Cruel Jaws

Summary

“Remember – you’re the one who wanted to open up a diner for sharks.”

In 1995, Bruno Mattei directed one of the most amazingly brazen works of plagiarism ever released into the home media market. Shot in Florida on a shoestring budget with a cast of unknowns, including a Hulk Hogan lookalike named Richard Dew, Cruel Jaws was released internationally in some territories as Jaws 5. Severin has done the right thing and given the film a proper Blu-ray release. For fans of so-bad-it’s-good filmmaking, this is one of the crown jewels that deserves to be added to their collection.

As the film begins some divers jump off of a boat in search of some treasure while a nervous old man drinks rum on the boat. They are attacked by a large shark that hits walls of a cave until the men are caved in. The old man warns them that they only have three minutes of air left. As the the men emerge for air the shark attacks them and then attacks the boat. The film cuts away to a couple – oceanographer Billy and his girlfriend Vanessa- that have returned to support Dag Soerensen and his family. Dag has just survived a terrible car accident. Dag’s daughter Susie is paralyzed and his wife died in the accident. Dag has a small water entertainment business with dolphins, seals, and otters. His paralyzed daughter finds pleasure by playing in the water with the animals. The sheriff arrives to warn Dag that his business is up for eviction if he can’t make rent. His evil landlord Mr. Lewis actually wants the business out so he can build a hotel. Mr. Lewis’s son is a preppy bad guy who has it out for Dag’s son Billy, because his sister Gloria likes Billy. On a nearby beach, a couple discover a dead body. The sheriff brings Billy to the beach to evaluate if there was a shark attack that caused the fatality. Billy recommends an autopsy. Rick the coroner confirms it was a shark – a big one. Unfortunately, high powered Mayor Jefferson disagrees that a shark caused the death, cow towing to the recommendations of Mr. Lewis. They don’t want to do anything that could delay the regatta and hurt the tourist trade. The shark begins to terrorize the town.

Within moments of the film beginning, the opening sequence steals footage from Deep Blood very obviously, and this occurs numerous times throughout the film. That sequence also borrows footage from Great White. The transitions between Mattei’s footage, the footage of other films, and footage of actual sharks never meshes properly. In fact – every sequence underwater or with a shark is taken from other films. The film steals numerous plot points directly from Jaws and its numerous sequels. It takes patches of actual dialogue from the original classic film and repurposes it for the unknown actors to butcher in the film. Not content to brazenly steal all of that, it also steals some ideas from Karate Kid and Star Wars. Why not? 

It’s a jaw-dropping exercise in plagiarism, but by syphoning all of that through low budget direct-to-video filmmaking with unknown actors in locations around the Keys, Mattei has made a film that I will gladly rewatch any time. The film features hilarious dialogue that could only be written by an Italian without full comprehension of how Americans talk or act. Characters constantly say the line, “I’ll rip his balls off!” as if it is the most commonly used expression in English. The curse word “mutherfucker” is employed numerous times at points that I found very humorous. The acting in the film is laughable, but that only helps the film. I don’t really know what to say except that Cruel Jaws is an amazing awful film that I will be showing to friends that are likeminded. Thanks Severin for this cinematic gift.

Video

Severin Films has provided a pretty good looking transfer in 1080p of Cruel Jaws in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with an MPEG-4 AVC encode. I was happy with the work that Severin put into the release. Given the humble origins of the film as a modestly budgeted film made for straight-to-video release, it looks pretty good. The film stock quality fluctuates in style and look since the film deliberately used footage from other films for any sequences underwater or involving a shark. Fine detail for the most part is solid and the film stays well saturated. Fans will be very happy to see the film on Blu-ray as long as they keep their expectations in line.

Audio

Severin Films has provided a DTS-HD MA 2.0 track that capably reproduces the original sound design – for better or worse. The audio for Cruel Jaws is pretty muffled and not as good as one might hope. I know that Severin did their best with this title, but the audio is pretty lacking at times despite their best efforts. That said, any movie that rips off a Star Wars theme within its soundtrack earns a little extra grace from me.

Supplements:

• The Great White Way – Rebekah McKendry discusses sharksploitation from Jaws all the way to The Shallows.
• These Things Got Made! – actor Jay Colligan who played Tommy reminisces about working with Bruno Mattei on Cruel Jaws and discusses the interesting language barriers the crew faced amongst other challenges while making the film.
• Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4/5

Audio – 3.5/5

Supplements – 3/5

Overall – 4/5

Cruel Jaws is almost indescribably bad, and I could not take my eyes off the screen. By systematically repurposing footage from other sharksploitation films and repurposing plot points and actual dialogue from Jaws and other movies, Bruno Mattei made something magical. This film will obviously not be appreciated by everyone that approaches it, but lovers of so-bad-it’s-good filmmaking will find themselves unable to stop smiling. Severin Films have done the right thing by presenting this one-of-a-kind film on Blu-ray. The technical specs are as good as they could be given the original limitations of the film, the couple supplements are enjoyable, and the overall package should be given serious consideration by fans of Severin Films and D-movie filmmaking.