Two teenagers find an abandoned military compound and skinny dip in a holding pool, but are attacked and killed by unseen creatures.
Sometime later, determined yet absent-minded skiptracer Maggie McKeown is dispatched to find the missing teenagers near Lost River Lake and hires a surly backwoods drunkard, Paul Grogan, to guide her. They discover the compound and find bizarre jarred specimens and evidence of an occupant inside. Locating a drainage switch for the nearby pool, Maggie empties it to search the bottom, but a haggard man enters and tries to stop her until Paul subdues him. The pair finds a skeleton in the pool's filtration trap and learn it was filled with saltwater. The man awakens and steals their jeep, but crashes due to being disoriented and is taken to Paul's home. The next day, as the three travel downriver, the stranger tells the pair that the pool was filled with a school of piranha and Maggie released them into the river. She and Paul are skeptical until they come across the corpse of Paul's friend Jack.
| MPAA Rating: | R |
| Genre: | Comedy, Horror, Sci Fi |
| Country: | United States, Japan |
| Produced By: | Roger Corman, Jon Davison, Chako Van Leeuwen, Jeff Schechtman |
| Directed By: | Joe Dante |
| Written By: | Richard Robinson, John Sayles |
| Cast: | Bruce Paul Barbour, Richard Deacon, John Sayles, Eric Henshaw, Shannon Collins, Barbara Steele, Bruce Gordon, Phil Tippett, Janie Squire, Barry Brown, Heather Menzies-Urich, Sally Bondi, Dick Miller, Joe Dante, Kevin McCarthy, Amy Holden Jones, Bill Smillie, Andrew G. La Marca, Mike Sullivan, Shawn Nelson, Jack Pauleson, Guich Koock, Melody Thomas Scott, Roger Richman, R.C. Keene, Belinda Balaski, Eric Braeden, Keenan Wynn, Bradford Dillman, Paul Bartel |
| In Theaters: | Aug 03, 1978 |
| Runtime: | 1 hour 34 minutes |
| Production: | New World Pictures, Chako Film Company |
| Budget: | $600,000 |
| Available On: | Itunes, Vudu |
| Read More On: | Wikipedia |