This week has been AMAZING for fellow shark lovers, as it's
Shark Week over on Discovery Channel, which I look forward to every freaking year(!), and, yesterday, we saw the release of the single greatest killer animal horror film, Steven Spielberg's
Jaws, on blu-ray. This post is all about my love and adoration for that classic.
I been a fan of
Jaws since I was a kid. I remember watching it and loving it. Mind you, I was already was fascinated by both monsters and animals and this combined both. Here was a horror movie that featured a killer shark, and from then on I was enamored by sharks. I still am. It was also one of the first horror films I was ever obsessed with.
The story is a simple one, as then you Steven Spielberg directed a movie based on Peter Benchley's best seller. In it a shark terrorizes a community and a police chief (Roy Schieder), a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss), and a salty shark hunter (Robert Shaw) team up to stop and kill it.
What sets
Jaws apart form any other film like it is the quality of it. The acting is excellent, as is the character interaction. Also, there is the intensity and scariness of the movie. Spielberg directs it to nail-biting perfection. Add in John Williams score, one of the greatest and most recognizable in horror history, and you have a perfect movie.
The movie was a HUGE hit and became the first summer blockbuster. It inspired three sequels:
Jaws 2- which is a good, solid film and can be seen as a slasher film with a shark
Jaws 3D- which is the first horror film I saw in the movies. I did see it in 3D and loved it. But, revisting it, minus the 3D, it sucks. But, Leah Thompson looks yummy. I'm not a shark and I wanna eat her!!!
Jaws: The Revenge- a godawful film that ranks as one of the worst horror sequels, EVER made!!!
Like any great film, it's been ripped-off countless of times. It, in fact, ranks as one of the most ripped-off horror films of all time. While some like
Piranha (both the original and the remake),
Orca, and
Alligator are great most are complete and utter shit. Just look at SyFy who rape this movie all the fuckin time. The movie to the right, Italy's
Great White, was such a rip-off of it, Universal took to court! Doh!
Like I said, I've loved this film since I was a child. Because of it, and my aforementioned love of sharks, I had lots of shark toys. I also owned and played the NES game which was total shit, but hey it was
Jaws...
I have owned
Jaws on LD and DVD, but the blu-ray is the best it's ever looked and sounded!! It looks brand new!! Amazing!! Great extra features, too!!! Go get this fucker now, if you ain't done so yet! It's one of the year's true most buy discs!! That does lead me to one thing, though: I had read in
Horrorhound mag that the sequels were coming to blu-ray, as well. In fact, it stated that 3 was gonna be in 3D. Now, I don't own, nor will I ever own, a 3D blu-ray player or TV, but this would have been cool. Cooler, still if they did it with glasses like
Friday the 13th 3D and
My Bloody Valentine were released. As bad as it is; if they had done that I would've bought it! Just for nostalgia and the importance it has to both my childhood and horror fandom.
Regardless, Jaws remains one of the greatest movies ever made. To me, it is Spielberg's very best, a film I hold near and dear to my heart. And, one I know almost, by heart. If you fear going into the water, it's cause you know that big, bad shark is waiting for you... And, true fans of fear and great cinema wouldn't have it other way!!
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