would be like. The film starts off a bit confusing but becomes more easy to understand as the film goes along. There's the soon to become priest named Thomas Dagget, played very well by Elias Koteas who now has a high-profile due to his role in The Thin Red Line. You can also catch Koteas' role as a demon in Fallen in which he is even better at it than Christopher Walken! Anyway, Thomas sees visions of angels being killed, he loses his faith and becomes a cop. This might sound kind of funny on paper but watching it is pretty serious. A good angel named Simon (portrayed perfectly by Eric Stoltz) murders another angel, Usiel who is one of Gabriel's men, in self-defense. Autopsy reports show Usiel has the physical attributes of an aborted fetus, has no eyes and never did, and is a hermaphrodite. Thomas investigates on this case and discovers a bible on Usiel that has a 23 chapter of Revelations that states of the Second Coming, another war between angels. It states the war occurs because angels are jealous of the fact God loves humans more than angels because humans have souls. In order for this war to begin, the bad angels, led by Gabriel in an unforgettable performance by Christopher Walken, need the soul of a recently deceased Colonel Hawthorne, who is supposed to be the most evil person on Earth. Simon manages to steal Hawthorne's soul before Gabriel and places it in the body of a young girl named Mary. Thomas and Mary's teacher, Katherine (in a fine performance by Virginia Madsen) get caught up in this storm of events and must find a way to prevent the apocalypse from occuring.

What I've just typed down about The Prophecy must be very confusing. It's actually a lot easier to understand then it seems. The acting in this film was very good. The lead performances by Koteas, Madsen, Walken, and Stoltz were excellent. I liked Stoltz's character the most but he left the movie too early. The overall plot idea was great and had an epic feeling. There was one particular scene where we see a vision of hundreds of angels impaled that I found very disturbing. It's one of the more haunting images on film these days. This film is also very humorous with most of the comedy supplied from Walken.

There were a couple of things I didn't like too much about this movie. Why did Simon visit Thomas? That seemed more of an excuse to get Thomas even more involved in the war. The fact that this movie is very short. It left some interesting ideas or scenes that could have easily fit in. The ending, but it's a very minor problem, isn't as great as the rest of the movie. Without giving too much away I feel a downbeat ending like in The Exorcist and The Omen would have worked better in The Prophecy. After all, a prophecy is something you can't prevent. But the ending's somewhat made up for with Koteas' thought-provoking final words and the musical score. Some people may not like the fact that Gabriel is portrayed as a jealous celestial being. All in all, The Prophecy is a supernatural thriller that should not be missed if you enjoy movies like the Exorcist or if you're a fan of the cast. There is a sequel to The Prophecy and another one in the works, but I don't plan on watching them simply because I am mostly content with the way the first film ended.

Not worth it
As I watched the movie I couldn't help but feel that the director was just stabbing out at a few concepts, rather than character development and story line. 2 bad angels and 1 good, what kind of a war is going on here? Seems pretty week to me. How is one human soul going to help them in their great battle anyway? Is this war going to somehow change God's mind? Can these evil angels who are obviously acting against the the will of God, aka sinning really expecting to have things return back to the way they once were? What is the purpose of an angel, and even more important, What is the purpose and meaning of life for humans in this movie. What motive is there to be a good angel? There has to be some kind of reward. Why do we only get the perspective from the devil and evil angels? Where is the word of God during the movie, and what of his worshipers? Not worth your time or waste of thought.

Yup :-)
I'm speaking of the 3 movies I've seen in this series of movies, Christopher Walken is one of the best actors I have seen and this roll is his apex in my mind, totally funny + he gets weirder as the movies go along, the writers know what they are doing + christopher playes it perfectly + adds his amazing performance in a perfect roll for him. Top Rate!

excellent and thrilling.
Excellent, intelligent movie. Christopher Walken was superb in this apocolyptic thriller. His charecter Gabriel chills the bones. Liked the way it showed Angels as things to be feared rather than fat babies or woman. Judgement is coming people! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Roger Corman produced this shameless Jaws rip-off at theheight of the "nature gone wild" boom of American cinema and struck B-movie gold. Scripted by John Sayles and directed by Joe Dante, thistongue-in-cheek thriller stars Bradford Dillman (doing his best Rip Tornimpression) as an antisocial mountain man and Heather Menzies as a rookiedetective who race a school of mutant piranha downriver. Dante and Saylesprovide the requisite blood and gore for this drive-in meat market: a kids' summer camp and a waterfront amusement park await the little beasties.Along the way, riverside retiree Keenan Wynn gets his ankles stripped clean, camp counselor Paul Bartel is chomped on the cheek by a hungry littlebugger who takes to the air, and hordes of unlucky bathers are caught inthe center of a feeding frenzy. What differentiates this little gem fromthe legion of similar knockoffs are the satirical swipes at militaryarrogance and crass commercialism, Dante's energetic enthusiasm, and thebursts of black humor: "Lost River Lake: Terror, horror, death. Film at11." The culty cast also includes Invasion of the Body Snatchers'sKevin McCarthy as the hysterical scientist guarding the creatures, horrordiva Barbara Steele as a devious government researcher, and longtime Corman regular Dick Miller as an unscrupulous entrepreneur ("Sir, the piranha areeating the guests").

