Piranha (1978)

This is Steven Spielberg's favorite Jaws ripoff, so it should be yours too. Piranha was the creature feature that catapulted Joe Dante into further works such as The Howling and Gremlins. Dante has been very candid about taking the job from producer, Roger Corman, to allow his personal friend to direct Rock N' Roll High School instead. Imagine what the world would be like now without that change. Like seriously, we might not even have the PG-13 rating system! The special effects were done by Rob Bottin, the same upstart who did the creature effects for Humanoids from the Deep. The script had a significant rewrite by John Sayles, based on the success of his book, Pride of the Bimbos, from 1975. He went on to write Alligator, Battle Beyond the Stars, and an early draft of E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (when it was still titled "Night Skies"). As aforementioned, the film was produced by the legendary, Roger Corman. Having produced over 400 films, the 94 year old stud and his production company, New World Pictures, is not likely to ever be surpassed, whether in volume or quality. This week's "Hidden Track" is Sissyfit, with their song, She, Lilith, Regrets You, off their EP, Lilith, released earlier this year. You can find their work at @sissyfit.hxc; @moondecayrecs; Moondecay.com; Sissyfit.bigcartel.com; sissyxfit.bandcamp.com If you ever have feedback or recommendations on future episodes, please let us know at [email protected]. You can always find us on our social media: Instagram, Twitter, Slasher App: @slasherspod Facebook: /slasherspod Reddit: u/slasherspod https://www.youtube.com/c/slasherspodcast Theme song is I wanna Die by Mini Meltdowns. https://open.spotify.com/artist/5ZAk6lUDsaJj8EAhrhzZnh ; https://minimeltdowns.bandcamp.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices