Why ‘Jaws 2’ Is Technically A Slasher Movie
The movie Jaws created a sensation when it was released in the summer of 1975. In all the vast and unknown depths of the ocean...how could there have only been ONE? Jaws was an event. It was the first movie to ever hit $100 million at the box office with people queuing around blocks to the movie theater, coining the phrase "blockbuster." It tapped into the primal fear of the unknown of what lurked beneath the waves. It even resulted in fewer beachgoers that year. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water in 1978, the terror would continue in Jaws 2.
While it is not the masterpiece that the original is, Jaws 2 is a fun time. Jaws is lightning in a bottle. There is a reason it is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. There is no replicating it and Jaws 2 knows this. Instead, Jaws 2 decides to reveal the shark earlier and up the body count. It even tips its toe into the horror genre, more specifically the teen slasher subgenre that is about to explode into cinemas. Jaws 2 preceded such films as Halloween, Friday the 13th, The Burning, A Nightmare on Elm Street, My Bloody Valentine, Happy Birthday to Me, Madman, Prom Night, Slumber Party Massacre, Terror Train, Final Exam, Student Bodies, April Fool's Day, and more. Yet it uses the tropes and "rules" of a horror slasher before they were even written down. As Randy from 1996's Scream would say:
"There are certain rules one MUST abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie."
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These rules and tropes of slasher movies can be seen in Jaws 2. An obvious one when comparing Jaws 2 to the films mentioned above is with its cast. After Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, and Murray Hamilton, the remaining of the main cast are teens. In the latter half of the movie, they are terrorized by the killer, I mean, the Shark. They are stalked, hunted, and picked off by the malevolent beast.
Amity is an island community. This fact is even brought up in the behind-the-scenes documentary of the making of Jaws 2. Instead of flashy cars, these kids would have boats. They would be cruising on their flashy boats during the promised perfect summer. The teens are going out, having parties, sailing, drinking, and having fun. The world is their oyster. This is the case in a lot of these slasher films. The teenagers of Jaws 2 have the same vibe as these late 1970s/1980s horrors. This is seen in how they act and how they talk. The character Eddie is a good example of this. Oh, poor Eddie.
Halfway in the film, the teens decide to go on a sailing trip, unaware that they are being followed. Eddie and his girlfriend Tina decide to hang back, chill, have a drink, and spend some time together. Tina wants a blanket and Eddie goes to look. Both fail to notice the dorsal fin approaching. The Shark suddenly collides with their sailboat, knocking Eddie overboard and dragging the boat a good several hundred yards.
The scene that follows depicts the most terrifying things to see in the middle of the ocean. An approaching fin. The killer, the Shark is coming for its next victim. We have seen similar scenarios like this in slashers before. The friend/lover watches helplessly, screaming for them to "Run Faster" or “Get Out Of There" only to witness their demise. Eddie's death is a brutal one. He is swimming for his life against a bigger and faster predator, only to be grabbed by the beast and dragged violently through the waves into the side of his boat. He tries desperately to get himself into the safety of the boat, only to be pulled under with such force that he breaks part of his own boat off. Meanwhile, his girlfriend is in total shock, and helpless to do anything.
Michael Myers uses a large kitchen knife, Jason uses a machete, Cropsey has a pair of gardening shears, and Freddy has knives for fingers. The shark has rows upon rows of sharp knife-like teeth to cut and tear through its victims. What does the Shark have in common with these killers? It is actually the other way around. Like the Shark, these killers like to hide in the shadows, out of sight, and watch their victims before striking. The original Jaws made brilliant use of this technique of showing the “point of view of the killer.” This is not by choice but because the mechanical shark kept breaking down. It works though. Sometimes, what you cannot see is much more terrifying. This carries on in Jaws 2 when we the audience see terror unfold through the eyes of the killer, er Shark.
Another horror movie “trope” is that there is usually something wrong with the killer’s appearance. A deformity. This dates back to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) with Leatherface’s actual face. In Halloween, people reacted in horror to Michael Myer’s unmasked face despite it looking normal minus the poked eye (in later films, he would be burnt, his cheek would be shot, and his poked eye would be deformed). Cropsey and Freddy are affected by burns to their face and body. Jason was born with a deformity.
The Shark in Jaws 2 also has a deformity. After devouring the water skier, the Shark turns its attention to the speedboat, where the panicked driver attempts to throw gasoline on the shark (and herself in the process). She shoots the Shark in the face with a flaregun, setting fire to part of the Shark's mouth and face along with the driver and the boat, which then explodes. A shark is already a terrifying sight to see while swimming. Burn part of its face off and it is even more terrifying. Again there is no topping the original Jaws, but it does give this Shark character. Scarface the Shark.
"There are certain rules that one MUST abide by in order to create a successful sequel. No.1 the Body Count is always bigger." - Randy
The successful sequels of these horror movie slashers followed that rule: Friday the 13th Part II, Halloween II, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge. The body counts increase from the movie prior. Jaws 2 does the same thing, increasing the victims to the Shark from five in the original film to seven. In fact, Jaws 2 actually trims down some of its kills to avoid an R rating. There are times when some of the kills come off tame compared to the first film, mainly the first three victims to be eaten by the Shark. The later kills would be on par with the first in terms of terror, however. This is the case with both Eddie's and Marge's deaths.
Eddie's death takes its time, about twenty-five seconds from being grabbed to being forcefully pulled under. Marge's death, while a fraction of the screen time, still packs a brutal punch. Even though it is over in seconds and we the audience only see the attack from two angles, the imagery of the Shark breaking the surface with its mouth open to swallow the bloodless body makes for a horrific kill. All the while in the same shot, a child (whom Marge has just saved) witnesses her fate mere feet in front of him.
Once again, John William's score adds to the tension and the brutality of the kill. Those simple notes of "Dun Dun" do make you think twice about going into the water. It is almost primal. All the best horror icons have their "theme" and the Shark is no exception. The music tells you the Shark is there and it is coming. Jaws would be nowhere near as successful, impactful, or terrifying without Williams' music. I am glad he returned for the sequel, adding to the mythos of the Shark.
The only horror movie trope not in Jaws 2 is the "final girl." It is a common staple with the slasher genre to have a heroine who defeats the killer and survives be someone who does not break the rules with sex, drugs, and alcohol. In Jaws 2, we have the authority figure in Martin Brody (played by Roy Scheider) who goes out to face the Shark to save his two sons and the group of teenagers. It is a final showdown between man and monster. Brody ends the nightmare by tricking the Shark to attack him and bite down on an electric cable, electrocuting the leviathan to crisps.
I would always recommend Jaws 2. Again it is no OG Jaws, there is no topping that, but it is still a good fun time. It has that campy teen slasher charm to it before it was even a thing. If you want to watch a great film, with great characters, suspense, writing, and story, you watch Jaws. If you want to watch a good film with some familiar faces and locations, more Shark, more kills, and a bunch of teens being terrorized, you put Jaws 2 on. It is also the only decent sequel from the Jaws franchise with subsequent sequels getting worse and worse. (And somehow having worse-looking mechanical sharks).
As an avid watcher of slasher films, Jaws 2 IS one of them. It is an early example of the genre. The tropes are there. Instead of a murderer, it is a killer shark.
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