The DVD features good-humored commentary by director Joe Dante and producer Jon Davison, who also narrate the 10 minutes of good-quality home-moviefootage shot by Davison. There are also six minutes of outtakes. --SeanAxmaker ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Camp Classic Deserves a Look
Joe Dante's Piranha is a very humorous spoof and a fine homage to Steven Spielberg's classic Jaws. Though plagued with poor acting from Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, and Keenan Wynn, this is definitely not the type of film that you would ever take seriously. The inside film jokes and cinema references add a lot of intelligent spice to the film's proceedings, but it is the cheesy yet effective special effects by Phil Tippett (Robocop) that make Piranha a must see for mosnter movie buffs. Watch out for the obviously fake piranha as they make a spectacular bloddy debacle of a children's summer camp. The DVD edition of Piranha has many elaborate features including a Joe Dante commenty, a making-of-documentary, film bloppers, and other theatrical trailers of Corman films. P.S. Joe Dante would later go on to direct such horror classics as The Howling and Gremlins.

"The piranhas....they're eating the guests, sir..."
We all know that producer Roger Corman made "Piranha" to exploit the success of "Jaws"--just look at the poster art for Spielberg's sake. But what was intended to be a low-budget knock-off became a classic B-movie because John Sayles produced a clever script and Corman assigned Joe Dante to direct. Dante would later go on to direct "The Howling" and "Gremlins," as well as "Rock and Roll High School" and "Amazon Women on the Moon" (the man does not forget his roots). Ultimately, "Piranha" is every bit as much of a spoof as it is a ripoff, which raises it to the highest level of B-Movie grandeur. The story, such as it is in such things, has flesh-eating piranhas being released into the river of the Lost River Lake resort. Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, and Keenan Wynn are the most recognizable faces trying to avoid being eaten by the wee beasties, although you horror film buffs will also recognize not only Kevin "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" McCarthy but Barbara Steele, Queen of the Italian Horror Films. The DVD extras clearly reflect a grand affection for this film with commentary from Dante and producer Jon Davison, deleted footage, theatrical trailer, a "making-of" featurette for this 1978 film, material from the film's press kit, and more. When you have a classic B-Movie with A+ extras on the DVD, you have to give it five stars. Ironically, "Piranha II: The Spawning," the 1981 sequel, was the first film directed by James Cameron, who also went on to some notable successes in his later films.

"Terror, horror, death. Film at eleven."
Jaws (1975) frightened a whole generation of people out of the water. Why? Because of the very real elements within the film, being that there are sharks in the oceans, and occasionally they do attack people. Do they ever get as large as the one in the film? Possibly...regardless, the fear was real enough...fast forward to 1978...prolific B movie director/producer Roger Corman, in an effort to capitalize on the immense popularity of the film Jaws, released Piranha, directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins, Innerspace, The 'burbs) and written by John Sayles (The Howling, Wild Thing), which, while didn't elicit the response anywhere near that of the film it borrows from, still provides us with a great deal of entertainment (genetically altered super fish just didn't come across with the same level of realism as a giant man-eating shark).

The film stars Branford Dillman, who, along with his extensive television credits, appeared in scores of films like Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) and The Swarm (1978), to name a couple. Also starring is Heather Menzies, who appeared in films like The Sound of Music (1965), SSSSSSS (1973), along with various television shows throughout the 70's. Rounding out the cast are Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), Paul Bartel, Barbara Steele (Caged Heat and Shivers), Melody Thomas Scott, and character actors Dick Miller and Keenan Wynn.

