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Piranha (1978 film)

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Piranha is a 1978 film about genetically engineered piranhas that are accidentally released into a river near a summer camp and a resort.

Directed by Joe Dante. Written by John Sayles.
They're Here...Hungry for flesh! Who Can Stop Them?  (taglines)

Mr. Dumont

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  • People eat fish, Grogan. Fish don't eat people.

Other

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  • Reporter: Terror, horror, death. Film at eleven.

Dialogue

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Maggie McKeown: Mr. Grogan, I'm looking for two teenagers that disappeared a few weeks ago. Some friends of theirs said they went camping around here.
Paul Grogan: Well, I haven't seen them. You talk to the sheriff's people?
Maggie McKeown: I did. They told me that it's a pretty big mountain area.
Paul Grogan: It is.
Maggie McKeown: So... I was wondering if there are any places around here they might be or if they may have gone for a swim.
Paul Grogan: Well if they drowned, they'd be swept down to the dam. So, you're starting off at the wrong end.
Maggie McKeown: Boy, you're the wrong end all right! Look, am I interrupting something? This is kind of important.
Paul Grogan: Hey, you cool your jets, lady. I didn't axe-murder your young couple. I can't help you. I haven't seen 'em.
Maggie McKeown: Are there any other shacks around here?
Paul Grogan: Cabins! This is a cabin!
Maggie McKeown: Well, are there any more of them? Any place they might be hole up in?
Paul Grogan: There's an old fella named Jack who has a place downriver, but he woundn't treat any hospitality towards them. Oh, and there was some kind of Army test site way up on top of the mountain. But that closed down five, six years ago.
Maggie McKeown: C'mon, let's go.
Paul Grogan: To where?
Maggie McKeown: You're taking me up there.
Paul Grogan: Oh NO I'm not!
Maggie McKeown: So, did you start drinking before or after?
Paul Grogan: Before or after what?
Maggie McKeown: Your wife left you.
Paul Grogan: What the hell kind of question is that?
Maggie McKeown: Look, I'm sorry. I was just interested.
Dr. Robert Hoak: Keep your hand out of the water.
Maggie McKeown: What's wrong with the water?
Paul Grogan: Since you're talkin' this morning, buddy, how about a name?
Dr. Robert Hoak: Hoak. Dr Robert Hoak.
Maggie McKeown: What's wrong with the water?
Dr. Robert Hoak: The water is filled with carnivorous fish. Piranha.
Paul Grogan: Oh, Christ.
Maggie McKeown: In here? How did they get in?
Dr. Robert Hoak: You let them in when you drained the pond at the test site.
Paul Grogan: The government paid you?
Dr. Robert Hoak: Of course they paid. Where there's germ warfare, the bomb, chemical warfare, there's plenty of money. Special agencies. They pay. They pay a lot better than they do in private research.
Paul Hogan: For raisin' fish.
Dr. Robert Hoak: Oh, no. It's a matter of genetics. Radiation. Selective breeding. They called it Operation Razorteeth.
Maggie McKeown: What was it all for?
Dr. Robert Hoak: To destroy the river systems of the North Vietnamese. Our goal was to develop a strain of this killer fish that could survive in cold water and then breed at an accelerated rate. We had everything. Blank cheque. And then the war ended.
Paul Grogan: You sound disappointed.
Dr. Robert Hoak: They poisoned the water. After all that work, they poisoned the water. But some survived. We developed a lot of mutants and a few of them were able to resist the poison. They ate their own. Their own dead. And then began to breed like some wild species. Suddenly there were hundreds. Maybe thousands.
Maggie McKeown: Our tax dollars at work, huh? That's science in the service of defence. Sure. Spreadin' strains of bacteria in the subway system. You put them in the river where they could kill people. Including civilians. And kids swimming in the rivers.
Dr. Robert Hoak: I never killed anybody.
Paul Grogan: If you wanna talk about killing, talk to your politicians, the military.
Dr. Robert Hoak: No, no. I'm a scientist.
Paul Grogan: Kids in the water.
Maggie McKeown: What?
