Duh-duh. Duh-duh. Duh-duh-duh-duh. One of the most well-known, and terrifying musical score sequences is from one of the best thriller/horror films of the past century: Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. Based on the book of the same name by author Peter Benchley, Jaws follows a small beach town that gets terrorized by a man-eating shark during the summer, when all of their hometown and tourist events are active. A smashing mix of suspense, gore, horror, and realism, Jaws bit its way into popular culture and box offices ($472 million off of a $9 million budget). It even spawned three sequels, all trying to capture the magic of the original film.
Jaws has managed to stay relevant for more than fifty years, with its innovative and suspenseful techniques of bringing the shark to life, along with having an original, and somewhat realistic story that people could most likely relate to in the real world. The film’s reputation is certainly earned, and definitely cements itself as the ultimate summer horror film. But why is that?
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The Science of the Shark
Universal Pictures
As said above, Jaws has a very realistic story that it builds upon. Author Peter Benchley based the book on real life stories he heard, along with his own personal experiences. He even did a high amount of research on sharks, reading books from legendary deep sea explorer Jacques Cousteau called The Shark: The Splendid Savage of the Sea and Thomas Allen’s Shadows in the Sea. A lot of the information from the books made it into Spielberg’s classic movie. For example, how they go about capturing the shark, and how sharks operate during the summer. Though one scientifically inaccurate piece, was the size of the main antagonist shark, which was a few feet bigger than actual great white sharks. But, the science behind the sharks allows the film to have a deeper level of depth than just a popcorn horror flick.
The Realistic Plot
A piece of horror filmmaking advice given to young, aspiring directors is to “make the horror real, because nothing is scarier than real life.” Jaws succeeds on this philosophy. Outside the science of the plot, the story surrounds innocent, normal families: wife, kids, husband, at the beach, enjoying their summer family time. Then, they have to watch in horror as that peace is disrupted when their own, or others, get attacked by a vicious sea creature. The specific scene where the young boy is mauled by the shark, the blood flowing out as he struggles for freedom from the predator, was particularly gory and terrifying to see. The plot itself is what really struck chords with audiences.
The idea that your family or yourself could be attacked by a giant white monster from the water, during a peaceful beach trip, is how Jaws became the ultimate horror film of the summer. Nothing is scarier than what can happen in real life. Even affecting people in real life. Some studies show that beach attendance decreased quite a bit after the Jaws was released back in 1975, and now still has adverse effects on people who go swimming in the ocean. It has also negatively impacted the shark population, and people’s views on sharks.
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The Masterful Horror Techniques.
One thing that makes Jaws stand out from other classic horror films is its unique and effective techniques in order to create a terrifying atmosphere for the audience watching. Due to the low budget, Spielberg and his crew couldn’t afford to get a real, fully-working animatronic shark. Instead, they chose to focus on the editing, music, and film techniques to create the shark instead. The music builds the suspense of the shark coming towards the boat has managed to set itself into popular culture, as people know it without ever having seen the original film. With the camera work, Spielberg used a mix of long shots, close-ups, and tracking shots to show the shark making its way towards its prey and towards the boat (without showing the shark), because the unseen is just as terrifying. The opening title sequence, where it seems like the audience is seeing things from the shark’s point of view, riding the waves and cutting through currents, was brilliantly done. Then, of course, the quick back-and-forth cutting during the final climax between the shark and the hunters, creates one of the best man-vs-animal action sequences of all-time.
Steven Spielberg’s Jaws has managed to last and impact generations of movie-goers. With its all-time classic monster villain (the great white shark), the depth of science behind the shark itself, its realistic and believable plot and story, its music, and editing; they all combine to make Jaws a cinematic classic, and cement itself as the ultimate summer horror flick.
