It was the year 1975. Britain had elected its first female Prime Minister. Saigon had fallen, marking the end of the Vietnam War, and televisions across Australia made the switch from monochrome to full colour.
It was also the year that changed cinema forever, ushering in the era of the Summer Blockbuster and creating an entire generation that was afraid to get into the water.
Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel, JAWS, was about to make waves on the big screen. It was a story about a killer shark stalking the residents of a seaside town, and based on true events that happened along the New Jersey coastline, proving that The Situation wasn’t the worst thing to happen to the Jersey Shore.
There are a select few movies I wish I could go back in time and watch for the first time on the big screen, and JAWS is definitely one of them.
Picture yourself nestled in your squeaky, cloth-covered cinema seat, your mind flooded with creeping dread and a haunting musical score that will echo in your thoughts long after the credits have rolled.
JAWS is responsible for spawning countless horror fans and remains a consistent favourite on Top 10 movie lists. Pretty impressive for a film plagued by malfunctioning sharks, a boat that wouldn’t stay afloat, and an overworked crew.
Producers of JAWS originally hoped to train real great white sharks to perform on camera, but, after they were laughed out of every marine biologist’s office, the decision was made to go with the infamously misbehaved ‘Bruce’ the mechanical shark.
There were actually three Bruces used during filming, and they looked so terrible that the then-unknown director, Steven Spielberg, had to limit the time the sharks were seen on camera.
Little did he know that this decision to hide the killer shark was one of the main reasons that made JAWS so scary. The fear of the unknown allowed viewers’ imaginations to fill in the blanks, creating terror that couldn’t have been replicated if everything had been shown on the screen.
This led to JAWS earning $100 million in just 59 days at the box office, maintaining the number one position in the United States for 14 weeks. It broke attendance records globally, including here in New Zealand, and received critical acclaim. Not too shabby for a summer horror flick.
Today, new horror fans get to discover this classic, and we, seasoned horror fans, are happy to share the anxiety of the open ocean. I’ve even had people tell me they were afraid to have a bath after watching JAWS, so I reckon the film has serious staying power.
Of course, there are multiple sequels in the JAWS franchise (you can’t be that successful and not get a sequel), but none of them trigger the same primal fear as the original. However, if you want to see a very young Dennis Quaid and some mediocre water skiing stunts, JAWS III makes for a great choice.
New Zealand Horror Fans 