Jaws (film)/Nightmare Fuel

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Suddenly, that "bigger boat" sounds like a terrific idea

  • Everything after Quint's death, imagine, being alone on the mast of a sinking boat, and knowing the only thing saving you from being devoured alive is a one in a million shot.
  • Jaws is indeed scary, even with all the Special Effect Failure. The main theme is scary, and two scenes in particular are "jumping" ones (when Richard Dreyfuss is examining a boat and a dead man comes out of it, and when Roy Scheider is throwing meat at the sea and the shark appears without warning).
  • One of the scariest scenes is the zoom down the beach - the ordinary beach, any beach, your beach - to the sight of a great white tearing a little kid to pieces in the shallows.
  • Hey, the posters scare people shitless. The second one in particular.
  • The search for Ben Gardner aboard his boat is horrifying, as well as when the man in the boat that capsizes is dragged under water in a gout of blood.
  • The scene in which the shark begins ramming the side of the Orca was distinctly frightening.
  • Can we just say all shark movies are somewhat deserving of Nightmare Fuel? The ending scene from Jaws 3-D where the shark decides to invite itself into the underwater chamber was scary as a kid, even if the shark looked fake. And then there's all the memorable death scenes from Deep Blue Sea...
  • Sharks on the whole are misunderstood and nonviolent creatures. However, Jaws was based on one very atypical shark in real life that brutally killed four people. So a creature whose species isn't normally given to murder goes on a killing spree... wait, doesn't that make it even WORSE?
  • Quint describing the Indianapolis disaster. Because that really happened.
  • Quint slowly being killed by the shark is both nauseating and horrifying.
    • To specify, The experienced shark-hunter slowly slides down the length of his boat, incapable of preventing his descent Seeing your death coming and being completely unable to stop it? *shudder*
  • When the dog disappeared, with the very strong implication that he's become shark food. It can be very unpleasant for people who really like dogs.
    • Right after the above happens, there's the attack on Alex Kitner.
    • Of course, there's perhaps the most distressing thing about the implied death of the dog. NO-ONE NOTICED. As horrible a thought as it might sound (especially to pet lovers), if someone had actually sighted that the dog had been taken by the shark, it would have given them some warning. And young Alex might have been spared his fate as a result. But no. A silent predator sneaks in, takes someone's cherished pet, and then takes someone's son.
  • After poor Quint was killed, unlike the previous attacks in the first film where the shark leaves you alone for awhile, the shark, out of nowhere, rams through the side of the sinking boat at Broady very unexpectedly. YIKES!
  • GUYS. The opening scene of the film where the girl in the water is killed still sticks in this troper's mind. You never SEE the shark. Only it's perspective, her reaction and the amazing score by John Williams. Hearing her scream, struggle to breath and attempt to seek refuge on the buoy makes you imagine what the shark is doing to her under the surface...

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