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Piranha II: The Spawning              review by Bobby Blakey

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Shout Factory continues to churn out the cult classic horror films under their Scream Factory brand. Their latest is the 1981 sequel Piranha II: The Spawning starring Lance Henriksen and helmed by first time director James Cameron who you might have heard of these days with films like Aliens, The Terminator and Avatar. Now Shout Factory is bringing the horror sequel to Blu-ray for the first time.

Piranha II: The Spawning follows a sunken US supply ship off a Caribbean island resort that is the focus for a series of mysterious piranha attacks. Investigating the death of one of her son's companions after a scuba-diving trip, Anne Kimbrough breaks into the morgue with holidaymaker Tyler Sherman, only to discover that the fish have wings and can fly. But the hotel manager refuses to call off the annual fish fry on the beach, with inevitable consequences. I have always loved these kinds of horror flicks and especially the entire ridiculous Piranha franchise including the remakes. I had completely forgotten than Lance Henriksen starred in this one which made revisitng it all the better since he is one of my all-time favorite actors and offers up everything that makes him great in this silly creature feature.

The story takes the Piranha terror to a new silly level that while way over the top still manages to entertain like only it can. There is no denying that this isn’t what you would classify as a good movie, but instead a guilty pleasure and one that I am proud to love. The over the top goofiness of seeing the Piranha flying around is not only fun to watch, but offers fans a glimpse to things to come in Cameron’s future as they used some of the same techniques for the face huggers in Aliens. There is just enough 80s horror nostalgia including the nudity and gore that fans loved for this era of the genre that it will no doubt be one that fans will want to get into their collection.

 

This release not only includes the a new 2K scan of the film from the original camera negative, but also bonus content including new interviews and the theatrical trailer. Step back into the water and grab your copy of Piranha II: The Spawning on Blu-ray for the first time ever available now from Shout Factory.

 

For more information head over to www.shoutfactory.com

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