Scary Movies: Jaws

Jaws was my kids’ first horror movie, and they loved it. We watched it at Halloween and my daughter asked to watch it again on her movie night just a few weeks ago. She’s six years old, by the way, so already her taste in horror is impeccable. I suppose my judgment as a parent might be more questionable, but that’s another topic….

So as the first horror movie we’re rating in this project, let’s run Jaws through our rubric and see how it works.

JAWS
Story/Plot/Characters–Characters are right out of real life, plot is plausible and flows naturally, directing and acting are superb. (4 points)
Special Effects–Steven Spielberg famously limited the amount of time Jaws is on screen because the robotic shark he had made up looked too fake. It was a good decision, because you can hardly tell, and mixed with real shark footage this is totally believable. (1.5 points)
Scariness–Medium scary. (1 point)
Atmosphere/Freakiness–Not especially atmospheric, but it has its moments, especially in the scene when Chief Brody and oceanographer Hooper are out on Hooper’s research boat in the middle of the night. Certain moments on board Quint’s boat, the Orca, at the end, also count. (.5 points)
Total=7 points