Cruel Jaws (1995 Video) User Reviews

Bruno Mattei is my hero

[spetersen-79-962044 · 2/10 · 22 January 2014]

You have to admit, it takes balls of titanium to film an entire shark-attack film without ever using a single original frame of shark footage. Also, it takes Bruno Mattei. A lot of comments on the film mentioned that the shark changes species from scene to scene - well that's because it's a different shark from entirely different movies, of course. Bruno even cribs a scene from Jaws! Really, Bruno? You didn't think people seeing your cheap-ass shark film might have seen Jaws? Wow.

Features a little cripple girl whose legs seem to work fine when she's swimming. Her Hulk Hogan lookalike dad, while she is smiling sunnily, mentions, "I lost my wife, my will to live, but most of all, Suzy's smile." Well her smile is back dude - how about the rest? Also features my favorite Evil Rich Guy of any movie. Listen to his horrible crimes. When Hulk fails to pay the rent due on his penny-ante aquatic theme park, Evil Rich Guy threatens to ... foreclose? Nope ... sue? Nope ... he offers to PAY Hulk enough money to "set him up for life", and forgive the debt. Despite this he is clearly portrayed as the boo, hiss villain. (Hulk nobly refuses to accept this gift.) Later, Evil Rich Guy out of his own pocket pays for shark nets and armed patrol boats to protect the obligatory regatta that has to happen every year or the town goes bankrupt. Then Evil Rich Guy offers a $100,000 reward to catch the shark, and his own son dies in the attempt. Really, he's the nicest Evil Rich Guy I've ever seen in a film. He even pays out the $100,000 reward to the good guys when they earn it.

You can always tell when someone is about to get killed, because they change outfits to something different, so they'll match the stock footage Bruno has of a shark attack.

There is one brief moment of originality - an event I've never seen before in a shark movie - when it turns out that none other than the Mafia itself is putting pressure on Evil Rich Guy. But it all works out when the two goombas are killed by the shark, because apparently they were the whole Mafia.

Go go Bruno! Also watch for the moment when out of the blue he steals the Star Wars theme!

Total copyright infringement. How were they not sued?

[watcher101 · 2/10 · 7 November 2020]

Ok, first let me say that this movie stole from Jaws in pretty much every way possible. The plot is exactly the same as Jaws from the beginning up to the point where they go searching for the shark. No really, it's literally the same: as shark attack happens, the sheriff wants to close the beach, the mayor convinces him not to because it was just a boating accident and they need the summer tourist money, another attack happens, this time involving one of the main character's kids, they catch a shark but it's not the same shark (straight down to the shark expert saying how the bite radius doesn't match the victims and they need to cut it open to know for sure, but the mayor won't allow it because it's not the time or place), to another attack happening and then everyone goes after the shark (though they do try and force in these ridiculous subplots). They literally took dialogue from the script for Jaws and just reworded it, but it's exactly the same. Hell, there's even a moment where they try to catch the shark from a helicopter, and someone says "We're going to need a bigger helicopter." Even after that, they still copy the scenes, even blowing up the shark. Now, if this was a parody/spoof that would be one thing, but the movie plays it off as serious.

But we're not done with the copying yet. There are literally over a dozen scenes in the movie (I stopped counting after that many), where the footage of the shark is literally straight out of Jaws and Jaws 2. No, seriously, they took scenes from Jaws, and zoomed in a bit, but they are the actual scenes. And then other scenes of the shark feeding are actual stock footage of sharks being fed, like they just took some shots out of Shark Week and stuck them in the movie.

Oh, but we're still not done with the stealing yet. Even the music is stolen. They stole the Jaws theme and gave it a remix. You can so obviously tell that it's still the Jaws theme music (the first 10 seconds of the music weren't even remixed at all, it's the actual Jaws score). But not just Jaws, they also, for some reason, used the Star Wars theme. No, really, they took the theme for Star Wars, did nothing with the first 20 seconds of the score, and then remixed the rest, but even the remixed portion is still recognizable as Star Wars, but the first 20 seconds are the exact score of Star Wars.

And if all this copyright infringement and theft wasn't enough, the movie is absolutely horrible and boring. The scenes with the shark are boring and lame, the acting is atrocious, and none of the characters are likable or believable. Even the scenes with the shark attacks are a joke. It's just people splashing around and screaming, and then they just obviously submerge themselves, and there's not even any blood. Oh, and what more, they keep saying that the shark is a tiger shark, but it's very obviously a Great White they used. The movie is 97 minutes, but it's so dull and boring that it feels twice as long.