The film opens at night with two victims, er...I mean backpackers in a hilly area (somewhere in Texas, as we find out later), who happen to come across a seemingly deserted facility surrounded by a large fence, and signage stating 'Military Testing Facility' and 'Keep Out' (it seemed pretty clear to me, as I could read it, but these two knuckleheads completely missed it, bringing to mind the old adage, 'if it was a snake, it would have bit you'). Anyway, lunkhead number one and lunkhead number two, looking for a place to camp for the night, decide this looks promising, and make their way past the fence to find a large, in-ground cement pool. Do you think it contains piranha? And do you also think said piranha are hungry? I do, on both counts, especially given that it's the title of the film. Anyway, they decide to go swimming and quickly discover the pool contains more than water. We also learn the facility isn't entirely deserted...

Apparently someone cares about these two now missing backpackers, enough so to hire private investigator Maggie McKeown (Menzies) to look for them. While initiating her search in the general area, she find a shack occupied by Paul Grogan (Dillman), a divorced, reclusive, mass alcohol consuming (every five minutes he's swilling from a canteen, but never actually seems to get drunk) outdoorsman type, who she basically enlists to aid her, despite his protests, in her search. They find the deserted military facility, which was once some sort of breeding farm for fish, and decide to drain the large pool in hopes of finding clues. As they throw the switch, they get attacked by a wily old man (his name is Dr. Robert Hoak, played by McCarthy) as he freaks out learning that the fish have been released into the river system. The manage to subdue him, and he speaks of his experiments, specifically his genetic experiments for the military in creating a super breed of piranha, meant for use during the Vietnam conflict, but since the war ended, the program was terminated, but apparently no one told Dr. Hoak. So now the highly aggressive and carnivorous super fish are in the local river system. And they're hungry...and breeding...

For a B movie, this tends to one of the better ones I've seen. Even here you can see that Dante has talent in directing, despite what I am sure was probably an extremely tight shooting schedule (Corman always kept this aspect tight). Sayles provides a better than average script for this type of outing, and the actors present enjoyable performances. I do tire of the whole 'government and/or big business conspiracy' cliché that is so often used in films of any type to move the plot along, as it tends to indicate a lack of imagination (just look at some Steven Segal movies, specifically On Deadly Ground (1994) and The Patriot (1998), for a couple of examples). I especially liked the scenes with Keenan Wynn speaking of how much the river gives him, and also the scenes with Dick Miller, who plays the sleazy real estate agent and proprietor of Aquarena, an entertainment water park that recently opened along the river. He's got one of the more memorable scenes in the film when his assistant approaches him about piranha in the waters, and he asks, "What about the godd@mn piranha?!", to which the assistant replies, "The piranha...they're EATING the guests, sir". Paul Bartel also makes a great appearance as an uptight director of a summer camp located on the river (do you think a big part of their program involves swimming?). The special effects are quite good (no CGI work here) and there is a good helping of blood and underwater scenes with the fish tearing flesh off hapless victims.

Presented here is an excellent looking full screen print (Dante claims this is the original aspect ratio of the film, but the titles appear to be in wide screen format). Special features here are copious, including a commentary track by director Dante and producer Jon Davidson, original theatrical trailer, a blooper reel, a short 'Making of' documentary, cast biographies, a reproduction of the original Theatrical Marketing Guide, an eight page booklet titled 'The History of Roger Corman, and trailers for some of Corman's other films including Grand Theft Auto (1977) and Humanoids from the Deep (1980), among others. If I learned anything from Piranha, it's that if you are warn authorities about mutant piranha loose in a populated waterway, you're better off crying toxic waste, as they not apt to believe the piranha thing.

Cookieman108

Low-budget trash 'B' movie mayhem!
I love these kinds of movies, especially whenever they turn out to be low-budget 'B' movies from the 70s-80s genre. Though they may lack excellent acting and special effects like many others, they are sometimes still the BEST! I first saw this movie a long time ago in the sixth grade and though the acting was quite atrocious and the special effects were very cheesy, it STILL horrified and shocked me to watch innocent civilians become lunch meat to a pack of flesh eating piranhas! "Piranha" is an effective rip-off of the more higher-budget Steven Speilberg classic, "Jaws" only with very little suspense and more gore to go around and be served again for seconds! The storyline sometimes drags a little and the pacing is rather slow, but it all starts to pick up near the end where everything gets totally out-of-control CRAZY! (But kind of laughable to watch at times!) If you're looking for a horror movie that's BOTH scary and hilarious to watch at the same time, jump into the water and brace yourself for "Piranha", the PERFECT example of a FUN filled nail biting black comedy! TRUST ME! This makes a good Saturday night movie rental! DON'T miss out on this so-bad-it's good turkey! This would probably be considered as Ed Wood's favorite movie EVER!

