Before “TERMINATOR” and “TITANIC” James Cameron directed “PIRANHA II: THE SPAWNING,” now available from COLUMBIA TRISTAR.  Our original enthusiasm about the prospect of seeing one Cameron’s earliest efforts quickly changed within the first few minutes of viewing the film.  During this “horror” film, our jaws dropped, not from thrills, but from utter disbelief at how bad it was.  The script to the first film was by John Sayles, and it actually had some decent dialogue.  It was also directed by Joe Dante, and he revealed a wry sense of humor. There’s “none” of that here!  It’s just one bad scene after another.  In a plot that blatantly steals from “JAWS,” a diving instructor is determined to find out what’s causing the deaths of various tourists in the waters of Club Elysium.  Lance Henriksen tries to bring some dignity to the film as the diving instructor’s husband and sheriff, but even he has to wallow in the muck of this awful script.  When the two figure out the cause of these deaths, they have to take matters into their own hands when the local politician refuses to close the beaches. Sound familiar?  

For some unexplained reason, COLUMBIA TRISTAR has presented “PIRANHA II: THE SPAWNING” with letterboxed opening credits, but then has the rest of the film appear in pan&scan only!  There’s nothing to recommend about this transfer.  Colors are dull, in spite of some exotic locations where this was apparently filmed.  There is excessive grain, and the contrast is so compromised that in darker scenes, it’s actually hard to discern what’s going on!  Fleshtones are “usually” accurate.

COLUMBIA TRISTAR has presented a Monaural mix for this release. It’s fine, although limited in fidelity. Dialogue is intelligible but it actually appears to be slightly off-track in more than a few scenes. 

There are a few full-frame trailers for other films that have been included.