Piranha II: The Spawning (1981) – WTF Happened to This Horror Movie?

For the last few decades, James Cameron has been known as one of the most successful directors of all time. “The King of the World”. But long before he brought us Terminators, Titanic love stories, and Avatar creatures, he worked on low budget productions as an art director, production designer, and in the FX department. In 1981, producer Ovidio G. Assonitis gave him the chance to make his feature directorial debut on the killer fish movie Piranha II: The Spawning (buy it HERE) – which was such a troubled production, and such an odd movie, that it was a prime candidate to be covered as part of our WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? video series. The WTF episode on Piranha II has just been released, and you can check it out in the embed above.

Scripted by H.A. Milton, Piranha II: The Spawning has the following synopsis:

When genetically modified flying piranhas are let loose at a Caribbean resort, a scuba instructor and her scientist boyfriend attempt to tackle the toothy terrors.

The film stars Tricia O’Neil, Steve Marachuk, Lance Henriksen, Ted Richert, Ricky G. Paull, and Leslie Graves.

This is what the WTF Happened to This Horror Movie series is all about:

Hollywood has had its fair share of historically troubled productions. Whether it was casting changes, actor deaths, fired directors, in-production rewrites, constant delays, budget cuts or studio edits, these films had every intention to be a blockbuster, but were beset with unforeseen disasters. Sometimes huge hits, sometimes box office bombs. Either way, we have to ask: WTF Happened To This Horror Movie?

The Piranha II: The Spawning episode of WTF Happened to This Horror Movie was Written by Bryan Wolford, Edited by Lance Vlcek, Narrated by Jason Hewlett, Produced by Lance Vlcek and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

Some of the previous episodes of the show can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!