silly but enjoyable movie that brings back memories for me
I used to love this movie when I was little. One of the things that fascinated me most about it was that it was filmed in San Marcos, Texas, at a riverside resort called Aquarena Springs. My grandmother and I used to vacation there every spring and summer for years. It was a lot of fun. If you went on the glass-bottom boatride, the guide would tell the story of how and where the piranha attacks were filmed. He would also point out how in the same exact river, the underwater scenes for THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON were filmed, and also how Johnny Weismuller, the screen's first Tarzan, swam to the bottom of the deepest spring (years before the resort itself was built). Ralph the Swimming Pig, who makes an appearance in this movie, was still around when I would go (although I doubt it was the original pig as seen in the movie). We would even see the submarine show, which is also featured in the movie. I had a lot of great times at Aquarena Springs, and since the place has now been closed down and its hotel converted into an office building, this movie is my only means of revisiting that place that gave me so many good memories over the years. It's upsetting that the place can no longer be enjoyed by real people, and that it's now just a place where the suits do more of their money-mongering. A real shame. Oh well. Silly but enjoyable movie, great memories for me. R.I.P. Aquarena Springs. ... Read more

Description

Billy Peltzer and Kate Beringer move to New York City and meet up with their Mogwai friend, Gizmo, when a series of accidents creates a new generation of diverse gremlins. Billy, Kate, and Gizmo must once again use all their experience to prevent another catastrophe. ... Read more

Reviews (56)

Gremlins 2--The New Batch
Director Joe Dante ("Pirahna") is back at the helm after a six-year hibernation, continuing the story of those mischevious mutant monsters. This time, they invade a futuristic New York office complex run by a billionare, and only Galligan and Cates can save the day. Just as exciting, scary, and humorous as the original, "Gremlins 2" is unique in it's slapstick and laid back approach that actually works in various ways. If you're looking for a fun 2-hour romp with little green goblins, a cute furry pet, many crude sexual jokes, and a pulse-pounding musical score, this film is certainly for you. Director: Joe Dante. Cast: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, John Glover, Robert Prosky, Robert Picardo, Christopher Lee, Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph. Rated PG-13 for slapstick violence and profanity. 114 minutes.

Better Than The First!!!
Gremlins 2 brings us to New York City. Billy and Kate now work for building magnate Daniel Clamp. After Mr. Ving's death, Gizmo comes back into their lives after a daring rescue by Billy from a genetic research lab. Of course, Gizmo gets wet and havoc reigns superme in New York-gremlins-style. Everyone's favorite new gremlin is the talking Brain Gremlin, played to perfection by Odd Couple legend Tony Randall. My favorite gremlin, however, is one I call the Sex Gremlin, an all-green female who literally falls for Mr. Forrester, the company's gremlin-disbelieving floor manager, which makes the chessy but funny men's room wedding scene at the end of the film my absolute favorite. Billy's father at the end of the first movie said it best: "Look out all the windows, check in all the closets and cupboards, look under all the beds, cause you never can tell, there just might be a gremlin in your house!" Well, New York, you better start doing the same. Because the Gremlins and Gizmo are back with a vengance. Give this movie a rent and just see what I mean.

Gremlins in Gotham
I'm not saying this just because I am a New Yorker, but GREMLINS 2--THE NEW BATCH is slightly better than the original. First, it's a much less mean-spirited film than the first (which I also gave five stars, but for different reasons). Just the fact that a character who was crushed to death in the first film, shows up in the sequel (wearing a small cast) because he really was likeable, shows that Joe Dante and the scriptwriters were going into this film for the fun of it. Second, the casting was flawless. Whoever chose Tony Randall to do the voice of the strangely-William F. Buckley-sounding, intellectual gremlin was responding to nothing short of divine inspiration. Everyone involved in this production had their hearts in the right places and the effect shows. GREMLINS 2--THE NEW BATCH is an astounding piece of comic fantasy and horror that should endure.

Gremlins 2/a very cool film.
Gremlins 2 is a nice film that is even better than the original. I like how it spoofs everything,and I love the new gremlins.The first batch looked sort of rough and raggedy[but still interesting],while the new batch is bright and vivid.Plus,Gizmo was a blast.I am REALLY looking forward to a third sequal,with CGI/Animatronic gremlins[a sort of Jurassic Park thing].Gremlins 2 is a wild and rowdy romp.

