Piranha Part Two: The Spawning

Piranha II: The Spawning (1982)

  • 7% of critics liked it
    (15 reviews)

  • 12% of users liked it
    (1,775 ratings)

This poorly scripted horror film about miniature, finny "jaws" details the mating rituals of the fictional "grunion" fish (falsely introduced as "piranhas" for more box-office recognition) and their need to attack and kill humans -- either inside or outside the water.… More

R,
Directed By
Written By
H.A. Milton
Genres
Drama, Horror, Science Fiction & Fantasy
In Theaters
Dec 1, 1981 Wide
Columbia Pictures

Critic Reviews

  • Variety Staff, Variety

    Idiotic premise has US government genetic engineering experiments creating a deadly form of grunions (hinted at being used in the Vietnam war).

  • , Time Out

    A copy rather than a sequel, this has none of the intelligence, wit or tempo that graced the first swarm of hungry fish.

  • Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed

    Thankfully James Cameron went on to bigger and better things, but who can blame him for trying to pretend this movie never existed?

  • , TV Guide's Movie Guide

    The special effects are awful (the piranhas are obviously hand puppets) and the script worse.

  • Kim Newman, Empire Magazine

    For curious completists only.

Read all 9 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • KJ P


    First of all, the title is misleading, since we only see the Piranha's for about 20 minutes in the entire film, and that is not even the worst part. The acting is atrocious, the writing is absolutely dreadful, and the story is pretty much the same thing, with a failed attempt at… More

  • Ken S


    It's funny that even through Cameron only directed for 2 weeks, you can definitely see his fingers prints on several scenes and specifically the script. The script for this movie isn't half bad, it's just executed poorly. Overall I have to say it is the best flying… More

  • Phil H


    Gee Mr Cameron this film totally sucks ass!! totally hated every minute of this to be honest, its not scary, its not thrilling and its not interesting in the slightest, merely a cheap poor 'Jaws' rip off and unneeded sequel to a reasonable original 'Jaws' rip off… More

  • Cassandra M


    This really isn't too bad a film, and is certainly a worthy sequel to the original. 'Piranha' worked because it was tongue-in-cheek, making fun of the films it was parodying. 'Piranha II' tries to be more serious, but is so cheesy that it manages, by default,… More

  • Brian D


    Funny and silly from james carmron in his 1st film!

Read all 11 featured audience ratings

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