Nobody in my film group caught that the shark in Jaws 4 is mechanical on purpose, and I finally got to say it out loud | Bad Movie Defenses - Thought Shares
Nobody in my film group caught that the shark in Jaws 4 is mechanical on purpose, and I finally got to say it out loud
I sat through Jaws: The Revenge with three friends on Saturday night and when the shark roared underwater they all started laughing at how fake it looked. Here is the thing though, the movie knows. The director went on record saying the shark is meant to look like a bad dream the mom keeps having, not a real fish, which is why it explodes when it hits the boat at the end. I pointed out that the same people who call it the worst sequel ever also quote the roaring shark all the time, so it clearly did its job as a memory. Does anyone else have a hated sequel where the 'bad' part is actually the whole point, or am I reaching here?
The "roaring shark" thing always gets me because I once tried to defend the Star Wars Holiday Special to my cousins and got laughed out of the room, so I know that lonely feeling of "no wait, it's supposed to be bad." You're not reaching though, the mom's whole deal is that she's haunted by this shark, so of course it acts like a monster from a nightmare instead of a real animal. Same energy as the puppet in The Happening, people roast it but that creepy fake look is exactly why it sticks in your head years later. Bad on purpose and bad by accident are two different things and most folks can't tell them apart.