A shocking sequel
This is the amazing squel to the First Gremlins. It begins shortly after the Chiness man recruit Gizmo. A few years have gone buy the old Chinese man that had taken care of Gizmo before an after he meet Billy . This movie has some fun scenes. The weeding in the mens rest room at the end is hillarious. So is the sense with Gizmo working out one when he is lift a bar bell and falls through the floor. Anothew one when he punches a punch bag and get hit back in the face.

The only bad thing about the second gremlins is you see Gizmo being tortured in it a lot more than you did in the first one. It has zany funny monments. The part when Gizmo dress up like Rambo and makes a boy an arrow out of the close hanger. The part when Bill is talking and suddenly the screen goes funny the gremlin appear on the screen a do the shadow puppets is hysterically.

However unlike in the first one not all the gremlins is killed the one Female on survives. Did i mention some of gremlins are genetically alltered by drink chemicals. One of the Gremlins turns in eletricity and shocks and eletricuts ever living creature he touches.

My favorite gremlin is the one that drinks some short of chemical that makes him smarter allows him to talk in english. There is some gore and lot s of violence in it. The scariest is the spidger gremlin who ends up being huge. He dies he burns to death at the end.

He was really mean to Gizmo and is shown tocture gismo like Half a dozen times during the movie. The other Gremlins do not like gizmo because he is a misfit. Unlike them he is kind and good and does not like hurt and playing pranks on other creatures.

The nastiest parts in the movie is when one Gremlin acts Dangle Clamp and he forces it down a paper shreder were it is slice to pieces. She is gus us out of the shreder the lock like liquidfied spinch. If you like this I recomend seeing Gremlins as weell as the Critters series which was enspired by the Gremlins series. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Best Movie and Sequel Ever!! (Ever ever ever ever !!)
I LOVE THE GREMLINS!! How can anybody not love them. The original Gremlins was greatly awesome, a work of art, I could go on and on. I rented the first one and loved it, but I was afraid the sequel wopuld be crappy because the first one was so awesome and also because most sequels just can't live up to the original. Well, let me tell you the sequel was just as great as the original. Some of my lame dorky babyish friends actually get nightmares from the Gremlins, but they are also scared of the dark. The Gremlins 1 and 2 are just both so different and practically conceptless that they fascinate my kind of people. Every time I have a sleepover we watch the Gremlins. It's just so....... different. YOU MUST BUY THIS MOVIE!! YOU MUST!!

Spielbergs Gremlins
The director that brought us many great movies such as Jaws to Saving Private Ryan. Gremlins isn't a movie with these potentials but when seeing it you can laugh and love the story of this small town being corrupted. In the sequel to the first Gremlins you get an amazing story as you got with the first taking place in the city that never sleeps. If you love movies The Gremlins dvd are movies to see and seeng how a director can give you action and comedy in a story such as this. ... Read more

Description

Christopher Lloyd stars as Quicksilver, a delightful collector of oddities.After a newlywed couple's car breaks down, the husband goes off for help.Along comes Quicksilver in his Rolls Royce, offering the fearsome bride refuge.He then tells her a story of a traveling salesman who stops at a rustic little diner and is given a set of "chattering teeth" as a birthday present.He picks up a hitchhiker and trouble follows.In the second story, Matt Frewer plays a petty pickpocket who meets Lloyd in his house of oddities and is todl the story of a plastic surgeon whose hands stage a revolt against him for their independence. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Irony? Horror?
Oh man, what a bad movie. But then, what exactly did they want with that movie from the beginning? It's pretty entertaining and reminded more of the Twilight zone stories but both stories and the stuff in between is light years away from the standart of both story tellers. I know 'the body politics' by Barker from the book 'inhuman conditions' in which much much better stories could've been taken into this short story movie.

When all the separated neighbours' hands have a meeting on the rooftop (they're planning rebellion against the bodies, trying to convince other hands to get 'independant' by cutting themselves off the arms and enjoy freedom) at the climax of the second story, the protagonist decides to fake the hands and become their leader only to make them follow him when he jumps. Add some cartoon voices going "wheeeeawhoooo" (the screaming hands)... this movie has to be a joke. A funny twilight zone episode. A bad one.

Excellent Lloyd, So so for the rest
The Wrap Around concept that Lloyd plays a part of is quite a great idea. As such, I find Lloyd's work as Quicksilver very malevolent, and is all part of the consummate skill he possesses, in fact Lloyd can be quite a chameleon.
And whilst I thoroughly enjoyed the stories he related, I suspect that this will not appeal to all fans of thisgenre.
Very worthwhile film; great trip, and hopefully the concept will be "resurrected" at some later stage.

