THE TEETH BENEATH

Something fishy's going on in that secretive government research facility.

Many movies partly or largely imtitative of Jaws were released in the wake of Steven Spielberg’s paradigm shifting waterborne adventure-horror flick (we categorize it more as adventure than horror because it’s very much like Moby Dick, though it does have good jump scares and an excellent atmosphere of dread). Piranha is one of the imitators.

The movie premiered in the U.S. today in 1978. It’s pure Velveeta not worthy of a review (synopsis: government efforts to create cold water piranha to be used against the Viet Cong are discontinued; the breeding stock is accidentally released from its holding pond and into a river; people are gnawed and/or eaten).

We’ve shared the awesome poster above because the art is by John Solie, whose efforts for blaxploitation and sexploitation movies such as Shaft’s Big Score and The Swinging Barmaids we’ve highlighted numerous times. He did a bang-up job here too. Click his keywords below and scroll to see everything we have on him.

Hey guys, Angela here. Very impressive teeth on that fish, I gotta say. Looks tasty too. So, um, maybe this is a non-sequitur, but are you planning to watch those Cocaine Bear movies at some point? Really curious about those.

Vietnam War, Piranha, John Solie, poster art, cinema, horror

Vintage Pulp

December 20 2013

MIDAS CARESS

Her touch turned a fish into a pile of money.

Above is a poster for a Japanese film called Caress with Poison. It starred Hisako Tsukuba, who made nearly fifty films beginning in 1957 and recorded some music before becoming Chako van Leeuwen and shifting into movie production in the U.S. She’s put together eight movies as a producer, but her prized property is the Piranha franchise. You know the ones—Piranha, Piranha Part Two: The Spawning, Piranha 3D, Piranha 3DD. Our kind of producer, especially since she apprenticed under none other than Roger Corman. Her first Piranha movie was made in 1978 for $800,000 and grossed $30 million worldwide. Hah hah—who’s smirking now? Piranha launched the careers of Joe Dante and John Sayles, and the sequel was James Cameron’s first turn behind the camera. Clearly, van Leeuwen knows how to make low budget films. True, she’s no Jeffrey Bloom, but she possesses a similar genius. Caress with Poison premiered in Japan this month in 1963.

Japan, Caress with Poison, Piranha, Piranha Part Two: The Spawning, Piranha 3D, Piranha 3DD, Hisako Tsukuba, Chako van Leeuwen, Joe Dante, John Sayles, James Cameron, Roger Corman, poster art, cinema, horror

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

February 17

1933—Blaine Act Passes

The Blaine Act, a congressional bill sponsored by Wisconsin senator John J. Blaine, is passed by the U.S. Senate and officially repeals the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, aka the Volstead Act, aka Prohibition. The repeal is formally adopted as the 21st Amendment to the Constitution on December 5, 1933.

February 17

1947—Voice of America Begins Broadcasting into U.S.S.R.

The state radio channel known as Voice of America and controlled by the U.S. State Department, begins broadcasting into the Soviet Union in Russian with the intent of countering Soviet radio programming directed against American leaders and policies. The Soviet Union responds by initiating electronic jamming of VOA broadcasts.

February 16

1937—Carothers Patents Nylon

Wallace H. Carothers, an American chemist, inventor and the leader of organic chemistry at DuPont Corporation, receives a patent for a silk substitute fabric called nylon. Carothers was a depressive who for years carried a cyanide capsule on a watch chain in case he wanted to commit suicide, but his genius helped produce other polymers such as neoprene and polyester. He eventually did take cyanideâ€”not in pill form, but dissolved in lemon juiceâ€”resulting in his death in late 1937.

February 15

1933—Franklin Roosevelt Survives Assassination Attempt

In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to shoot President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but is restrained by a crowd and, in the course of firing five wild shots, hits five people, including Chicago, Illinois Mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds three weeks later. Zangara is quickly tried and sentenced to eighty years in jail for attempted murder, but is later convicted of murder when Cermak dies. Zangara is sentenced to death and executed in Florida’s electric chair.

February 14

1929—Seven Men Shot Dead in Chicago

Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone’s South Side gang, are machine gunned to death in Chicago, Illinois, in an event that would become known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Because two of the shooters were dressed as police officers, it was initially thought that police might have been responsible, but an investigation soon proved the killings were gang related. The slaughter exceeded anything yet seen in the United States at that time.