Directed by Claudio Giovannesi
Written by Claudio Giovannesi, Roberto Saviano, & Maurizio Braucci based on the novel by Roberto Savino (who also wrote the novel and co-wrote the screenplay for Gomorrah)
Starring: Francesco Di Napoli, Viviana Aprea and Mattia Piano Del Balzo
MPAA rating: Not Rated, but featuring plenty of juvenile mafioso violence
Running time: 1 hour and 45 minutes

by Ian Hrabe

Piranhas opens with two rival gangs of teenagers attempting to steal a Christmas tree. It’s an act of mindless petty theft, but when one gang drives off the other it becomes a euphoric act of dominance. The gang celebrates this victory by lighting a huge bonfire in a vacant lot in their low-income Naples neighborhood. They smear paint on their faces and chant as if they are conducting a pagan ritual. In a sense they are. Considering where the film heads from here, it serves as this gang’s baptism into the city’s criminal underworld.