Treasure of the Piranha (USA) L’invasion des Piranhas (Fra)

Lee Majors plays Lasky, a master criminal working with Kate Neville (Karen Black of “House of 1,000 Corpses”) and a few other hoods on a jewel heist that will make them all very rich people. The man behind it all is Paul Diller (James Franciscus of “Cat O’ Nine Tails”), an evil mastermind with a great brain, but a weak heart.

After the crooks stash the jewels at the bottom of the lake, they take it easy at a local resort where they run into a high fashion model named Gabrielle (Margeaux Hemingway, granddaughter of Earnest Hemingway, who tragically killed herself in 1996) and her photographer Ollie (Roy Brocksmith). Of course, with Lee Majors strutting his stuff in some exceptionally tight bellbottoms that accentuate his million dollar package and shirt that exposes all of his mighty chest hair, it should go without saying that it isn’t going to take long for supermodel Gabrielle to fall for him. And fall for him she does, literally, as the suave SOB pulls her into the pool.  

Eventually some of the thugs decide that they’re going to help themselves to the jewels before the rest of the crew can get to them though, and when they do, the movie starts to live up to its name and we witness the first of many piranha attacks. As more and more people get eaten, Lasky realizes that someone has taken some very extreme measures to protect their interests in the jewels and he thinks he knows who that someone is. 

Despite the lukewarm premise and goofy script, Killer Fish still manages to be a pretty entertaining little b-movie. Majors is great as the slicker than grease tough guy ladies man and Karen Black is equally as good as the weird looking sex pot criminal chick. Doesn’t it go without saying the Brocksmith’s Ollie is the star of the show? Or course it does, I don’t need to go into detail there, he’s great too! 

The true stars of this movie though are Margheriti’s miniature sets, all of which blow up really nicely and/or flood when the dam inevitably breaks later in the film. These miniatures share the spotlight with some quality plastic fish (some of which are very obviously on wires) that attack anyone who gets near the jewels. Watch for Antonio De Teffe of “Django The Bastard” in a small role.

Reviews by:  Ian Jane   -  (Courtesy of www.dvdmaniacs.net )