So seriously, how did this movie get made, and how were the people who made it not sued for copyright infringement? The plot is so identical to Jaws that it's like a horrible remake, and they have literal stolen scenes and music from Star Wars and Jaws in it. Do yourself a favor and skip this boring trash, unless you want to laugh at the stupidity of it.

Another trashy Italian Jaws rip-off.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 19 April 2019]

With Cruel Jaws, director Bruno Mattei not only takes the Michael with his cheeky 'Jaws V' alternative title, but also borrows liberally from Steven Spielberg's 1975 killer shark classic in terms of plot, padding his film out with footage from other Jaws rip-offs. Mattei's movie takes place in Hampton Bay, where a tiger shark (trained by the navy to attack!) is chowing down on those who venture into the water. Needless to say, the local sheriff wants to close the beaches and postpone the town's regatta, but influential businessman Sam Lewis (George Barnes Jr.) insists that the show must go on, his decision resulting in an all-you-can-eat buffet for the hungry fish.

Bruno Mattei's trademark inept direction, a lousy script, terrible action and zero excitement make this bottom-of-the-barrel-scraping movie-making at its most awful, which does, of course, qualify it as essential viewing for fans of really bad rip-offs (you know who you are). Frequent scenes of extreme tedium are thankfully interspersed with unintentional laughs, just about making the film worth the effort if you absolutely must see every bad shark movie ever made.

Guaranteed to raise a few chuckles are aquarium owner Dag, who looks like he's been taking style tips from Hulk Hogan, his wheelchair-bound daughter who is not only disabled but rather stupid as well (some of the things she says are priceless), and a scene in which a helicopter is pulled into the sea by the shark, which is hanging from the chopper's winch. Viewers might also be amused by the music, which sounds suspiciously like the Star Wars theme at times, and, during the regatta sailboard race, is almost identical to The Race by Swiss electronic duo Yello.

Those looking for a little gore to help pass the time will most likely be disappointed - all we get is a mouldy mangled corpse and some blood in the water - but Mattei compensates somewhat by chucking in lots of hotties in bikinis (although, rather surprisingly for a Mattei movie, there is no nudity).

Oh my lord i think i'm in heaven

[management-25 · 1/10 · 9 December 2006]

As co-founder of Nicko & Joe's Bad Film Club Show here in the UK, all I can do is stand on my chair and applaud wildly. A true, true instance of a great bad movie, it's come a very close second to Shark Attack 3, which is of course THE BEST bad shark movie EVER.

The best thing about the film though is being able to see all of my favourite shark movies in the one film! Genius idea. So many times I've been stuck watching a movie like Star Wars and thought, jeesh, this movie is great, but it could do with a few Star Trek cut aways.

There are moments of true hilarity and you have to admire the balls it takes to put a film like this out there

Bravo, no, really, BRAVO.

Am I almost unique?

[mtc20022000 · 13 June 2003]

Am I almost unique? I had the sheer joy of seeing Cruel Jaws in a cinema, when it was shown in the 95 or 96 Cannes film market, not the Film Festival you understand, but the commerical side of it you don't need a tux for. I was buying movies for a video label at the time. Oh, what sheer joy! I too was shocked at the line about the helicopter, but was more amazed at the huge chunks of Enzo Castellari's superb Great White chopped up and dropped into Mattai's pic. It was definetly made on 35mm widescreen for theatrical release. It isn't a TV movie. Just didn't seem to play cinemas anywhere. The funniest thing to me was the hero, Richard Dew, who is an absolute clone of Hulk Hogan, even down to the moustache, beanie hat and vest. But he's the smallest man in the cast by at least three or four inches, looking up to everybody else! The effect of this is hilarious, making you think you are watching 'Hulk Hogan Goes To The Land Of The Giants'. I loved it, and Mattei is a genius. We didn't buy it for the video label though, we'd have lost a fortune! And for sheer brass neck how dare they credit Peter Benchley! Obviously his lawyers haven't seen it. If you can find it, do watch it, journeyman filmmaking unhampered by budget, originality or talent! MC.

