The third night of our movie challenge was to watch a horror
movie where nature strikes back. There are several movies that fall into this,
but Jaws was the obvious choice for us. I mean, we did get to go to the beach
again this summer, Rowan loves sharks, and I have a bit of a fondness for the
odd creatures as well.
Jaws is considered one of, if not THE, first summer
blockbusters out there, and Spielberg has malfunctioning animatronics to thank
for it. We only see the shark towards the very end of the movie, while the
first half is all about setting up the big showdown between man and shark. And
that first serious look at the monster shark doesn’t fail to impress, leading
to the classic movie line, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.) And in the
meantime we get plenty of blood and body bits.
This movie also showcases some social commentary, what with the
mayor wanting to keep the beaches open at any cost, including the loss of human
life. He even points out that during the July 4th festivities his
children were also on the beach. And this was after he bullied a friend to get
in water, along with his wife and grandkids.
As already stated, most of the second half is simply the
fishing trip to try and catch the shark. Just three men on a boat – the sheriff,
the shark expert, and the crazy fisherman who owns the boat. I’ll let you
figure out who, if anyone, makes it out alive. I will say that the tension
building in the second half of this movie is a master class. And this was one
of Spielberg’s first movies!
Not sure how I’d play this one up in a gaming sense. Maybe a
small scenario for Call of Cthulhu? OR, it could be fun to move it to a fantasy
setting, maybe, for Pathfinder or that other D20 game that’s popular. Could be
fun. If you do, make sure that shark is a souped up version of the Monster
Manual or Bestiary and that it has plenty of hit points or armor.
Seriously, this was a fun re-watch from when I was in high
school. I’d forgotten how much humor it had. Unless you have a shark phobia,
give it a watch.
Check
out the rest of my challenge suggestions here. And if you want to play along as well, check out
Pun's themes on his blog, Halls
of the Nephilim. .
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