P2

Updated
P2
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1981
Original Running Time:
94
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
85
Time Cut:
9
Time Added:
63 minutes (bonus features)
Brief Synopsis:
Club Elysium may seem like paradise, but just offshore a new breed of terror has been unleashed, and no one is safe from its savage, insatiable hunger. In the tradition of Jaws comes a razor-sharp tale of mutant monsters from the deep, directed by James Cameron.
Intention:
My intention was to “Cameronize” the movie by removing most of the silly humor forced in by the producer after he had fired Cameron, and to re-arrange scenes according to the rare director’s cut.

I also wanted to produce a mini documentary exploring the lesser known, early career of the director including as many details as possible about the little documented Piranha 2.
Special Thanks:
Special thanks to Neglify for previewing the workprint. Thankfully, he was drunk.
Release Information:
DVD
Special Features
MAKING OF CAMERON (13 minutes)
A brand new documentary about James Cameron’s early career up to and including Piranha 2.

VIDEO BIOGRAPHIES (33 minutes)
Video biographies of 6 actors from the movie.

PIRANHA 2 vs ALIENS (2 minutes)
A scene comparison that shows elements from Piranha 2 that made their way into Aliens.

ALTERNATE MUSIC ENDING (3 minutes)
Replacing the music for the end sequence with the infamous “Bishop’s Countdown” from Aliens.

XENOGENESIS (12 minutes)
James Cameron’s first short film.

* The special features are only available on the DVD.
Editing Details:
James Cameron was fired from his first movie effort by its italian producer over “creative differences”. The director had been brought in because he was cheap, american (contractually, the italian producer needed an american director) and knew how to scuba dive.

The producer, Ovidio Assonitis, best known for producing and sometimes directing cheap american knock offs of Jaws, Exorcist and other american hits, was working on a tight budget of $350,000 and seeing that Cameron was a perfectionist who had his own ideas about how the film should be shot, fired him after 7 or 8 days and took over directorial duties. The result is sometimes glimpses of Cameron’s future signature style and other times pure italian exploitation cheeziness.

Best enjoyed if you’re drunk.
Cuts and Additions:
Cut list:

- New credit sequence
- Piranha vision tainted red as per Cameron’s director’s cut
- Most of the dumb comedy is gone
- Scenes re-arranged as per James Cameron’s director’s cut
Cover art by blueyoda (DOWNLOAD HERE)
image

Trailer

User reviews

6 reviews
 
100%
7-9 stars
 
0%
5-7 stars
 
0%
3-5 stars
 
0%
1-3 stars
 
0%
Overall rating
 
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0(1)
Audio Editing
 
10.0(2)
Visual Editing
 
10.0(2)
Narrative
 
8.0(1)
Enjoyment
 
9.5(6)
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Enjoyment
 
10.0
This B movie's got it all: vicious, unthinking eating machines, human fodder for said machines, sad cougars, hampered young romance, awesome boobs, and 'splosions. Best of all, it's all watchable, thanks to BlueYoda's editing and some decent performances by the core cast.

But our dear editor does leave some goodness on the cutting room floor. In particular, we see even less of Carole Davis (smokin'!), but blueyoda more than makes up for that by giving us her career arc in the biographies section.

Speaking of which, one can tell a lot of hard work (and boobs) went into the biographies and bonus material. The pieces on James Cameron will also leave one wondering why there weren't Giant Killer Robots in all his movies, including Titanic. Strange, huh.

But seriously, man, Assonitis? Is that the producer's real last name?
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(Updated: July 17, 2016)
Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
December 13, 2011

Simply put, this is a great FanEdit. BlueYoda has taken Piranha 2 and made it as watchable as it will ever be. It’s still a terrible movie, but the cringe-worthiness is toned down to a minimum. The editing on BY’s part is perfect.

The special features on the DVD are what set this apart for me. So much great info on the making of the movie and the actors. A cool documentary on James Cameron’s early career (including his first short film Xenogenesis); biographies on the stars are pretty interesting and some of them are quite revealing (*cough*Carole Davis*cough*).

It’s obvious that BlueYoda is a big fan of James Cameron and if you are too, definitely check this one out.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
DVD
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Enjoyment
 
10.0
January 11, 2012

Wow BlueYoda. You took this movie and made it enjoyable. Enough said. 11/10.

Okay, I’ll say a couple more things. This is some very professional work here. You pretty much had me within the first 10 seconds with your BlueYoda Productions 3D graphic. That was slick. I think I re-watched it 8 times.

Next up we have the purty DVD menu & bonus features a-plenty. If his logo isn’t enough to make your jaw drop, his documentary video clips will. If that still isn’t enough to make your jaw drop, the naked ladies in the clips most definitely will. This is a must see for any James Cameron fan.

Oh, and did I mention the movie was edited extremely well? It is an insane mix of quality film making and insanely outrageous cheese. But seriously, who gives a #$@%. That is the least important reason why you have to watch this. My usual rating scale just doesn’t cut the mustard here. 10/10. Nuff said.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
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Enjoyment
 
9.0
December 25, 2011

Now, of course this movie can’t be totaly saved.
You’d need interesting deleted scenes, clean voices and sound effects audio channels and all those faneditor’s dream items to really try to make this movie a very good one. And even with all of that, I would not know…

That said, this fanedit is real damn good for at least two reasons:

- Some may not agree, but I prefer this version of P2 than the original P1 movie.
The actors are all trying their best with what they have (Lance Henriksen even look like a young Roy Scheider) and this cut leaves almost no filler scenes. Well, there are still some useless scenes (story-wise) , but since those have boobs screen time I guess it’s part of the genre ;)
This movie can now be followed with a nice nostalgia feeling and if this was the original cut Cameron would not have to be ashame of it (too much…).

- The DVD presented by Blueyoda is filled with cool bonus.
You have informative biographies of the cast (damn that penthouse model named Carole Davis is both sexy and funny in her other roles).
You have “Xenogenis” the first short movie by Cameron. Featuring a vehicule’s design very close to what can be seen in the future war scene in Terminator
(with the budget of a first short movie… of course)
You have a nice comparison beetween a scene of P2 and a scene from Aliens.
and last but not least, you have a cool little documentary made by blueyoda about the conflictual relationship between the makers of the movie.
More informative than most of the over long official releases bonus, where everyone kiss everyone’s ass.

So, this edit is still far from being a masterpiece (nor is a very good movie for that matter)
but like I said, it is watchable. And that fact alone is a real improvement.
When I rate a fanedit I try to not rate the new cut only for wat it is, but also the work put in it by the faneditor.
If this edit was the original cut, concidering its date and its low budget I would rate it a 6/10 or maybe a 7/10 in a day of good mood with one or two beers.
But Blueydoa really did a good turd polishing work on this one. That plus the extra cool bonus add 2 more points.
Makes it a 9/10 for the overall product because I am in a good mood and I drank quite a bit not so long ago. :)
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Enjoyment
 
9.0
December 20, 2011
*This rating was given before reviews were required*
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