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In the realm of Jaws knock-offs, two films stand above all others Enzo Castellari’s Great White – which never got a legitimate American release because Universal sued Castellari and company and won – and Joe Dante’s Piranha. Piranha also felt Universal’s legal wrath according to legend, but the studio apparently backed down after Jaws director Steven Spielberg saw the film and loved it. Of the two films, I really love Castellari’s more – but Dante’s Piranha is a lot of fun as well.

When two kids decide to skinny dip in a pool at an abandoned military facility, they get more than they bargained for. The pool isn’t empty – it’s home to a pack of genetically mutated piranha. Seems Dr. Hoak (Kevin McCarthy) has been carrying on his research even after the government pulled the plug. When a skip tracer, Maggie McKeown (Heather Menzies) is sent to find the missing kids, she meets alcoholic mountain man Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman). Dillman is coerced into taking her to the military base and before you can say “eco disaster”, Maggie’s drained the pond and released the carnivorous fish into the nearby river. The fish (which can also live in salt water) eat their way toward the ocean (including run-ins with kids at a summer camp and a rich folk at a swanky new resort on the river) while Paul and Maggie race desperately to keep them from getting to the sea and the world beyond.. Oh yeah, the military isn’t really all that interested in stopping this threat – nor is the evil doctor played by genre legend Barbara Steele.

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Those guys over at the Asylum sure don’t waste any time when it comes to making low-budget knockoffs of mainstream films, and today we get a look (courtesy of Dread Central) at the artwork for their latest, Megapiranha.

Apparently, the film (which stars former pop idol Tiffany and Barry “Greg Brady” Williams) is about a mutant brand of large piranha eating a bloody path from the Amazon to Florida. The film, which was designed to cash in on the potential success of Alexander Aja’s remake of Piranha, is actually going to be out before its inspiration. Aja’s film has been moved to August, while Megapiranha will be taking bites out of home theater systems everywhere on April 27th.

Would it be too much to hope for that we get a Tiffany/Greg “Johnny Bravo” Brady duet in this film somewhere? I’m hoping there’s a montage that goes along with it…

Alex Aja’s Piranha 3D sure has been in the news a lot lately. First it was for the trailer debut (attached to prints of Avatar), then it was because it was delayed until August (for any number of reasons–it depends on who you asked and who you believe). Now there’s finally a watchable version of that trailer online (replacing the really awful and nearly unwatchable one that’s been making the rounds for the past week or so–thanks Trailer Spy!). I’ll say this: The movie looks more interesting when you can actually see what’s happening in the trailer.

Here’s the plot synopsis. I don’t really care what the movie’s about–it’s got Richard Dreyfuss playing a character modeled after his role as Hooper in Jaws. That’s all I needed to hear to get my ass in theater seat.

“A new type of terror is about to be cut loose on beautiful Lake Victoria. After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area’s new razor-toothed residents. But our heroine (Elisabeth Shue) is seriously outnumbered, and with only one chance to save the lake and her family from totally being devoured, she must risk everything to destroy the aquatic carnivores herself.“

Piranha 3D is now tentatively slated to hit theaters this August–unless the Weinsteins go broke between now and then.