ENJOY

GET YOUR KICKS ON ROUTE 666
Originally a made for TV movie, QUICKSILVER HIGHWAY is actually two different stories, framed by a storyteller from hell. Christopher Lloyd stars as Quicksilver, the delightful collector of oddities and such. We first meet him after a newlywed couple's car breaks down, the husband goes off for help and along comes Lloyd in his Rolls Royce and trailer, who offers the fearsome bride refuge. He then tells her the story, which is based on Stephen King's "Chattery Teeth." Rafael Sbarge (Carnosaur 2, The Hidden 2) plays a traveling salesman who stops at a rustic little diner and is given a set of "chattering teeth" for his son's birthday present. He also picks up a hitchhiker and there the trouble begins. Of course you know the teeth are alive, and the outcome is fairly predictable. Veronica Cartwright (Alien) has a nice bit as the proprietor of the diner. The tale lacks a lot of tension that a tighter script could have given it and Sbarge is miscast. The second story, as absurdly outrageous as it is, was adapted from Clive Barker's short story "The Body Politic." Matt Frewer plays a petty pickpocket who meets Lloyd in his house of "oddities" and is told the story of a plastic surgeon who discovers his hands are revolting against him for their independence. They make him do strange things including killing his wife. The talking hands screaming for revolution are hilarious and the way they crawl and run around borders on the ridiculous. But because of Matt Frewer's dynamite performance, the story works.
QUICKSILVER HIGHWAY doesn't reach the class of such collections as Tales from the Crypt or even Tales That Witness Madness, but Matt Frewer and the rebel hands make it worth it!

Tales to terrify ... or should they have remained in print?
'Quicksilver Highway' is the collaboration of two of the world's most talented literary horror writers, Stephen King and Clive Barker. It is a rather short anthology of two terrifyingly twisted tales, with an inset story featuring Christopher Llyod (Back to the Future 1, 2 & 3). But do they terrify the average filmgoer?

A wandering storyteller, Aaron Quicksilver (Lloyd), narrates the tales in two strikingly different locations: Stephen King's 'Chattery Teeth' along a deserted stretch of desert highway and Clive Barker's 'The Body Politic' within the carnivalesque setting of a funfair.

The more interesting of the two tales is 'Chattery Teeth', which tells of a psychopathic hitchhiker who falls prey to a relentless and dangerously-sharp set of chattering teeth owned by the travelling salesman driving the car. 'Chattery Teeth' is taken from a short story written by King and first published in 'Cemetery Dance' magazine in the nineties. Similar to the stories found in 'Creepshow' and 'Creepshow 2', it is a bizzare and disturbing story with a twist in the tail, very similar to the 'Twilight Zone' and the 'Ray Bradbury Theater'.

The lesser of the two is Barker's 'The Body Politic'. Here, a hand comes alive, goes completely out of control, and eventually attacks its owner. The story is taken from Clive Barker's 'Books of Blood: Vol 4' and is actually quite an entertaining and intelligent story ... in print. However, attempting to re-create this story on film just doesn't work. The effects are nothing short of laughable, which inevitably ruins a good tale.

'Quicksilver Highway' is directed by Mick Garris, who has collaborated with Stephen King on more than one occasion (see 'Sleepwalkers', 'The Stand', 'The Shining' (TV), and the forthcoming 'Riding the Bullet' and 'Desperation'. He is also the man behind some of the 'Twilight Zone' episodes and 'Freddy's Nightmares', the latter explaining his less than efficient effort with 'Quicksilver Highway'.

Nevertheless, the cast is well chosen - Matt Frewer (The Stand), John Landis (Director of 'An American Werewolf in London'), Bill Nunn (Kiss the Girls), and Clive Barker - and although the movie does have its tedious and ridiculous moments (check out Lloyd's fetishistic leather garb), it is watchable. Fans of 'Tales from the Crypt' and 'Tales from the Darkside' will certainly want to give this film a look-see.

Rating: A good weekday watch after the witching hour ... but time spent reading the short stories would be considerably more prudent.