This is why I love Bruno Mattei

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 20 December 2018]

Cruel Jaws has been released as Jaws 5 in many countries. It has nothing to do with the Jaws series of films other than ripping off footage from the first three films, as well as Deep Blood and The Last Shark. In fact, it goes so far to be Jaws that it rips off Hooper's dialogue about what we know about sharks with some minor differences: "All they know how to do is swim and eat and make baby sharks, and that's all."

This one comes from the demented mind of Bruno Mattei, who also brought us crowd pleasers (if you consider me and my dog in the middle of the night a crowd) like Shocking Dark, The Other Hell and Rats: Night of Terror.

Dag Soerensen looks like Hulk Hogan, but he's really the owner of the worst Sea World ever. His wife died in an accident and his daughter is in a wheelchair as a result, but even worse, he's now behind on the rent. Greedy mobbed out real estate dude Sam Lewis is ready to shut him down, but Dag thinks he can capture the shark and save his little dolphin and seal mom and pop (well, until mom died) attraction.

It turns out that the shark in this one is a tiger shark engineered by the Navy to be a superweapon, yet it is now killing people all over Hampton Island. Dag and his family team up with Bill Morrisson, who desperately wants to be Hooper (even getting the stolen line mentioned above), to take out the shark with - you guessed it - explosives.

Most of the shark action - including the windsurfing scenes and the shark getting blown up - were ripped off completely from The Last Shark. Mattei also rips off Deep Blood and shark footage from the first three Jaws films, turning this into more of an exercise in sampling than an actual film. Yet I love it - where an American film would only hint at the bodies that wash up from an attack, Mattei revels in showing us gory bodies. I also adore that Mattei used the mafia subplot from the original novel that Spielberg took out of his movie. I'm certain he didn't even realize what he was doing, which makes the end results even more entertaining.

There's a windsurfing battle scene here - again, like I said, it's all ripped off from The Last Shark - where one character says to another, "You're vomit. You're nothing." while synthesizer beats bleat out of the screams of the crowd. Between that dialogue, the obvious cuts back to Castellari's film and the fact that the two main windsurfers aren't even moving as they race, I don't know if I've ever been happier with an action sequence in a movie.

As part of this week of shark infested cinema, I tried to watch modern films that came out in the wake of Sharknado and couldn't finish a single one of them. They all ape the Troma style, letting you in on the fact that they're basically comedies. Screw that - I'd rather watch an inept film like this, with amateur American actors being unleashed upon dialogue stolen from other films while an Italian auteur (never has that word been applied to someone who exemplifies it less) barely puts together a coherent film.

Let me state my case one more time: Bruno Mattei used the music from Star Wars in this movie. Is this a hidden comment on how blockbusters destroyed the art and promise of the New Hollywood? Of course not. That said, I was so happy when the John Williams refrain played over dudes chumming the waters that I poured a drink over my head.

Shout! Factory almost released Cruel Jaws on a split blu ray with Exterminators of the Year 3000 in 2015, before realizing how much of the film is taken from other movies. "It came to our attention through several of our fans that Cruel Jaws had several scenes in it of unauthorized footage from Jaws 1-3 and other Italian-made shark films that makes it impossible for us to release this in the U.S. & Canada without risking legal ramifications. We gave serious thought about editing out the material of course, but it's quite a bit of scenes to remove and we knew ultimately that doing that would not satisfy the film's fans or new ones we wanted to attract."

A poor man's "Jaws"...

[paul_haakonsen · 2/10 · 29 December 2015]

It was really difficult to believe that this movie was made in 1995, because the feel of the movie and the production value was way under even the original "Jaws" movie from 20 years earlier than this.

"Cruel Jaws" even borrowed so heavily from various movies in the "Jaws" franchise that it was embarrassing to bear witness to. It even had some music that also was blatantly taken from "Star Wars".

This movie was boring, uneventful and just downright ridiculous, and if you enjoy killer shark movies then you should stay well clear of "Cruel Jaws". I suffered through this poor man's version of "Jaws" so you don't have to.

The acting in "Cruel Jaws" was as stiff and rigid as everything else in the movie, and there weren't a single familiar face in the entire movie.

You would get more enjoyment out of covering yourself in blood and fish remains and jumping into a shark tank than you will get from this movie. Take heed and don't waste time, money or effort on this abysmal shark movie.

You're gonna need a bigger boat, brother.

