10 Greatest Ever Creature Movies

4. Piranha (1978)

Largely well received after its release, 1978's Piranha original was dubbed as a parody of Jaws with Steven Spielberg even stating that it was “one of the best Jaws spinoffs." The studio which distributed Jaws were obviously less enthusiastic and attempted to sue the producers of Piranha, but the lawsuit was dropped after Spielberg's advocating for the film.

The piranhas within the movie are based on real Brazilian piranhas, given a deliciously killer twist. Though they look pretty grim, piranhas normally feast on other species of fish or wounded animals, not humans. In fact, more piranhas are eaten by people than people are eaten by humans. But in this filmic world, human is firmly on the menu.

Piranha was ranked as Number Nine on the list of “Guilty Pleasure’ Films and is remembered as one of the most memorable creature horror films, spinning out into three subsequent releases in more recent years. None of them come close to the original.