Jaws

My best friend still won't go into the water without fear because of this movie she saw in 1975. Jaws is consistently in the top of scariest movie lists. What is it that makes it so terrifying?

The opening scene with the death of Chrissie is one of the most iconic in film history. The camera sees the girl from the shark's viewpoint. The music starts. A tug under the water. Her cries aren't heard by the boy on the beach. The brutality of the attack is obvious, but not spelled out.  This is a case of all the elements -- story, point of view, lighting, music, set -- coming together to accomplish perfectly the director's goal to terrify the viewer.

The next surprise in the story is the death of a child, generally a movie taboo. This scene, where Police chief Brody is on the beach worried about the swimmers, is particularly tense. With each pan of the camera to a new swimmer, we wonder if they're going to be the one who gets attacked. You sense that the shark is coming, but the tension continues to build until the music and the attack come together in perfect timing. When the boy is actually pulled under, the quiet is as frightening as the music was.

The characters in the story are well developed and interesting. In Brody we see humanity (especially in his relationships with his family), compassion as he tries to save lives and protect the townspeople, and courage as he goes to battle with the enormous beast. Hooper's neurotic intellectualism provides some of the comedic relief. Quint comes across first as opportunistic and gruff, but as he relates his war tale we are introduced to an underlying source for his rough exterior. We see him then as frightened, determined, and deeply touched by the deaths of those around him. The shark itself feels like a developed character -- intelligent, driven, brutal, and even vengeful.

An interesting sub plot is Mayor Vaughn's role. The mayor is more concerned about profits than lives, and continues to put people at risk. Brody is intimidated and coerced into keeping the beaches open against his better judgment, and lives are lost due to their combined negligence. Brody carries a weight with him for the rest of the film, adding to our empathy for his character.

The special effects with the shark are not quite up to today's standards, but for 1975 are well done. The mechanical shark is believable, and the views of the shark from the top down as he goes under the boat are impressive. It's well known that the mechanical shark wasn't working well for much of the time, and that does seem to be a gift to the film as often what we imagine is scarier than reality. 

The story's exploitation of a very natural fear of the water gives it an advantage from the start. Good directing, good acting, and attention to all the details of film making make Jaws stand out as one of the better films of its genre.