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 17 May 2021]

A rogue tiger shark proceeds to dine on all the chump humans who enter its watery domain off the coast of Florida. Various concerned citizens take it upon themselves to rid the locale of the finned predator. Among our characters: an aquarium owner (Richard Dew, an obvious Hulk Hogan impersonator), an angry Sheriff (David Luther), a young shark expert (Gregg Hood), and a stereotypically greedy, sleazy land developer (George Barnes Jr.).

Complete with a dopey script, *hilariously* ridiculous lines (characters keep threatening to tear each others' manhood off), inane characters & performances, and gloriously awful shark effects (the fish here makes Bruce look good, even on his worst day), "Cruel Jaws" is one of the kings of truly bad shark cinema. What's more, this is a Bruno Mattei joint, and the late Italian schlock filmmaker never met a plot he couldn't rip off. Here he and the writers scrupulously copy (if not outright steal) characters, plots, and scenes straight from not only Hollywoods' "Jaws" franchise, but from Joe D'Amato's "Deep Blood" and Enzo G. Castellari's "The Last Shark" as well. If you are like this viewer and are intimately familiar with the "Jaws" franchise, you'll recognize the stolen shots when you see them, as brief as they are. The result is a priceless, ludicrous stew of shark movie absurdities. Even the score is imitative: sometimes emulating John Williams' classic "Jaws" theme, it even goes so far as to sound like his main "Star Wars" theme at points!

Cast with an assortment of non-union locals, the movie has definite amusements, especially Mr. Dew, who's required to give pep talks and educate locals on shark "facts". The young cast may be insipid in terms of any actual acting ability, but they're certainly attractive. Mattei and company even throw a wheelchair-bound child (Kirsten Urso) into the mix. And hey, the dolphins and that seal are of course cute. The seal is involved in two gags involving the sleazy antagonist.

Worth noting is that this flick actually incorporates the idea of the antagonist being involved with the mob, an element dropped from the original Peter Benchley novel for the classic 1974 Hollywood blockbuster, and approximates scenes from the novel such as a family of jerks who show up at the beach, hoping to see the shark, who annoy the Sheriff.

Good fun for people who can't get enough of cheesy shark cinema.

Five out of 10.

I'd Rather Be Eaten By a Shark...

[Lebowskidoo · 3/10 · 19 May 2019]

The most ripped-off wannabe movie I've ever seen!

Scenes, characters, even entire lines of dialogue are lifted whole or in part from the Jaws series, The Last Shark or Deep Blood. How the makers of this floating turd were never sued into oblivion, I will never understand.

That being said, curious fans, like myself, will no doubt seek this out in the future. It's fun to see how badly it was all assembled. But as a cohesive movie on its own, just forget about it making any sense whatsoever!

boring, dated, FUNNY

[d4m4xl · 3/10 · 7 May 2003]

This movie is so boring and dated (I mean just look at the hair!!!! THE HAIR!!!! AHHHH!!!!) that you got to love it. Just never ever think about taking it serious. It´s a blatant rip off (big surprise) BUT you can get a lot of fun out of it by counting the clichés.

Favourite scene: The chick that sets herself "on fire"...very convincing.

horrible

[grkamerican1984 · 1/10 · 13 September 2007]

this is probably the worst excuse of a film i've ever seen since Freddy Got Fingered. The creators of this piece of garbage didn't even make their own shark for the film, they just used stolen clips from other shark movies (Jaws, L'Ultimo Squalo) and used this obviously fake CGI shark that moved around like it was being controlled like a four year old. the acting is just awkward, i mean no character in this movie looks scared, and...i just can't continue. this movie is just so BAD, it's a wonder Universal Pictures didn't sue. And they thought L'Ultimo Squalo was a Jaws rip off! L'Ultimo Squalo had it's own scenes filmed, and (even though some were taken from JAWS), they made their own scenes, their own mediocre shark and their own dialogue. In "Cruel Jaws", however, the characters recite their lines like robots, and i'm actually surprised that this film actually has the nerve to call itself Jaws V. if this were Jaws 5, Jaws fans (myself included) would be so ashamed that Hollywood made a worse sequel than JTR.

Lol

[inky_85 · 10/10 · 26 November 2007]

Firstly, I have to thank the guy who posted the 1st comment on this film(the one with about 20 points of how absurd this film is); I was p1ss1ng myself laughing, and now I'm desperate to see it since I love appalling, rip-off Eurotrash cinema with camp music, non-existent acting/budget/originality/plot and I want to hear the infamous 'HELLICOPTER!!!' line.

