JAWS (1975) - FAVORITE HORROR MOVIE

JAWS (1975)

Rated PG - Rotten Tomatoes freshness score 97%, Popcornmeter 98%, IMDB rating 8.1/10

Synopsis:

The small beach town of Amity depends on summer visitors for its livelihood, but shortly before the summer season arrives, a young woman goes on a moonlight swim and doesn't come back.  The next day, the grisly remains of her body are found washed up on the beach.  The newly hired sheriff closes the beaches and this ignites a firestorm of backlash from the town council who are terrified about what this kind of publicity will do to their town.  With the beaches reopened against the sheriff's will, the summer season opens, large numbers of people come to the island, but the shark is still out there!  

Thoughts:

First of all, Steven Spielberg's JAWS was the leading edge of what would become the modern blockbuster, followed closely by other huge hits like ROCKY (1976) and STAR WARS (1977).  JAWS and these other movies changed the way people went to the movies, and it's been said that they even saved Hollywood.  I know that these movies a keen effect on me!  I enjoyed movies before, but after experiencing these, I've been a huge fan of the movies the rest of my life.

I saw JAWS in theaters in 1975 and again in theaters when it was re-released in 2025 for its 50th anniversary.  Yikes! 50 years!? Yes, I guess I AM that old (haha!).  You can tell which movies are classics by their staying power, which JAWS certainly has.

I have to say something about the movie's PG rating.  I'm baffled about how JAWS rated only a PG rating, especially 50 years ago.  It's a pretty gruesome movie. There are violent shark attacks, there's blood, there are severed body parts, etc.  I think that PG-13 is certainly more appropriate.  

I should mention that Peter Benchley, author of the book JAWS, has stated publicly that knowing what he knows now, he would never write another book that demonizes sharks like JAWS did.  (https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/entertainment/movies/2025/06/18/2000-peter-benchley-jaws-film-movie/83927628007/)

One last thing...you should know that I am NOT a fan of the horror movie genre - it's just not my jam.  But JAWS holds a special place in movie history, as well as in my personal journey as a movie fan and budding marine biologist. So, at least for me, it wasn't hard to come up with a favorite horror movie 😀.