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Feb 01, 2024

Jaws 3D: Why We Still Enjoy This 3D Shark Attack 40 Years Later

Published on By Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is a tough act to follow. Not only has it come to define the entire shark horror subgenre, but this aquatic adventure movie also revolutionized the concept of

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Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is a tough act to follow. Not only has it come to define the entire shark horror subgenre, but this aquatic adventure movie also revolutionized the concept of the summer blockbuster as we know it today. It’s difficult to understate the film’s legacy. From archetypal characterization, iconic kills, ubiquitous catch phrases, and an incredible score, Jaws is a nearly flawless film that continues to terrify new audiences to this day. The same cannot be said for its sequels, however.

The underrated Jaws 2 feels a bit more like a slasher with its cadre of teens stranded in deadly water. The fourth installment, Jaws: The Revenge, is known for its implausible plot and Michael Caine’s hilarious yet dismissive comments. While the aforementioned sequels have their merits–and fair share of ardent supporters–when it comes time to defend Jaws 3D, few rise to the occasion. Widely considered the low point of the franchise, the story of a great white shark at SeaWorld features pointless 3-D effects and a nearly bloodless plot. However, despite these glaring flaws, Jaws 3D is a mostly joyful and progressive approach to the shark film that deserves more than a watery death in the scrap pile of cinematic history.

Years after surviving infamous shark attacks in the waters off of Amity Island, Mike Brody (Dennis Quaid) has grown up to be an aquatic engineer completing the design for now controversial SeaWorld Orlando. His girlfriend Dr. Kathryn “Kay” Morgan (Bess Armstrong) is a marine biologist for the park, responsible for overseeing the training and care of the facility’s oceanic mammals. Visiting for the grand opening, Mike’s brother Sean (John Putch) attempts to overcome his fear of the water in order to woo a professional water-skier named Kelly Ann Bukowski (Lea Thompson). When plans for the opening day celebrations are disrupted by a 10-foot great white, Kay lobbies to capture the fish and study it in captivity. However, corporate greed leads to the poor animal’s untimely death and the baby shark’s 35-foot mother emerges to seek revenge on the humans who took her baby.

While Jaws 3D has moments of unintentional humor, the original concept was a National Lampoons-style comedy. Jaws 3, People 0 would have been a spoof of the original film, reportedly beginning with Peter Benchley (author of Jaws) becoming shark food in his own swimming pool. These plans were eventually scrapped and the film sifted through several hands before finally making it to the big screen. With original star Roy Scheider adamantly opposed to reprising his role as Chief Brody, the film follows his two adult sons who coincidentally cross paths with yet another gigantic great white. Joe Alves directed the film after serving as a production designer on the first two sets. Credited with designing the infamous special effects shark, nicknamed Bruce, Alves took his one and only turn in the director’s chair, helming a production that had been troubled from the start.

Part of the fun of Jaws 3D is watching nostalgic performances by an up-and-coming cast. A young Dennis Quaid leads the ensemble as the charming Mike, demonstrating the affable wit and rugged good looks that would make him an A-list star. Bess Armstrong, known to 90s audiences as Claire Danes’s long-suffering TV mom, co-stars along with veteran actor Louis Gossett Jr. as the park’s opportunistic owner. Jaws 3D also happens to be the feature film debut of Lea Thompson just two years before she would star in the beloved action adventure Back to the Future. Playing a British version of Amity’s capitalist mayor, Falcon Crest alum Simon MacCorkindale is an aristocratic photographer named Phillip FitzRoyce with P.H. Moriarty tagging along as his faithful man-servant. Despite featuring all new faces, watching this talented cast play off each other adds excitement to the lackluster action.