Paul Grogan: The dam. They let water through every few days to keep the level steady on the new lake. The resort's down there. Summer camp. All those kids. Come on.
Dr. Robert Hoak: It was pure research. No scrounging for grant money. No academic politics. You don't know what that means to a scientist.
Paul Grogan: You fed them. You kept them alive.
Dr. Robert Hoak: I continued the experiment. There was so much more I could do with the species. So much further I could take them. You're not holding me responsible? I think you are. You pulled the plug and you're holding me responsible. Incredible. You're blaming me.
Paul Grogan: I think if you open your mouth again I'll stick this pole in it.
Paul Grogan: You must've known all along they were here.
Col. Waxman: OK. You and Miss McKeown are the only two civilians who know about this project.
Dr. Mengers: What the colonel means is that he'd like you to join us. Become one of our team.
Paul Grogan: It figures. Impossible. Look, you're a full colonel, right? I assume you can read a map. Here. We are here at the dam, OK? Over here you'll see there's a stream that feeds into it. Follow the stream back for an eighth of a mile and you see there's a fork. Take this branch, follow it downstream, and you'll see it empties into the river on the other side of the dam. In other words, the piranha have a way to get around the obstacle.
Maggie McKeown: Even if there's a chance he's right, don't you think you should do something?
Dr. Mengers: No. If a bypass exists, piranha haven't the intelligence or the motivation to find it.
Paul Grogan: But you know Hoak was breeding them for endurance and intelligence and...
Dr. Mengers: Well, Bob was a dreamer. He, er...
Paul Grogan: Bob? Dr. Hoak? You knew him?
Dr. Mengers: Fish genetics is a very small field.
Paul Grogan: You were friends?
Dr. Mengers: Let's say we were a great deal more than that.
Paul Grogan: You're covering up. Is it Waxman? Are you afraid of what the army might do to you if you...
Dr. Mengers: No, I'm not afraid. I'm a scientist. I'm head of my department. It's just that there are priorities, and...some things are more important than a few lives.
Paul Grogan: That's not how Dr Hoak felt. Not at the end.
Dr. Menger: As I said, he was a dreamer.
Col. Waxman: The situation is under control.
Paul Grogan: Hold on. What is this? Why won't you listen to me?
Col. Waxman: Would you excuse us for a moment, please? As far as you're concerned, this project does not exist. The piranha do not exist.
Paul Grogan: And if I make a squawk?
Maggie McKeown: Paul...
Col. Waxman: The interests of national security permit extreme measures.
Paul Grogan: Oh, come on! The war's over, dammit!
Col. Waxman: There'll be other wars, Mr Grogan.
Maggie McKeown: That guard is still out there.
Paul Grogan: Fine. I need you to distract him.
Maggie McKeown: What for?
Paul Grogan: So I can get away.
Maggie McKeown: So YOU can get away? What about me?
Paul Grogan: Well suit yourself. Just come onto him, tell him what an admirer you are of Army or something like that.
Maggie McKeown: What if he's gay?
Paul Grogan: Then I'll go and distract him!
Buck Gardner: [on the phone] No, Bob. It's completely false. There's not a word of truth to it, believe me.
Whitney: Sir?
Buck Gardner: I'm on the phone!
Whitney: [whispers] Piranhas.
Buck Gardner: Don't even say that word!
Whitney: But the piranhas...
Buck Gardner: What about the goddamn piranhas?
Whitney: They're eating the guests, sir.
Buck Gardner: Uh...Bob, I'm gonna have to get back to you on this. We've got a... a situation down here.
Reporter: Where do we go from here, Dr Mengers?
Dr. Mengers: I'm personally going to head a full-scale investigation into this incident, to discover who was responsible, and to ensure this could never happen again.
Reporter: As an expert in tropical species, what danger is there in the possibility of the piranha reaching the ocean?
Dr. Mengers: Oh, none. Most of them will have been destroyed by pollution at the lake. If any did get through, there's no way they could survive the salt water. There's nothing left to fear.

Taglines

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  • Lost River Lake was a thriving resort - until they discovered...
  • They're Here...Hungry for flesh! Who Can Stop Them?

Cast

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