At a Glance

In this sequel to Joe Dante's PIRANHA, unsuspecting vacationers at tropical Club Elysium find they are the main course for a school of deadly piranha fish genetically engineered as weapons by the government. One of the scientists responsible for the carnage teams up with a diving instructor to destroy the killer piranha, which have been crossed with flying fish and can launch themselves out of the water to attack. PIRANHA 2 was James debut. He was discovered by a group of producers who witnessed his genius for directing maggots on a prosthetic dismembered arm using electrical shocks while he was working in special effects and art direction for low-budget science-fiction films. The producers were sufficiently impressed to offer him a job as director on PIRANHA 2, which was filmed on location in Jamaica.