Also, is Perry Pirkanen from Cannibal Holocaust really in this in an uncredited role? If this came out in 1995 and CH 1980, why wait 15 years to appear in a disgustingly s*** film?

Got to hand it to the Italians for having the balls to completely rip something off.

Bruno Mattei's Sharksplotation epic of cheesy dialogue and stolen footage

[adamhorner-62015 · 6/10 · 27 October 2021]

Cruel Jaws also Known as Jaws 5 Cruel Jaws also known as The Beast. Is. Bruno Mattei's Sharksplotation epic of cheesy dialogue and stolen footage. It has some of the best worst dialogue in cinema history mix it in that there is no original Shark footage in the film at all its either stolen from Jaws Jaws 2 Jaws 3 The Last Shark and Deep Blood and stock footage from The Last Shark and Deep Blood. Mainly this films uses scenes lifted from The Last Shark for it's footage but it's amazing how cheesy this film is by the fact you can tell by the fact some footage is from other movies it even steals the Star Wars theme breifly and the Shark Death is the same as Deep Blood's which is stolen from The Last Shark the way to te its the version uses in Deep Blood is the shot of the Shark blowing up is much more quicker than The Last Shark's so this films ending is basically a rip-off stealing other footage from a rip-off that stole it from another rip-off making a cash in on another Franchsie that being Jaws. It's amazing the length like this that went into some Italian films if you want a great cheesy bad movie to watch give this a try.

A shark attack flick without a shark

[Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki · 3/10 · 22 July 2014]

Here is yet another film which begins with the titles superimposed over point-of-view shots of someone driving. making it look as though the film really is just home movies taken on holiday. It is tacky and reeks of cheapness, and it attempts to sell the location the movie was filmed in. Why do some filmmakers think that looks good?

Shark attacks occur (via the excessive use of stock footage) and three hammerheads go out on a boat to kill the creature. So much for originality. The local authorities go up into a helicopter to search the water for the shark, but spend a lot of time hovering over parking lots, before a Hulk Hogan lookalike (even balding and with a nearly white handlebar moustache) and Moron 1 and Moron 2 all get on a boat and go shark hunting, familiarly, in the third act.

This looks like a high school production, with abrupt edits, even in mundane scenes of dialogue. The filmmakers resort to the sad gimmick of shaking the camera violently, and quick-cut editing to conceal the barely-there effects, and scenes lifted from Jaws, Jaws 2, and The Last Shark, which I had just watched, so they were all clear in my mind, and easily recognisable. At least a third of this film was footage lifted from those earlier movies. Furthermore, coming from various different sources, the shark changes size from one source to the next, and even appears to be a dolphin in some scenes. The "So bad it's good" highlight is when yet another moron decides to throw gasoline on the shark, while still another moron fires a signal flare at it, thus causing an explosion which kills everyone except the shark! I watched that scene twice and laughed both times.

Film stock looks more like it was made in the late 1970s, rather than 1995, with day-for-night filming through dark blue filters.

Film's bizarre cast, and heavy use of stock footage sharks and dolphins give this an occasional "so-bad-it's-good" vibe, but the remainder of the film really drags.

great eurotrash

[white pongo · 22 February 2001]

"William Snyder" is aka Bruno Mattei, the hack behind Zombie 3 (replacing Fulci), Strike Commando, Shocking Dark, Rats and other celluloid atrocities. As many pointless hours of "entertainment" as this guy has given me, i can't hate him,if just for his sheer audacity. And true to form, Cruel Jaws is the king of bad Jaws xeroxes. Most people will feel severely ripped off, but if (like me) you're a conoisseur of this form of twisted, inverted crap worship, you should have a ball (have some beer as well). My favourite part is the slight alteration of the classic line of dialogue from Jaws, feel your jaw hit the floor as a character actually remarks "We're gonna need a bigger HELICOPTER"!!!

Bruno Mattei takes aim at the Jaws franchise.

[atk92 · 3/10 · 2 February 2013]

Cruel Jaws is exactly what you would expect from a man who made a career out of churning out sub-par ripoffs of much better made and successful films. Cruel Jaws takes plot points from literally every other Jaws movie. From Jaws: Mayor/generic jerk who doesn't want to close beach, hosts huge regatta, and becomes public villain when shark attacks at regatta. Check. Jaws 2: Shark takes out helicopter. Woman tries to pour gasoline on shark and uses flare gun. Kills self instead. Check. Jaws 3: Water aquatic park animals. Check. Jaws The Revenge: Laughably bad looking shark which is exacerbated by extended camera shots of it. Check.

