Piranha II is another sequel that can't hold a candle to the original. Not even being directed by James Cameron can't help it. It's got nothing that excites much at all. The story leaves a lot to be desired, the acting isn't up to par, and the even the kills are rather unimaginative. I did, however, like the flying Piranha. Those were actually kinda neat. Unless you want to watch all four, stick with the original Piranha and 3D.

'Piranha II: The Spawning' is woeful. You'd expect more with James Cameron at the helm, but everyone has to start somewhere; he followed up with 'The Terminator' and 'Aliens' so he did alright! This, his feature directorial debut, is proper rubbish though. It's seemingly less to do with Cameron anyway in fairness, it sounds like producer Ovidio G. Assonitis had his hands all over this; Miller Drake was the original director, who Assonitis evidently fired. I think that speaks for itself. Either way, it's low-quality and I hold no positives. The editing is all over the place, there are moments where it cuts to characters for a relative few seconds for no apparent reason; notably with Chris & Allison and that random couple whose names didn't even register. Some of the character interactions, mainly early, are weird too. How the film utilises the piranha is the big issue, though. Unlike the Joe Dante original, we see so much of the fish that it becomes ineffective; less is more and all that. And that's without mentioning the biggest howler produced: they made them fly. It plays as terribly as it sounds. I don't have anything all that noteworthy to say about the cast, but to be honest this film's issues have very little to do with them. Tricia O'Neil is the standout if I had to pick one. Perhaps only an all-star cast would've saved this, but probably not given all the offscreen problems.

>"The bastards fly!" You can tell James Cameron had his love for certain color grading even back then. The look is still pretty good and there are some cool scenes. That being said, the movie in general is not good.

From director James Cameron comes the trashy exploitation film _Piranha Part II: The Spawning_. The story follows an island resort that gets attacked by genetically mutated piranha. The flying piranha effects look ridiculous and aren’t the least bit frightening. Also, the characters are poorly written and the acting leaves much to be desired. _Piranha Part II: The Spawning_ is an extraordinarily bad film that Cameron has since disowned, and rightly so.

Credited as directed by Cameron, most of the work done on this movie was by Assonitis. Cameron did however provide the work on the "special effects' and clearly rubber fish (whose designs would later return in a more well known franchise). The movie has the flair of a small Italian man screaming "More fish!" at his crew. Plagued with tonal horrors and incredibly obnoxious side characters, this movie is an absolute delight in being as bad as it is. It's completely devoid of any vision or creativity and reeks of dictatorial leadership in making it. As a result, it creates a framework that barely holds on to its hinges.