JAWS: THE REVENGE (REVIEW)

Dir. Joseph Sargent

Reviewer. Dan Cook

An unnecessary sequel to an unnecessary sequel to an unnecessary sequel, JAWS: THE REVENGE is widely considered to be one of the worst movies ever made, coming in at number 31 on the IMDB bottom 100 list and clocking a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But is it really deserving of its resoundingly negative reception?

Honestly, I don’t think so. Directed by Joseph Sargent and starring Lorraine Gary, Lance Guest, Mario Van Peebles and, in a role he has called his very worst, Michael Caine, the film sees Gary’s matriarchal Ellen Brody becoming convinced that a great white shark is holding a murderous grudge against her and her family. Who knew that fish could be so emotionally bitter?

To escape the peril, Ellen decides to flee from the deadly waters of Amity and instead spend Christmas with her fellow Brody’s in the lush paradise of The Bahamas. However, somehow, the predator gets wind of this deception and manages to track the family to their new destination, allowing the bloody terror to continue.

Before I come across as a JAWS: THE REVENGE apologist, it must be said that the film is indeed exceedingly poor, especially when compared to Steven Spielberg’s unparalleled 1975 masterpiece. The script is lacking, the performances aren’t anything special, the tone is incredibly shaky, the shark is noticeably faker than it was in previous entries in the series and the premise is intergalactically stupid.

However, there’s some hypnotically puzzling and lovably incompetent quality the film possesses that makes it absolutely required viewing for me every Christmas - something that most certainly can’t be said for the atrocious JAWS 3D, a movie which I consider to be infinitely worse than REVENGE in both acting and special effects. Call it the ultimate festive guilty pleasure. After all, how can you not love a film which features a roaring shark?