Piranha Part Two: The Spawning

Everybody has to start out somewhere, but you won't believe this film is directed by Cameron. Pathetic, amateurish, stupid, cheap, terribly boring. The scene of the piranhas attacking the resort is like the cheapest Ed Wood work, but unfortunately not as funny. But I know what the truth is. After this movie, the director of this monstrosity was abducted by aliens and replaced by a human with the appearance of Cameron. There’s no other possible explanation. (04/25/2003)

To write a "proper B-movie/Cameron can do it" review for this film would be hideous bias. Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish. Proper rubbish. (11/05/2009)

No, it's not as shit as the users here try to make it out to be. Piranha II: Flying Killers is a film that found itself in total creative hell and was indelibly affected by the battle between producer Assonitis and hired filmmakers Miller Drake and James Cameron, under whose name the film eventually fell. It's generally comparable to many Italian horror flicks of the 80s. The film itself offers plenty of fun, action and cute practical special effects. The creative choices are very strange and some of the secondary character lines could have been cut from the film, but what the hell, it's still entertaining. And where else will you see flying piranhas? In James Cameron's filmography, this may be one of the less memorable sequels, but lovers of trash will definitely enjoy it. (11/19/2022)

Good old Cameron, you’d like to say, but honestly – I think I quite believe the traumatic stories from the shoot, because the way Assonitis treated him is strikingly reminiscent of the attitudes of other Italian producers at the time (see Dino De Laurentiis, for example) towards cheap labor, whose only purpose for them was to secure financing from American studios. Cameron is reportedly only behind the morgue scene and the funny helicopter explosion (during which he even accidentally drowned the camera). He is also said to be responsible for the design of the piranha, and out of frustration he also took on the production design, as he had found out during pre-production that no one was doing anything there, so he at least started scouting locations and hiring local guides. I find it endearing that despite originally wanting to erase his name from the film entirely, he eventually embraced it years later, even taking the liberty of making his own re-cut (which is not hard to come by) and he has no problem looking back on it. The film itself is pure garbage complete with virtually every ingredient of guilty fun – a buffet of practices from more famous films, boobs, obscene performances, boobs, completely unnecessary exposition by a bunch of poorly acted characters who just disappear somewhere during the course of the film and don't reappear, boobs, terrible special effects, blood, and boobs. Too bad for the traditional Achilles heel of beach genre flicks where they so often progress to underwater scenes, which unfortunately by their very nature are slow and dilute the rhythm of the film. Which, to be fair, also happens in far more deserving works. (10/08/2022)

When you watch Piranha II: The Spawning you have to want to watch a film that doesn't take itself seriously, that isn't a big spectacle, but is simply a small B-movie that impresses mainly with underwater scenes that are well shot. And also pleasant, sexy nudity, where I was captivated by beautiful, natural women who were not yet burdened by plastic surgery. I’ve been into that in recent times. (12/20/2018)