Many elements of the third Jaws installment fall flat, but its 3-D effects prove to be the weakest link. Part of a stereoscopic boom in early 80s horror, this visual technique does little to pull us deeper into the story and quickly becomes an annoying distraction. We get an obligatory scene in which Mike shoots a harpoon directly towards the camera along with various other fish parts appearing to fly out of the screen, but the most effective use of 3-D filming comes from the dramatic decorations on the park’s underwater caves. The submersible vehicles look cartoonishly fake gliding through the lagoon and the infamous scene in which the shark smashes the control room window has become a laughable meme. Viewed through a modern lens, these blatant gimmicks have a certain nostalgic charm, however the style creates a fuzzy quality to the film as a whole, especially around the edges of the screen.

I wouldn’t necessarily classify Jaws 3D as so bad it’s good, but the theme park location energizes the rather dour script. Alves opens with exciting footage of a water-skiing team slowly building a three level pyramid and the entire film is filled with exciting aquatic stunts. Trained dolphins Cindy and Sandy are endearing co-stars though their tendency to show up and whisk our heroes away from harm stretches the limits of plausibility. We also get an incredible “get out of the water” sequence; the true test of any shark horror film. Moriarty nearly gets into a fistfight with a comically beachified tourist while Mike makes a breakneck dash through the park on a hijacked popcorn cart. When bags of the treat cascade off the back of this miniature vehicle, kids swarm the pile of buttery kernels hoping for a free snack. Rushing to the stage of a crowded amphitheater, we watch Quaid interrupt an Old West-style water show to flag down the lagoon performers. Along the way, he capsizes the cart by running over a bush then tumbles down a hill spilling into a couple of passing orca-shaped strollers. Quaid has since admitted to aggressively using cocaine throughout the shoot, likely contributing to this scene’s frenetic energy.

Jaws 3D makes up for the lack of original franchise characters by doubling up on sharks. The only film in the series to feature two great whites, Alves’s cinematic SeaWorld becomes the birthplace of a new apex predator. The science here is a little thin. Some shark species are more likely to eat their offspring than parent them and they certainly don’t embark on revenge killing sprees to avenge their deaths. However, this twist does allow for a nice albeit predictable bait and switch. Like Spielberg before him, Alves builds tension by filming from the shark’s point of view, but we see entirely too much of these massive fish. When the sharks do appear, they move with a robotic stiffness that rarely feels real. Attack scenes lack clarity and it’s often difficult to track which swimmers are actually in danger.

It’s this lack of blood in the water that proves to be the movie’s fatal flaw. Many of the aforementioned shortcomings could be forgiven by exciting attack sequences akin to the first two movies. Several scenes feature water skiers chased by a menacing dorsal fin, but the athletes always manage to escape the water unharmed. How much more thrilling would Jaws 3D be with a high speed chase in which the shark picks apart the pyramid one by one? Kelly suffers a vague leg injury after the mother shark knocks her out of a bumper boat, but she disappears after the incident along with Sean. In a strange scene midway through the story, two thieves fall victim to the shark, but they simply vanish under the water as their raft pops. With no connection to the main cast, these deaths feel like a missed opportunity for brutal aquatic carnage. The final scene should be a horrific slaughter, but it’s nearly impossible to tell who in the control room has been eaten and who escapes. The only true moments of horror center on FitzRoyce’s death as he’s swallowed alive by the mother shark, not to mention a later scene in which his body peers out of the angry fish’s throat.

With little great white action to speak of, it’s Kay and the dolphins who prove to be the film’s saving grace. Jaws and Jaws 2 treat sharks as monstrous killing machines and sparked a world-wide wave of galeophobia that proved disastrous for ocean wildlife. To be fair, Speilberg’s film (not to mention Benchley’s original novel) premiered at a time when little was known about Carcharodon carcharias. Released eight years later, Alves’ film definitely benefits from additional research in the field of marine biology. Kay fights to save the baby shark, mirroring Benchley’s later work for shark conservation. Though she does want to keep it in captivity, an ethically dubious practice by today’s standards, she seems to honestly care about the animal’s well-being. She jumps fully clothed into the tank to save the baby’s life, jeopardizing her own safety by helping to move oxygen through its gills. Kay only agrees to kill the shark when it threatens to destroy the park and anyone trapped inside.

