When jewel thieves stash their loot at the bottom of a lake in Brazil belonging to a man named Paul Diller (James Franciscus - "Concorde Affair"), he finds out about it and decides to stock the lake with Red-Bellied Piranha, those vicious razor-sharp toothed killers found in the Amazon River to stop anyone from recovering the jewels.
As it turns out, the stolen jewels - emeralds and diamonds - actually belong to him and if he can't have them, he quickly decides that no-one can! When one man tries to recover the jewels, he is devoured by the fish. Along the way, his Brother and a scuba diver too fall victim to the Piranha.
It is at this point that Kate Neville (Karen Black - "Airport 1975"), one of the group of thieves, discovers that Paul is the one responsible for the lake being filled with Piranha after herself and Lasky (Lee Majors - TV's "The Six Million Dollar Man") witness one of the attacks and she runs to Paul's château and see's that he has many tanks of the Red-Bellied Piranha.
She tells no-one else, but they find out soon enough when many others fall prey to the fish and it soon becomes a race against time as Kate and Paul must team together to recover the stolen jewels and avoid becoming fish food for the Piranha.
Meanwhile, some guests at the lake, who are doing a magazine photoshoot also become involved in the Piranha attacks. Beauty Model Gabrielle (Margaux Hemingway - "Lipstick") and her agent Ann (Marisa Berenson - TV's "Sins") and photographer Ollie (Roy Brocksmith - "Psycho") encounter the Piranha during the film's climax when they all attempt to make it to shore after a tornado hits their boat on the lake and shipwrecks them on the rocks while the Piranha swarm around the damaged boat.
The film reaches a thrilling and twisting sequence at this point when everyone fights for survival and tries to make it onto shore with a share of the jewels for themselves. Some win, some loose, but either way, it's an edge-of-your seat action-packed finale!
As it turns out, the stolen jewels - emeralds and diamonds - actually belong to him and if he can't have them, he quickly decides that no-one can! When one man tries to recover the jewels, he is devoured by the fish. Along the way, his Brother and a scuba diver too fall victim to the Piranha.
It is at this point that Kate Neville (Karen Black - "Airport 1975"), one of the group of thieves, discovers that Paul is the one responsible for the lake being filled with Piranha after herself and Lasky (Lee Majors - TV's "The Six Million Dollar Man") witness one of the attacks and she runs to Paul's château and see's that he has many tanks of the Red-Bellied Piranha.
She tells no-one else, but they find out soon enough when many others fall prey to the fish and it soon becomes a race against time as Kate and Paul must team together to recover the stolen jewels and avoid becoming fish food for the Piranha.
Meanwhile, some guests at the lake, who are doing a magazine photoshoot also become involved in the Piranha attacks. Beauty Model Gabrielle (Margaux Hemingway - "Lipstick") and her agent Ann (Marisa Berenson - TV's "Sins") and photographer Ollie (Roy Brocksmith - "Psycho") encounter the Piranha during the film's climax when they all attempt to make it to shore after a tornado hits their boat on the lake and shipwrecks them on the rocks while the Piranha swarm around the damaged boat.
The film reaches a thrilling and twisting sequence at this point when everyone fights for survival and tries to make it onto shore with a share of the jewels for themselves. Some win, some loose, but either way, it's an edge-of-your seat action-packed finale!