5 Stars for creativity
Steven King and Clive Barker was very creative on this one.Well... think about it, possessed chattering teeth?I think the people who thought of that hand story are geniuses, plus it was a very good idea that the guy with one hand sacrificed his life to stop the revolution at an end.BRAVO!!BRAVO!!BRAVICIMO!! ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Camp Classic Deserves a Look
Joe Dante's Piranha is a very humorous spoof and a fine homage to Steven Spielberg's classic Jaws. Though plagued with poor acting from Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, and Keenan Wynn, this is definitely not the type of film that you would ever take seriously. The inside film jokes and cinema references add a lot of intelligent spice to the film's proceedings, but it is the cheesy yet effective special effects by Phil Tippett (Robocop) that make Piranha a must see for mosnter movie buffs. Watch out for the obviously fake piranha as they make a spectacular bloddy debacle of a children's summer camp. The DVD edition of Piranha has many elaborate features including a Joe Dante commenty, a making-of-documentary, film bloppers, and other theatrical trailers of Corman films. P.S. Joe Dante would later go on to direct such horror classics as The Howling and Gremlins.

"The piranhas....they're eating the guests, sir..."
We all know that producer Roger Corman made "Piranha" to exploit the success of "Jaws"--just look at the poster art for Spielberg's sake. But what was intended to be a low-budget knock-off became a classic B-movie because John Sayles produced a clever script and Corman assigned Joe Dante to direct. Dante would later go on to direct "The Howling" and "Gremlins," as well as "Rock and Roll High School" and "Amazon Women on the Moon" (the man does not forget his roots). Ultimately, "Piranha" is every bit as much of a spoof as it is a ripoff, which raises it to the highest level of B-Movie grandeur. The story, such as it is in such things, has flesh-eating piranhas being released into the river of the Lost River Lake resort. Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, and Keenan Wynn are the most recognizable faces trying to avoid being eaten by the wee beasties, although you horror film buffs will also recognize not only Kevin "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" McCarthy but Barbara Steele, Queen of the Italian Horror Films. The DVD extras clearly reflect a grand affection for this film with commentary from Dante and producer Jon Davison, deleted footage, theatrical trailer, a "making-of" featurette for this 1978 film, material from the film's press kit, and more. When you have a classic B-Movie with A+ extras on the DVD, you have to give it five stars. Ironically, "Piranha II: The Spawning," the 1981 sequel, was the first film directed by James Cameron, who also went on to some notable successes in his later films.

"Terror, horror, death. Film at eleven."
Jaws (1975) frightened a whole generation of people out of the water. Why? Because of the very real elements within the film, being that there are sharks in the oceans, and occasionally they do attack people. Do they ever get as large as the one in the film? Possibly...regardless, the fear was real enough...fast forward to 1978...prolific B movie director/producer Roger Corman, in an effort to capitalize on the immense popularity of the film Jaws, released Piranha, directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins, Innerspace, The 'burbs) and written by John Sayles (The Howling, Wild Thing), which, while didn't elicit the response anywhere near that of the film it borrows from, still provides us with a great deal of entertainment (genetically altered super fish just didn't come across with the same level of realism as a giant man-eating shark).

The film stars Branford Dillman, who, along with his extensive television credits, appeared in scores of films like Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) and The Swarm (1978), to name a couple. Also starring is Heather Menzies, who appeared in films like The Sound of Music (1965), SSSSSSS (1973), along with various television shows throughout the 70's. Rounding out the cast are Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), Paul Bartel, Barbara Steele (Caged Heat and Shivers), Melody Thomas Scott, and character actors Dick Miller and Keenan Wynn.

The film opens at night with two victims, er...I mean backpackers in a hilly area (somewhere in Texas, as we find out later), who happen to come across a seemingly deserted facility surrounded by a large fence, and signage stating 'Military Testing Facility' and 'Keep Out' (it seemed pretty clear to me, as I could read it, but these two knuckleheads completely missed it, bringing to mind the old adage, 'if it was a snake, it would have bit you'). Anyway, lunkhead number one and lunkhead number two, looking for a place to camp for the night, decide this looks promising, and make their way past the fence to find a large, in-ground cement pool. Do you think it contains piranha? And do you also think said piranha are hungry? I do, on both counts, especially given that it's the title of the film. Anyway, they decide to go swimming and quickly discover the pool contains more than water. We also learn the facility isn't entirely deserted...

Apparently someone cares about these two now missing backpackers, enough so to hire private investigator Maggie McKeown (Menzies) to look for them. While initiating her search in the general area, she find a shack occupied by Paul Grogan (Dillman), a divorced, reclusive, mass alcohol consuming (every five minutes he's swilling from a canteen, but never actually seems to get drunk) outdoorsman type, who she basically enlists to aid her, despite his protests, in her search. They find the deserted military facility, which was once some sort of breeding farm for fish, and decide to drain the large pool in hopes of finding clues. As they throw the switch, they get attacked by a wily old man (his name is Dr. Robert Hoak, played by McCarthy) as he freaks out learning that the fish have been released into the river system. The manage to subdue him, and he speaks of his experiments, specifically his genetic experiments for the military in creating a super breed of piranha, meant for use during the Vietnam conflict, but since the war ended, the program was terminated, but apparently no one told Dr. Hoak. So now the highly aggressive and carnivorous super fish are in the local river system. And they're hungry...and breeding...