Jaws 3D ends on a joyful, if abrupt note. Having blown up the massive fish with one of FitzRoyce’s grenades–still clutched in his dead hand no less–Mike and Kay emerge on the lagoon’s surface and frantically begin calling for the dolphins. Having located Cindy, the missing Sandy signals his safety by executing an impressive jump-spin in the air and Alves closes on an exuberant, but painfully 80s freeze frame. As a child, I watched this movie over and over again on syndicated cable, mesmerized by these dolphin heroes. It’s this final scene that encapsulates the film’s sunny tone, a happy ending that outweighs the many clumsy attempts at horror.

While Jaws 3D may not be a very good movie, it’s far from the worst shark film to follow in the wake of Jaws and well worth a place on every summer watch list.

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Death is the ultimate leveler. It comes for everyone in the end, no matter your station in life. Never is that more unsettlingly apparent than in 1988’s The Blob, directed by Chuck Russell from a script he co-wrote with Frank Darabont. The creature feature lets loose a gelatinous pink blob of goo upon the small town of Arborville, California, where it wreaks havoc with its insatiable appetite. It doesn’t care about archetypical hero or villain roles; its sole aim is to devour.

The eponymous Blob acts as a giant slithering stomach, dissolving its food for digestion with extreme acidity. That means that not only is the body count high for this ever-growing creature, but the deaths are deliciously mean-spirited and unforgettable thanks to gruesome special makeup effects from Tony Gardner (Zombieland, Cult of Chucky) and an incredible team of artists. Russell and Darabont reinforce the SFX showcase with unpredictability and meticulous characterization to ensure that not only do the character deaths look painful, but they also hurt emotionally.

It feels only fitting to celebrate The Blob turning 35 by paying tribute to the gnarliest deaths featured in the film. Here are the most memorable kills in The Blob, ranked by both narrative purpose and gore factor.

9) Vicki and Scott – Grabby Hands Comeuppance

Shortly after the first act’s most shocking demise, the creature slithers away from the hospital and crosses paths with teens Scott (Ricky Paull Goldin) and Vicki (Erika Eleniak) mid-date in Scott’s car at the make out point. This double death bides its time as Scott sets about plying Vicki with spiked drinks, eager to take advantage of her knocked-out state. As he makes final preparations from his trunk, the Blob silently pounces. Karma comes when Scott gets handsy with Vicki, and the Blob erupts from her face, using tentacle-like limbs to draw Scott into its fleshy body. This double kill reinforces the central modus operandi of its creature; the Blob doesn’t care about morality, it kills indiscriminately.

8) George Ruiz – Drain Clog

George Ruiz thought he was closing the kitchen on another average shift at the diner. Then the sink’s drain abruptly backs up. Fran’s attempts to unclog prompt George to take over. Russell coils the tension tight as George touches the pink slime bubbling up with the water. That’s when the Blob strikes, grabbing the bulky man and pulling him down a tiny pipe with gruesome force.

7) Hobbe – Air Duct Suck

The death of theater projectionist Hobbe (Frank Collison) preludes the slaughter to come, raising the stakes for Meg Penny (Shawnee Smith) and her younger brother. The horror movie showing goes off without a hitch until Hobbe gets sucked through the air vents, only to be discovered soon after; partially digested and writhing in pain from the ceiling. The usher that unwittingly finds Hobbes melting form also meets a similar fate.

6) Deputy Bill Briggs – Snapped in Half

The town Deputy (Paul McCrane) spends most of the film as a thorn in protagonist Brian Flagg’s (Kevin Dillon) side. That changes when the antagonistic military arrives to quarantine the creature and cover their tracks. Still, the tentative alliance between the Deputy and the town outcast only lasts for a short while. The Blob covers the barricaded town hall, slips a tentacle through the barrier, and pulls Briggs through a small opening. It contorts Briggs’ body into a grotesque backbend, snapping it wholly as he’s dragged through a shelf.

