DVD Review: PIRANHACONDA Is Dire – And Not In A Good Way

Roger Corman will always be associated with low budget filmmaking in the same way that Steven Spielberg will always be associated with suburban fantasy films. However, Corman’s Executive Producer credit on Piranhaconda is a major step down in terms of quality. It’s almost like seeing Spielberg’s name on the Transformers franchise (minus the high production design and semi-competent acting).

This Hawaiian shot schlocker follows a sporadic group of imbeciles led (cast wise) by Michael Madsen, as they try to avoid being consumed by the ‘mythical’ beast which is part piranha and part anaconda – in case you couldn’t guess. It’s a film made sorely because of its ridiculous title. The acting is over the top (if it’s even there), the cinematography is terrible and the special effects look like they’ve been produced in the bedroom of a computer illiterate 14 year old – although that might be too much of a compliment.

There’s nothing to recommend in Piranhaconda, unless you have a perverse interest in seeing Michael Madsen slumming it for it for what can only be a tiny paycheck. While celebrity watchers may be interested in the appearance of Rachel Hunter, which seems to indicate that being divorced from Rod Stewart isn’t a lucrative as it once was.