Scary movies # 8 - Jaws

Year: 1975 Director: Steven Spielberg

Of course its safe to go back in the water.

A great white shark is terrorising Amity, New England. The local Police chief wants the beaches closed down, but the mayor refuses. The shark attacks continue. A marine expert, the Police chief and a maverick fisherman set out to hunt the shark.

A superb screenplay directed by Steven Spielberg (wringing every ounce of suspense out of the story - together with plenty of moments to make you jump). The special effects were cutting edge and the mechanical shark (named Bruce) looks much more realistic than recent CGI attempts at sharks (i.e. Deep Blue Sea - awful shark, awful film). All that and the legendary Jaws theme tuba riff as well.

The sequels Jaws 2, Jaws 3 and Jaws : The Revenge were astonishingly poor with plots becoming more ludicrous - eventually the sharks were singling out an entire family! Perhaps the family should just have moved a few miles inland - problem solved).

Click to read our full synopsis and review of Jaws.

Despite its franchise becoming farcical, the original Jaws stands proud as a truly great film and is at number 8 in our interactive Haunted House of Horror list of our favourite scary movies.