Cinema's apex predator
Photo by Vertgo Releasing
Jaws wasn't the first shark movie. (That's a 1969 adventure called Shark! directed by Sam Fuller and starring Burt Reynolds.) But it was Jaws, released 50 years ago this month, that effectively launched an entire genre as well as redefining the summer blockbuster.
The form had such energy that it soon metamorphosed beyond sharks. Alien (1979) was pitched to studio executives as 'Jaws in space'. Films were made starring orcas, alligators, barracudas and, triumphantly, piranhas. Sharks themselves mutated mightily too. In Deep Blue Sea (1999), a super-intelligent mako eats Samuel L Jackson. In The Meg (2018), Jason Statham bests a monster revived from prehistory. In Sharknado (2013), sharks take over Los Angeles via tornados. In Under Paris (2024), they swarm the City of Light via the Seine and the catacombs.
Some films have been genuinely scary. Open Water (2003), about a couple accidentally left behind mid ocean, based on a true story and produced on a tiny budget, is traumatising; The Shallows (2016), in which a great white takes against Blake Lively, stuck just 200 yards offshore, is thrilling. But there has also been a serious pushback against the shark-demonisation industry. Worldwide, fewer than ten people a year are killed by shark attack. In comparison, stepladders are a holy terror, toasters the pitiless enemy of all mankind. And, contrariwise, 100 million sharks yearly are killed and eaten, or otherwise consumed, as oil in cosmetics, for example.
So we have long been overdue a correction, not perhaps a shark buddy movie, but one that allows us the full frisson while reminding us that people are worse. Dangerous Animals, a serial-killer/shark mash-up, is the third film by the Tasmanian-born Sean Byrne, in succession to The Loved Ones (2009), a high-school/torture-porn hybrid, and The Devil's Candy (2017), a US-set heavy-metal/haunted-house horror.
On Queensland's Gold Coast, a pair of Canadian and English gap-year innocents arrive at a dock for 'Tuckers Experience' (cage-diving with sharks). Tucker turns out to be massive, matey Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang in Suicide Squad). Soon they're setting off to sea, despite Tucker having asked them, 'So no one even knows you're here then?' – often a warning sign.
En route, Tucker tells them how he was bitten by a great white when he was seven, showing them a gruesome scar. 'It's not the shark's fault,' he says. Then he helps them get their nerve up for the dive via 'an ancient relaxation practice', breathing followed by his rendition of the world's worst earworm: 'Baby Shark, doo doo di doo…'. The dive goes fine; the sharks (genuinely filmed, not mechanical) are beautiful. What happens when they get back on deck, relieved and exhilarated, is not fine. Tucker, we discover, likes to feed his victims to the sharks, dangling them from a giant boom, while he videotapes the show. More his fault than the sharks', really.
Then we meet our heroes, fiercely independent, nomadic and beautiful American surfer Zephyr (Hassie Harrison) and stunningly handsome and good-natured local guy Moses (Josh Heuston). They bond over Creedence Clearwater Revival and Point Break and spend the night together. But when Zephyr goes surfing at dawn, Tucker, a tireless predator, captures her and she wakes, bound, in the bowels of his boat. Fortunately, Moses starts looking for her…
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Jai Courtney is superb as a kind of satanic version of Steve Irwin, jocular, sententious and insane. He even performs a psychotic, drunken dance, just like Jame Gumb's in The Silence of the Lambs. He's delighted to discover that Zephyr is a fighter. 'I love fighters,' he says.
Dangerous Animals develops into an efficient survival thriller at sea, the action properly staged rather than relying entirely on fast edits and jump cuts, even though there are a few too many fake-outs, escapes and recaptures. It's no match for Thomas Harris's vision of universal predation ('His own modest predations paled beside those of God, who is in irony matchless, and in wanton malice beyond measure,' Hannibal Lecter believes). But Dangerous Animals is a handy updating of Wolf Creek, that warning to Brits not to trust characterful Aussies. Shark films have always had the proviso that there's nothing to worry about if you avoid the water. Aussie horrors like these might leave you thinking much the same about that entire continent.
'Dangerous Animals' is in cinemas now
[See also: Wes Anderson's sense of an ending]
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
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The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
AP WAS THERE: 'Jaws' and the parental debates it set off
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Metro
2 hours ago
- Metro
Steven Spielberg thought he had ‘a heart attack' on harrowing Jaws set
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Steven Spielberg once thought he was having a heart attack after suffering a 'full-blown panic attack' while filming Jaws. The 78-year-old has been behind huge hits over his decades-long career, but shared that his efforts behind the camera for the 1975 shark thriller – which was released 50 years ago today – was among his toughest projects. The legendary movie followed a star-studded cast led by Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw, as a team on the hunt for a terrifying great white shark after it attacked beachgoers. The film grossed more than $475million worldwide, and has gone down as one of the biggest blockbusters of all time. Detailing his experience on set in a new National Geographic special to celebrate the milestone anniversary, titled new Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story, the filmmaker shared that he battled nightmares for 'years' afterwards. 'When the film wrapped in Martha's Vineyard, I had a full-blown panic attack,' he told the cameras. 'I couldn't breathe, I thought I was having a heart attack. I couldn't get a full breath of air. 'I kept going to the bathroom and splashing water on my face. I was shaking. And I was out of it – I was completely out of it.' Steven and co faced a number of issues during filming, including difficulties with the mechanical shark and going hugely over budget – which didn't help when Hollywood bosses kept a close eye on production. At the same time, they had to ease simmering tensions between the cast while having to contend with shooting on water for large periods of time – with the filmmaker admitting that he reshot some moments in a crew member's LA pool. Basically, an actual shark rocking up to shore sounds like it would have been the least of their problems… Despite only having a few projects under his belt at that point, Steven explained that, as the director, he felt responsible for every single person on set. 'I think it was everything I had experienced on the island…,' he continued. '[I] at least tried to not only hold myself together, I had to hold the crew together. 'I had a great crew, and yet I felt responsible for everybody there. And I felt really responsible for keeping them there for as long as we had to stay. I think I just lost it.' Although he had nothing to fear, as Jaws premiered to huge acclaim, broke box office records and won three Oscars, Steven still struggled to let his experience go. In fact, he would sneak on board the Orca boat used in the film when it was eventually moved to the Universal tour, and sometimes 'sob'. 'I had a real tough time when I finished the movie,' he said. 'The success was fantastic but it didn't stop the nightmares, it didn't stop me waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, where the sheets would be soaking wet. 'We didn't have the words PTSD in those days, and I had consistent nightmares about directing Jaws for years afterwards. 'I was still on the movie and the film was never-ending.' 'I had nothing to cry about,' he added. 'The film was a phenomenon, and I'm sitting here shedding tears because I'm not able to divest myself of the experience. 'The boat helped me to begin to forget. That Orca was my therapeutic companion for several years after Jaws came out. More Trending 'Jaws was a life-altering experience. On the one hand, it was a traumatizing experience for me that was mostly about survival. And I think all of us feel we survived something. 'Jaws, also, I owe everything to.' This article was first published on June 18. Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story premieres July 11 at 8pm on National Geographic, and streams the same day on Disney+ Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Escape this weekend's heatwave to binge all 8 episodes of 'tear-jerking' Amazon Prime thriller MORE: Netflix's rudely axed Mindhunter could be returning with a twist MORE: 10 zombie films to watch after 28 Years Later including 100%-scored 'masterpiece'
