Piranha

‘The greatest of the ‘Jaws’ ripoffs is also the gutsiest. No guts, no glory. And there are a lot of guts in Joe Dante's ‘Piranha’.’ theriverjordan on Letterboxd

The first summer blockbuster in film history was Steven Spielberg's JAWS and it inspired filmmakers around the world to imitate it. In addition to the expected Italo ripoffs and probably the most obscure representative HAUSU in Japan (yes, the original brief here was to make a JAWS ripoff), there were also some in their own country. However, Joe Dante himself caused quite a stir with PIRANHA, such as James Cameron's first directorial effort PIRANHA 2, or various remakes up to the present day. In a double feature with HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP!

One night, an adventurous couple in love are drawn to a fenced-in pool in the middle of nowhere. Private investigator Maggie McKeown (Heather Menzies) is brought in to find out that they won't survive their nightly swim. Together with Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman), she finds the remains of the victims. In the course of their investigation, they make a fatal mistake when they release the pool water into the wild. Because it contains nothing other than the titular fish, which have been bred as weapons and are now looking for food...