11 Movies That Shamelessly Ripped Off 'Jaws'
"Jaws" turns 40 this week, and the film holds up much better than its many, many imitators. In honor of the film's 40th anniversary, here are 11 notable movies that shamelessly ripped off the Spielberg classic.
1. 'The Jaws of Death' (1976)
Richard Jaeckel ("The Dirty Dozen") stars as a diver who develops a "Willard"-like empathic connection with sharks and sics them on his enemies, particularly those who don't share his affinity for the toothy swimmers. The low-budget is actually a plus here; since the filmmakers couldn't afford animatronic sharks, they had do make do with real ones. Bonus points for working "Jaws" into the title.
'Grizzly' (1976)
Here, the hungry beast is a man-eating bear run amok at a national park, the Brody character is a park ranger (Christopher George), and the Hooper character is a land-bound naturalist ("Mako" star Richard Jaeckel again). "The most dangerous jaws in the land," read the poster, and it wasn't kidding. Where else are you going to see an 18-foot-tall bear bring down a helicopter?
'Orca' (1977)
One of the better known "Jaws"-alikes, which shares its name with Quint's boat. Here, of course, the title refers to a killer whale -- one with revenge on its mind -- attacking a fishing village over the murder of his pregnant mate. Richard Harris takes the Robert Shaw role as the soulful old salt, Charlotte Rampling is the Richard Dreyfuss-like marine biologist, and Bo Derek makes her movie debut as an ill-fated member of Harris' crew. Bonus points for one-upmanship of the scene where the whale kills a great white shark.
'Eaten Alive' (1977)
Director Tobe Hooper didn't just borrow from "Jaws," but from himself, since this film owes half its DNA to Hooper's own "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Here, the Texan serial killer is a scythe-wielding innkeeper who feeds his victims to his pet crocodile. Watch for an early career appearance by Robert Englund, seven years before he first played Freddy Krueger.
'Tentacles' (1977)
We're not sure how this Italian-American co-production managed to reel in such legendary thespians as John Huston, Shelley Winters, and Henry Fonda, but we also bet they were thankful this movie didn't get enough notice to harm any of their reputations. Instead of a shark, there's a giant mutant octopus attacking a coastal California town. Huston is the reporter who figures out that the creature is the result of the environmental damage wrought by a local corporate mogul played by Fonda, who reportedly filmed his entire performance in one day.
'Piranha' (1978)
Perhaps the best known "Jaws" imitator was this tongue-in-cheek monster movie, an early career triumph for writer John Sayles ("Eight Men Out") and director Joe Dante ("Gremlins"). A school of the flesh-eating fish is accidentally released from a lab into the waters feeding a lakeside resort, making snacks of the visitors. (The 2010 3D remake is even more gleefully crass but lacks the cruddy, low-budget charm of the original.) In a way, we have this film to thank for James Cameron's career, since he made his feature film debut as a writer/director with the 1981 sequel, "Piranha II: The Spawning."
'Aligator' (1980)
Here's another John Sayles masterwork, this time about a gator who takes revenge on the city of Chicago for having been flushed down the toilet as a wee lizard. Feasting on lab rats that have been fed growth hormones, the creature ultimately grows too big for the sewers and gets loose. It's up to a Windy City cop (perpetually hard-boiled Robert Forster) and a zoologist (Robin Riker) to track down the scaly beast.
'Devil Fish' (1984)
AKA "Monster Shark." Another Italian import, but set in Florida, it features a marine biologist (Valentine Bonnier) who discovers that the strange creature killing swimmers and destroying boats is a shark-octopus hybrid genetically engineered as a bioweapon -- by her own company! "Mystery Science Theater 3000" gave this opus the treatment it deserved. At least you can give the film credit for inventing the shark-octopus subgenre of "Jaws" knock-offs, including such future classics as "Sharktopus," "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus," and "Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda."
'Anaconda' (1997)
Instead of a shark, it's an Amazonian snake that can swallow a person whole. This time, Jon Voight is the obligatory Captain Ahab figure whose quest to kill the beast is both personal and unhinged. Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Eric Stoltz,Owen Wilson, and Danny Trejo are among the stars who are attacked roughly in reverse order of their billing in the credits. It's hard to imagine how they all kept a straight face in reacting to Voight's antics, but his hamminess pretty much saves the movie.
'Lake Placid' (1999)
The chomper in this horror comedy, scripted by TV auteur David E. Kelley ("Ally McBeal"), is a giant crocodile that's somehow invaded a woodsy Maine lake. Filling the "Jaws" roles of local sheriff, concerned scientist, and eccentric Great White Hunter are Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, and Oliver Platt, respectively. Platt almost chews more scenery than the croc, but the real treat here is Betty White, tweaking her rep for animal activism as the sweet old lady who's secretly feeding the crocodile and rooting for it to eat the meddling humans.
'Deep Blue Sea' (1999)
In addition to giving us the best end titles song ever, sung by costar LL Cool J ("Deepest, bluest, my hat is like a shark fin!"), Renny Harlin's guilty pleasure is a mash-up of "Jaws," "Predator" and a dash of "Jurassic Park." Genetically-modified super sharks hunt down Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows and Samuel L. Jackson when the facility housing all of them floods. From here, "Deep" quickly becomes a game of "Ten Little Indians," as the sharks pick off our heroes one by one -- but in some truly shocking and unpredictable ways. The film subverts expectations with its graphic body count, while also paying homage to the "Jaws" franchise: Each of "Deep's" sharks die in ways similar to those from the "Jaws" sequels.