5) Dr. Christopher Meddows – Manhole Down

Meddows (Joe Seneca) appears as a friendly savior at first, but that cheery demeanor belies ruthless cruelty. Meddows’ relentless commitment to completing his mission threatens the lives of our protagonists and the entire town, making him the ultimate villain here. Keeping with form, Darabont and Russell don’t save this antagonist for last. They dole out punishment by having their man-made monster pull Meddows down through a manhole after invading his hazmat suit. Meddows fails his mission before the climax even begins.

4) Eddie Beckner – Sewer Melt

Meg saves her little brother, Kevin (Michael Kenworthy), and his pal Eddie (Douglas Emerson) from a gruesome massacre at the movies. When cornered by the amorphous entity, the trio evades into the sewers. All seems well until Eddie’s dragged underwater. But he’s okay because horror movies usually spare kids, right? Wrong. A half-melted Eddie resurfaces, reaching out to Meg for help as the Blob continues consuming its next meal. No one is safe in this movie. Not even kids. And Russell isn’t shy about showing it.

3) Can Man – Don’t Touch!

The Can Man (Billy Beck) and his pup keep to themselves on the outskirts of town, collecting cans and living an isolated life at a ramshackle campsite. The harmless man even claps for Randall when he attempts to jump his bike. The Can Man observes the meteorite crash land, and his curiosity overrides all logic as he pokes at it with a stick. The tiny gelatinous ball of goop latches on, finding a tasty meal in the man’s hand. Randall, Meg, and her date Paul (Donovan Leitch) come across the man and bring him to the hospital, where he’s left alone in a room as the Blob makes gruesome work of digesting his body, both outside and in. By the time anyone notices, only half of him remains.

2) Sheriff Herb Geller and Fran Hewitt – Missed Love Connection

The flirtations between kind Sheriff Geller (Jeffrey DeMunn) and nurturing waitress Fran (Candy Clark) are wholesomely sweet. An early scene sees the Sheriff slyly slide over his number, asking Fran for a date when her shift ends. The erstwhile lovebirds never get a chance, though. Fran’s shift ends with George’s demise via bad plumbing, sending her out into the street to call the Sheriff for help from a phone booth. The Blob follows her, and when it can’t get inside the booth, it swallows it whole, squeezing until the pressure crushes Fran. The knife twist comes just before Fran’s death; she sees the partially digested face of the Sheriff staring at her from within the Blob’s body.

1) Paul Taylor- Nice Guys Die First

The Blob introduces Paul as the football hero with a heart of gold, the precise type of character that seems designed to represent Steve McQueen’s character from the original. He timidly asks Meg on a date after a hard knock during a game, a meet-cute scenario that sets these two up as endgame material. Paul plays by the rules and always tries to do the right thing, including forgoing an anticipated date with the cheerleader to ensure the local homeless man receives proper medical attention. And that’s what ultimately dooms him. Paul becomes the Blob’s next victim when they discover the Can Man’s remains. His screams alert Meg, who finds Paul almost entirely encased in the entity, now rosier than ever from consuming so much flesh. Poor Meg tries to pull Paul free from his exposed arm as he screams in pain, but the acid severs it.

This shocking death doesn’t just subvert expectations by removing the conventional hero from the equation; it serves as a stunning SFX showcase and relays important information about the creature. Through Paul, we get a firmer picture of how the amorphous thing operates, namely in how it paints a revolting, horrific picture of what it’d be like for gastric juices to break down a living being.

Of course, this is only the start of the massive body count this movie monster doles out. Theater massacres and a buffet of military personal (including Bill Moseley!) round out the SFX feast.

Which kill in The Blob ’88 is your favorite? Sound off below.