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Classic Corner: October- "Jaws"
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Poster for 1975's Jaws.
Very rarely does a horror movie both terrify the masses and break the box office. However, that doesn't mean it never happens. In fact, one "horror" movie, 1975's Jaws, managed in scaring the living daylights out of and making millions, even coining the word "blockbuster."
Steven Spielberg's first major film is simple and scary. A massive killer shark terrorizes the residents of a small beach town, and it's up to an unlikely trio to try and stop it: the ocean-fearing chief of police Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), shark expert Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and experienced fisherman Capt. Quint (Robert Shaw). It's man versus monster, and who will live to the end is up in the air.
Two things make this movie truly frightening. First of all, it feels like it could really happen. This movie did for beaches what Psycho did for showers. After all, we are swimming in unknown waters, and as Hunter S. Thompson said, when we enter the water, it's not always at the top of the food chain. Secondly, and perhaprs more importantly, is John Williams' haunting score. We rarely see the shark in the movie, but when the shark is there, we hear those pounding strings. Even though we can't see it, we know something is coming, and there is nothing we can do about it.
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