MovieChat Forums > Jaws 3-D (1983) Discussion > The shark is practically a small Megalod...

The shark is practically a small Megalodon.

posted 10 years ago by CharlesVariations
10 replies | jump to latest

It's obvious they came up with more ridiculous ideas as the films went on.

The first thrived solely off character development and suspense whereas the second was just a slasher film with a shark killing several people simply because it wants to, not to eat.

Then for Jaws 3 they tried to make it really interesting, setting it in a sea world park with a ridiculously monstrous shark that could almost be considered Megalodon status. I don't know if that was supposed to be scary it more so comes off as a B movie monster to be honest.

I remember as a kid Jaws 3 was my favorite because it had a big monster shark haha, I think that came from my love of Godzilla. You'd never see a shark like that in your lifetime, no one would.

The one thing I can say however is there was one scene in which the shark's size was actually effective..the scene when the guy is completely engulfed by the shark I just found to be terrifying in a way. Not really when he's in the sharks mouth but before he goes in the sharks mouth. He's just cornered in this tunnel and the shark is way too big for him to swim around it and he knows he's just screwed. That scene is just so claustrophobic and that's when the shark's monstrous size was actually effective that it made the scene somewhat unsettling to me.

That was the one scene in the entire movie that actually legitimately scared me when I was young, and it still unsettles me now despite what a terrible movie it is. So I can give it credit for that, they wouldn't have been able to have a scene like that without a big scary shark.

Only people with money say that money doesn't matter.

[–] dustin565 10 years ago

Sometimes I have nightmares of being trapped in a Sea World type area with a huge shark, so I guess this movie got to me too. I agree about that scene as well, it was an effective moment in an otherwise boring movie.

[–] UndiesStyle 10 years ago

I used to be afraid that Jaws was in just grandma's swimming pool, and I would check the entire pool before jumping in.

[–] Darkest_Night 10 years ago

I loved the massiveness of the shark when I was a kid, too. I thought that it was big enough to take a grown man all the way inside its mouth...and then it did. "Claustrophobic" is also the word I've always used for the scene where FitzRoyce got eaten. The filtration pipe was small and left no room to maneuver or escape, and this massive shark is slowly lumbering forward and bearing down on the guy, trapping him.

I thought the really claustrophobic part, however, was when the shark actually took FitzRoyce into its mouth and ate him. He was then in an even tighter, more dangerous space with little room to move around, and he probably knows that he will die in there. The shark starts aggressively chewing and working its jaws up and down on him, causing his mask to come off in the process. He can't breathe now...only inhale water. The chewing action tosses him around like a ragdoll and compresses his body, giving him even less space to move and probably forcing precious air out of his lungs. From the constant, noisy bone-crunching sounds and horrific screams and later the cloud of blood, he's getting brutally compacted and crushed...gradually being weakened, mangled, and destroyed. Any attempt to escape, and he's smashed back down. Even if he did manage to crawl out a bit, he would've been stabbed all the way through by those massive 6-8 inch long teeth.

And he's still alive after about 30 seconds of being subjected to all of this until finally apparently getting crushed to death near the end of the segment.

Underwater...in a tight space...hardly able to move...no way to breathe...getting painfully and torturously crushed and destroyed...literally being devoured...can't get out...knowing you're done...fate sealed. That, to me, is about as claustrophobic as it gets.

[–] metalgazza 9 years ago

Good God. I've seen this film loads of times and always thought how it was a powerful scene.

But your description is going to give me nightmares lol. I could feel everything getting tighter as I read through it

[–] bastasch8647 9 years ago

I cannot abide this film, but three cheers to the posters who like the shark's colossal size. That factor alone - had it been handled with skillful effects - would have given this film at least a wooden leg to stand on. Yes, the shark was practically a small Megalodon - too bad it wasn't...although isn't there already a giant shark movie with exactly that title...?

;)

[–] Marmadukebagelhole 9 years ago

On each and every shark picture's board there seems to be a thread along the lines of.

It was practically megalodon

or

What if it was megalodon

or

They could make a sequel with a megalodon

Get a room with a Megalodon already. 

Glasgow's FOREMOST authority Italics = irony. Infer the opposite please.

[–] CharlesVariations 9 years ago

The only other shark movies I know of besides jaws are "deep blue sea" (awful) and then all those awful Direct to video movies which I haven't paid any attention to.

But I brought up it's "megladoness" to point out the ridiculousness of it, speculating that it was probably written that way to introduce a new concept, "an even more gigantic shark of impossible proportions! That will be cool!!" (along with the sea world setting).

Not to mention it also snarls, which is much more forgivable than a roaring shark in part 4.

Only people with money say that money doesn't matter.

[–] Marmadukebagelhole 9 years ago

Yeah but it gets bandied about on every shark film's board is what I'm saying.

Megalodon! Yeah, great. It's just a word that means an extinct shark bigger than a Great White. Only if you've heard the word Megalodon would you care about the distinction.

It just seems to be shorthand for "I know something that movie isn't telling the regular audience".

What size is a "small Megalodon" by the way? Is there a size range for this extinct species?

Glasgow's FOREMOST authority Italics = irony. Infer the opposite please.

[–] CharlesVariations 9 years ago

Well, thanks for sharing lol

Only people with money say that money doesn't matter.

[–] 9 years ago

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