Last week marked the 40th anniversary of Jaws, a film that frankly changed the way movies are made and marketed forever. Steven Spielbergs monumental blockbuster masterpiece is a landmark in tent pole filmmaking; completely re-inventing the way studios approach their summer spectacle. From the moment Bruce the Shark blew the doors off of theaters in 1975, every producer in Hollywood wanted to figure out just how to replicate the Beards formula, while his independent peers who also emerged during the New Hollywood wave lamented the death of their era.
One thing Jaws didnt change in the slightest: exploitation. The time-honored tradition of riffing on anything and everything that was a mainstream success just to make a buck was never going to go away. In the wake of this Great White cash machine, you can bet schlockmeisters from countries across the globe were going to try and get rich off of Chief Brody, Matt Hooper and Quints epic quest to take down the toothy scourge of Amity Island.
Here are the ten weirdest and wildest rip-offs of Spielbergs summer classic. Do remember, inclusion may not necessarily equate to an endorsement of quality, but those looking to have their face bitten off by some primo sleaze would do well to seek all of these pictures out.
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Jacob Knight is an Austin, Texas based film writer who moonlights as a clerk at Vulcan Video, one of the last great independent video stores in the US. You can find find him on Twitter @JacobQKnight.
Jawsploitation
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Jawsploitation #1
Mako: The Jaws of Death [1976] (d. William Grefé & w. William Grefé & Robert Madaris)
Sonny (Richard Jaeckel) has something of a shark fetish, going as far as to let the swimming eating machines inhabit the watery basement of his island home. He talks to them in funny voices, like one would to their own children. So when a plump local rich guy (Buffy Dee) decides he wants to borrow one of Sonny’s precious progenies to use in weird, sexy aquatic acts with his wife (Jennifer Bishop), he’s hesitant, but still allows it to happen. Unfortunately for the obese millionaire (who inexplicably decides to torture the poor animal while its in his possession), Sonny is quite the protective parent, losing his mind completely after the villain’s henchmen decide to perpetrate a sharkfin massacre.
Making like a cross between Travis Bickle and Steve Irwin, Sonny embarks on an avenging crusade, and Jaeckel launches so over the top with his performance that it’s hard to even provide a solid basis for comparison. Mako is the rare shark movie where the beasts aren’t the monsters, and man hunts man in order to defend their honor. Basically Chief Brody’s worst nightmare, Mako: The Jaws of Death presents a scenario where the humans actually stick up for the sea’s doll-eyed murderers.
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Jawsploitation #2
Gums [1976] (d. Robert J. Kaplan, w. Robert J. Kaplan, Paul Cohen & Sam Cohen)
If the movie is famous, there almost certainly is going to be a porn parody. Thankfully, the smutty send-up of Jaws is one of the more gonzo works of any genre ever committed to the screen. Instead of a shark, a dick-sucking mermaid (Terri Hall) terrorizes a beachside community (not to mention has the mystical ability to appear out of a toilet), all while being hunted by an oil-crazed Nazi (raving “stand-up tragedy” artist Brother Theodore). Characters transform into tiny puppets, jizzing on one another as you’re left scratching your head and wondering why they don’t make adult films like this anymore. It’d also be a mistake not to mention the Richard Dreyfuss clone (Richard Bolla), who carries a blonde blow-up doll with him wherever he goes. Completely insane and devoid of any redeeming societal value, Gums is a must see for anyone interested in little over an hour of nonsensical XXX hilarity.
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Jawsploitation #3
Tintorera: Killer Shark [1977] (d. & w. René Cardona Jr.)
“Exploitation” in the truest sense of the word, Tintorera probably has the smallest amount of shark action out of any movie on this list (and even when it does occur, it’s mostly via recycled stock footage). Instead, what we are treated to is a polyamorous conflict revolving around two beach bum lotharios (Andrés García and Hugo Sitglitz) and the woman they’re both in love with (Susan George). Grindhouse stalwart René Cardona Jr. (whose Night of 1000 Cats is one of the great grime masterpieces) captures his native Mexican shores with a wide lens, letting you soak in the sun like it’s a lazy day in paradise instead of a rainy afternoon at the movies. Don’t expect much in terms of excitement, but if you can vibe with Cardona’s oddball buoyancy, you may find Tintorera to be quite entrancing.
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Jawsploitation #4
Orca [1977] (d. Michael Anderson, w. Sergio Donati)
The classiest slice of “Jawsploitation”, Michael Anderson’s hybrid of Moby Dick and Bruce the Shark is made all the more epic thanks to Ennio Morricone’s sweepingly romantic score. Richard Harris is our Ahab, yet it’s his actions that incite the black-and-white monster’s rampage through a small fishing village, after he kills the whale’s mate. Beautifully photographed by J. Barry Herron and Ted Moore, the script is given an extra dosage of umph via an uncredited polish from Chinatown scribe Robert Towne. It also doesn’t hurt when your supporting cast is peppered with the likes of Charlotte Rampling and Bo Derek, both of whom prove to be as lovely and talented as ever. Orca is no doubt the best picture presented here by any classical definition of the term, while still feeling deeply indebted to a producer (Dino De Laurentis) trying to capitalize on a current cinematic wave.