For a B movie, this tends to one of the better ones I've seen. Even here you can see that Dante has talent in directing, despite what I am sure was probably an extremely tight shooting schedule (Corman always kept this aspect tight). Sayles provides a better than average script for this type of outing, and the actors present enjoyable performances. I do tire of the whole 'government and/or big business conspiracy' cliché that is so often used in films of any type to move the plot along, as it tends to indicate a lack of imagination (just look at some Steven Segal movies, specifically On Deadly Ground (1994) and The Patriot (1998), for a couple of examples). I especially liked the scenes with Keenan Wynn speaking of how much the river gives him, and also the scenes with Dick Miller, who plays the sleazy real estate agent and proprietor of Aquarena, an entertainment water park that recently opened along the river. He's got one of the more memorable scenes in the film when his assistant approaches him about piranha in the waters, and he asks, "What about the godd@mn piranha?!", to which the assistant replies, "The piranha...they're EATING the guests, sir". Paul Bartel also makes a great appearance as an uptight director of a summer camp located on the river (do you think a big part of their program involves swimming?). The special effects are quite good (no CGI work here) and there is a good helping of blood and underwater scenes with the fish tearing flesh off hapless victims.

Presented here is an excellent looking full screen print (Dante claims this is the original aspect ratio of the film, but the titles appear to be in wide screen format). Special features here are copious, including a commentary track by director Dante and producer Jon Davidson, original theatrical trailer, a blooper reel, a short 'Making of' documentary, cast biographies, a reproduction of the original Theatrical Marketing Guide, an eight page booklet titled 'The History of Roger Corman, and trailers for some of Corman's other films including Grand Theft Auto (1977) and Humanoids from the Deep (1980), among others. If I learned anything from Piranha, it's that if you are warn authorities about mutant piranha loose in a populated waterway, you're better off crying toxic waste, as they not apt to believe the piranha thing.

Cookieman108

Low-budget trash 'B' movie mayhem!
I love these kinds of movies, especially whenever they turn out to be low-budget 'B' movies from the 70s-80s genre. Though they may lack excellent acting and special effects like many others, they are sometimes still the BEST! I first saw this movie a long time ago in the sixth grade and though the acting was quite atrocious and the special effects were very cheesy, it STILL horrified and shocked me to watch innocent civilians become lunch meat to a pack of flesh eating piranhas! "Piranha" is an effective rip-off of the more higher-budget Steven Speilberg classic, "Jaws" only with very little suspense and more gore to go around and be served again for seconds! The storyline sometimes drags a little and the pacing is rather slow, but it all starts to pick up near the end where everything gets totally out-of-control CRAZY! (But kind of laughable to watch at times!) If you're looking for a horror movie that's BOTH scary and hilarious to watch at the same time, jump into the water and brace yourself for "Piranha", the PERFECT example of a FUN filled nail biting black comedy! TRUST ME! This makes a good Saturday night movie rental! DON'T miss out on this so-bad-it's good turkey! This would probably be considered as Ed Wood's favorite movie EVER!

silly but enjoyable movie that brings back memories for me
I used to love this movie when I was little. One of the things that fascinated me most about it was that it was filmed in San Marcos, Texas, at a riverside resort called Aquarena Springs. My grandmother and I used to vacation there every spring and summer for years. It was a lot of fun. If you went on the glass-bottom boatride, the guide would tell the story of how and where the piranha attacks were filmed. He would also point out how in the same exact river, the underwater scenes for THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON were filmed, and also how Johnny Weismuller, the screen's first Tarzan, swam to the bottom of the deepest spring (years before the resort itself was built). Ralph the Swimming Pig, who makes an appearance in this movie, was still around when I would go (although I doubt it was the original pig as seen in the movie). We would even see the submarine show, which is also featured in the movie. I had a lot of great times at Aquarena Springs, and since the place has now been closed down and its hotel converted into an office building, this movie is my only means of revisiting that place that gave me so many good memories over the years. It's upsetting that the place can no longer be enjoyed by real people, and that it's now just a place where the suits do more of their money-mongering. A real shame. Oh well. Silly but enjoyable movie, great memories for me. R.I.P. Aquarena Springs. ... Read more