Piranha (1978 film)

E735972

film

Piranha (1978 film) is a 1978 American horror-comedy about genetically engineered killer fish terrorizing vacationers, often noted as a cult classic and a tongue-in-cheek riff on Jaws.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Piranha	10
Piranha (1978 film) canonical	1
Piranha film series	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8458113 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Piranha (1978 film)
Context triple: [Roger Corman, produced, Piranha (1978 film)]

A. Piranha II: The Spawning
Piranha II: The Spawning is a 1981 low-budget horror film about mutant flying piranhas, often noted as James Cameron’s first feature-length directorial effort.
B. Piranha III
Piranha III is an earlier generation of the Swiss-made MOWAG Piranha family of wheeled armored fighting vehicles, widely used in various military roles worldwide.
C. Piranha 3D
Piranha 3D is a 2010 horror-comedy film about prehistoric man-eating piranhas unleashed in a popular lake resort during spring break.
D. The Creature from the Black Lagoon
The Creature from the Black Lagoon is an iconic amphibious Gill-man monster from mid-20th-century horror cinema, best known for stalking scientists in a remote Amazonian lagoon in the 1954 Universal film of the same name.
E. Jaws of the Viper
"Jaws of the Viper" is an instrumental track composed by Ramin Djawadi for the Game of Thrones Season 5 soundtrack, reflecting the show's dark, tense atmosphere.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Piranha (1978 film)
Target entity description: Piranha (1978 film) is a 1978 American horror-comedy about genetically engineered killer fish terrorizing vacationers, often noted as a cult classic and a tongue-in-cheek riff on Jaws.

A. Piranha II: The Spawning
Piranha II: The Spawning is a 1981 low-budget horror film about mutant flying piranhas, often noted as James Cameron’s first feature-length directorial effort.
B. Piranha III
Piranha III is an earlier generation of the Swiss-made MOWAG Piranha family of wheeled armored fighting vehicles, widely used in various military roles worldwide.
C. Piranha 3D
Piranha 3D is a 2010 horror-comedy film about prehistoric man-eating piranhas unleashed in a popular lake resort during spring break.
D. The Creature from the Black Lagoon
The Creature from the Black Lagoon is an iconic amphibious Gill-man monster from mid-20th-century horror cinema, best known for stalking scientists in a remote Amazonian lagoon in the 1954 Universal film of the same name.
E. Jaws of the Viper
"Jaws of the Viper" is an instrumental track composed by Ramin Djawadi for the Game of Thrones Season 5 soundtrack, reflecting the show's dark, tense atmosphere.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (54)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	film ⓘ
associatedWith	Roger Corman NERFINISHED ⓘ
basedOn	original screenplay ⓘ
budget	$600,000 ⓘ
castMember	Barbara Steele NERFINISHED ⓘ Belinda Balaski NERFINISHED ⓘ Bradford Dillman NERFINISHED ⓘ Dick Miller NERFINISHED ⓘ Heather Menzies NERFINISHED ⓘ Keenan Wynn NERFINISHED ⓘ Kevin McCarthy NERFINISHED ⓘ Melody Thomas Scott NERFINISHED ⓘ Paul Bartel NERFINISHED ⓘ
characterPlayedBy	Buck Gardner – Dick Miller NERFINISHED ⓘ Dr. Robert Hoak – Kevin McCarthy NERFINISHED ⓘ Maggie McKeown – Heather Menzies NERFINISHED ⓘ Paul Grogan – Bradford Dillman NERFINISHED ⓘ
cinematographyBy	Jamie Anderson NERFINISHED ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
criticalReception	generally positive for a low-budget exploitation film ⓘ
cultStatus	cult classic ⓘ
director	Joe Dante NERFINISHED ⓘ
distributor	New World Pictures NERFINISHED ⓘ
editedBy	Joe Dante NERFINISHED ⓘ Mark Goldblatt NERFINISHED ⓘ
features	genetically engineered piranhas ⓘ
follows	Jaws (inspired by) ⓘ
genre	comedy ⓘ horror ⓘ horror comedy ⓘ
hasRemake	Piranha (1995 film) NERFINISHED ⓘ Piranha 3D NERFINISHED ⓘ
hasSequel	Piranha II: The Spawning NERFINISHED ⓘ
mainCharacter	Dr. Robert Hoak NERFINISHED ⓘ Maggie McKeown NERFINISHED ⓘ Paul Grogan NERFINISHED ⓘ
MPAARating	R ⓘ
musicBy	Pino Donaggio NERFINISHED ⓘ
notableFor	cult classic status ⓘ tongue-in-cheek riff on Jaws ⓘ
originalLanguage	English ⓘ
plotSummary	Genetically engineered piranhas are accidentally released into a river and attack vacationers at a resort and summer camp ⓘ
producer	Jon Davison NERFINISHED ⓘ
productionCompany	New World Pictures NERFINISHED ⓘ
releaseDate	August 3, 1978 ⓘ
releaseYear	1978 ⓘ
runningTime	94 minutes ⓘ
screenwriter	John Sayles NERFINISHED ⓘ
setting	Texas river ⓘ
specialEffectsBy	Rob Bottin NERFINISHED ⓘ
storyBy	John Sayles NERFINISHED ⓘ Richard Robinson NERFINISHED ⓘ
subgenre	creature feature ⓘ monster film ⓘ

How these facts were elicited