Piranha (1978)

Locals will get a kick out this
This film was shot at Aquarena Springs resort in San Marcos, Texas, home of Texas State University, the school from which president LBJ graduated. The park was once the oldest and most popular west of the Mississippi until more thrilling theme parks were born with roller coasters, etc. The resort used to have mermaids and scuba divers put on shows along with a swimming pig. Some couples were even married at the park in underwater ceremonies housed in the submarine theatre, the "aqua arena" that gave the resort its name.

The gondola rides are gone now but glass-bottom boat rides are still there. The university bought the park in 1994 to use as a preserve and study water and environmental resource issues by founding the Texas Rivers Institute. The area in which it was filmed (on the San Marcos River) is the most consistently inhabited region in all of North America, with archeological records showing a continuous presence for more than 12,000 years straight. Piranha is not the only film shot in San Marcos, a cozy college town in-between Austin and San Antonio, as the films The Getaway and The Ringer serve as other examples.

Viewers will get nostalgic to see the old Aquarena Springs and a time when San Marcos was small and even more laid back and uncorrupted by corporate chains. If you like silly, tongue in cheek flicks on a shoe string budget, you'll like Piranha. Joe Dante got his start directing films like this before he went on to make it big with Gremlins....

Scary, but a short film...
I don't know whether to give this film (3)stars or (4). I saw this movie I believe in the 1980's I was born in 1974, so to young to know about this film all the way. During the 80's when I saw this film it was quiet scary, now after just watching this movie in 2007, well its still scary but its alittle rusty from over the years. The one disappointment is the film is a tad bit to short of a film. Maybe back in the 1970's this was normal, maybe not. It really just came and went. At the end there's not really a clear understanding if the poison actually kill most of them or what? Now there is a Part 2 movie on Piranha, which even at the end of this movie she says they can't survive in the ocean, but they do, thus spawns a Part 2. Overall, this is a good movie for its time, and the special effects are good for a 1978 film. Its worth a watch.

Scary, but a short film...
I don't know whether to give this film (3)stars or (4). I saw this movie I believe in the 1980's I was born in 1974, so to young to know about this film all the way. During the 80's when I saw this film it was quiet scary, now after just watching this movie in 2007, well its still scary but its alittle rusty from over the years. The one disappointment is the film is a tad bit to short of a film. Maybe back in the 1970's this was normal, maybe not. It really just came and went. At the end there's not really a clear understanding if the poison actually kill most of them or what? Now there is a Part 2 movie on Piranha, which even at the end of this movie she says they can't survive in the ocean, but they do, thus spawns a Part 2. Overall, this is a good movie for its time, and the special effects are good for a 1978 film. Its worth a watch.