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Jawsploitation #5
Great White Death [1981] (d. Jean-Patrick Lebel)
Great White Death is like a Discovery Channel Shark Week special as envisioned by Jacopetti & Prosperi. More Mondo documentary than straight-ahead non-fiction look at the depths’ most adept killers, it shares a fascination with Mondo Cane in ogling primitive cultures and their mystical relationships with sharks. Perhaps the most bizarre element of Great White Death is that it features Hollywood legend Glenn Ford (3:10 to Yuma, Gilda) acting as some kind of authority on Great Whites. Schizophrenic in how it wants the audience to view its subjects (one second they’re “good” for the environment, the next they’re “demons”), Great White Death is far from an educational experience, but still entertaining as hell.
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Jawsploitation #6
The Last Shark [1981] (d. Enzo G. Castellari, w. Vincenzo Mannino & Marc Princi)
Universal desperately attempted to keep this Italian plundering of Spielberg’s hit (not to mention its first underrated sequel) from ever reaching American shores. But Enzo Castellari’s nutso slice of pure exploitation is too damn fun to be denied. Vic Morrow and James Franciscus are standing in for Robert Shaw and Roy Scheider, hunting down the titular swimming death machine that eats everything from wind surfers to whole helicopters. Cheesy and completely ludicrous, Castellari (who could be a damn good director when he wanted to – see The Heroin Busters for proof) isn’t interested in producing anything more than a recognizable riff that ups the ante to one hundred. Connoisseurs of Italian trash cinema should take note, as this is one of the best pieces of garbage the country ever produced.
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Jawsploitation #7
Deep Blood [1990] (d. Raffele Donato & Joe D’Amato, w. George Nelson Ott)
During the opening moments of Deep Blood, you’re likely to wonder if you popped in the wrong movie by mistake. A group of boys are roasting weenies over a fire when a Creepy Ralph knock-off stumbles onto the scene, slurring about how they’ll one day fight some kind of ancient evil. The kids then make a Monster Squad pact to fight a future before we flash forward a decade plus later, when the now grown guys are wrestling with the big decisions in life (like whether or not they should join the Pro Golf Tour). As fate would have it, a shark decides to eat the shit out of a local woman (in a near beat-for-beat replication of the Alex Kitner raft attack in Jaws), and the men realize that this is the nightmare that old kook warned them about all those years ago. Joe D’Amato (Absurd) reportedly took over directing duties for Raffele Donato midway through production on Deep Blood, as D’Amato (who was also a producer) was not too keen on how the picture was turning out. Unfortunately, all that remains is something of a tepid rehash, complete with a Chief Brody clone who simply won’t stop sweating. Buyer beware, this one’s a bit of an endurance test for even the most hardcore schlock cinema hound.
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Jawsploitation #8
Cruel Jaws [1995](d. Bruno Mattei, w. Robert Feen, Bruno Mattei & Linda Morrison)
Perhaps the most brazen act of Bruno Mattei’s copyright-infringement fueled career, Cruel Jaws is the perfect film for someone who wants to watch every movie on this list but just does not have the time to commit. Thankfully, Mattei made a movie that lifts footage from Jaws, Jaws 2, Deep Blood and The Last Shark. That’s right. Not only does this nigh incomprehensible weird-out have the balls to steal from Spielberg, it then mashes those pieces up with parts of movies that ripped the classic off. Mattei was a shameless huckster, his unapologetic theft rendering a good deal of his movies hard to find (Shout! was supposed to put Cruel Jaws out on a double feature disc, but cancelled due to fear of legal action). You’re sinking to near trench level trash with this one, but also receiving enlightenment from a Buddha of pure cinematic bullshit.
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Jawsploitation #9
Aantank [1996] (d. Prem Lalawani & Desh Mukherjee, w. Sachin Bhowmick)
Bollywood and cinematic misappropriation go hand in hand, so it should come as no surprise to learn that the shark in Aantank is really like the D-line subplot in this otherwise rote pirate/pearl smuggling tale. There’s singing and dancing and love affairs, all before a squalus that literally screams every time it appears to devour children and machines alike. There’s a cartoonish glee to the way the jet-black beast is presented during its short amount of screentime; like the SNL ‘land shark” grew up from being a puppet suit and developed a taste for helicopters. You’ve got to get (suffer?) through an hour until the monster’s initial appearance, but it is so worth it.
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Jawsploitation #10
Psycho Shark (a/k/a Jaws in Japan) [2009] (d. John Hijiri, w. Yasutoshi Murakawa)
Beginning like a found footage cam porno, in which beautiful bikini-clad teens pose for an unseen videographer, Psycho Shark then shifts into a dark bedroom, where a haunted girl creeps across the screen like a Ringu refugee. It’s readily apparent that director John Hijiri is mashing up J-Horror style with a shameless Jaws spoof. Nothing contained within Psycho Shark (a/k/a Jaws in Japan) is original in the slightest, but that doesn’t stop it from coming off strangely competent. The movie is an amalgamation of Eastern and Western styles, complete with a giant, flying Great White that rises out of the water and puts the swirling shitfest that is Sharknado to shame. It doesn’t hurt that Hijiri shot the beach set scenes in Okinawa, creating a soft slice of sleaze that doubles as an enticing tourism ad. Just make sure to check those crystal blue waters before you go skinny dipping, or you may end up as human sushi for the sea’s greatest predator.