But you know whats funny? I liked it much more than the last two Jaws movies, especially that putrid vomit known as Jaws The Revenge. This movie is laughably bad, but it is entertaining with how bad it is. I would have expected this movie to be an episode for Mystery Science Theater 3000. That's what type of movie this is. It is called Cruel Jaws, what did you expect? This isn't Steven Spielberg caliber material, and doesn't deserve praise, but don't tell me you didn't laugh at least several times during this movie.

Peter Benchley Should Rise From The Grave To Sue IMDb

[chow913 · 1/10 · 22 December 2013]

Peter Benchley Should Rise From The Grave To Sue IMDb

We've all seen bad and really really really bad 'Jaws' backwash, but this one really takes the prize!

Just to clarify, 'Jaws' author Peter Benchley had NOTHING to do with this film! Nor is it based on any of his works!!!

While I can understand these sleazy filmmakers erroneously slapping his name on it, there's no reason for IMDb to outright slander Benchley's good name like this!!! I'm furious!!!

IMDb can't get basic facts right! (as usual). They refer to the shark as a "tiger shark" despite the fact that the shark is consistently referred to in the film as a "great white."

They also state the film takes place off the coast of New York despite the fact it takes place in Florida!

Now it's out of my system.

Anyway, back to the movie review. I find it difficult... no impossible to believe this was "made" in 1995. Based on the music, clothing, and poor camera work it was probably shot with a Beta camcorder in the 1980s.

Even a bad 'Jaws' ripoff should at least have some saving graces, a giant shark, lots of people being killed, bikini girls. But no, 'Cruel Jaws' has such truly horrible characters and "acting" that every single line is like nails on a chalkboard! Every SINGLE line!!!

The special FX are horrible as well, obviously unrelated stock footage of real sharks slowed down, an inflatable shark, and of course the usual air guns as props which produce no muzzle flare and eject no shells. All this is 'Ben-Hur' compared to the "acting!"

As with all 'Jaws' films, yes, there is a scene where the shark eats a helicopter ala 'Jaws 2.' "Just when you thought is was safe to go back in the sky."

Avoid this film at ALL costs! No one can be this hard up for entertainment! I can't even imagine a drinking game revolving around this movie!

Gloriously Bad

[kiwigoldfish · 2/10 · 27 August 2022]

From the opening dialogue (the likes of which I haven't heard since my daughter stopped drama classes) you know it's going to be special.

This is an Italian remake of an Italian ripoff of Jaws. Complete with footage ripped from the Jaws movies, and Great White (1981), the original ripoff.

A shark is hunting people at a Florida beach. The mayor wants to keep the beach open and run a regatta. The mob are interested for reasons. A local marine park operator is facing foreclosure.

And it comes down to Hulk Hogan, Matt Damon and Luke Perry to stave off the stock footage monster. Okay, not actually those actors, but if you watch the movie you'll know what I mean.

This is glorious B-movie schtick.

It makes one vital improvement on Great White. I felt they missed the opportunity to critique the size of the helicopter in that movie. This revisit (with most of the same footage) addresses that omission. We cheered when we heard the line.

The star wars theme notes (and maybe Indy?) are icing on the cake...

Rip-off of all jaws ripoffs

[crazyferret-03421 · 1/10 · 1 March 2021]

Cruel jaws is the most notorious jaws rip off ever made. Even surpassed the last shark1979. Uses footage from jaws, jaws 2, and even the last shark.same plot as jaws. Nothing original. Bad acting by non union actors. One dude resembles Hulk Hogan. Spoken lines from jaws. I can see Steven Spielberg scratching his head. I cannot believe they got away with this.wow this should be re titled jaws the rip off . Shame on the director and everyone involved .

Would be good... IF THE SHARK FOOTAGE WAS ORIGINAL AND NOT FROM OTHER MOVIES!!!!!!

[gabrielrolos · 2/10 · 11 August 2022]

Seriously, why the hell didn't they make their own shark effects?!?! It can't be so difficult, even I can do it better!!!! This is so lazy and... man, I'm out of words.

How did these filmmakers NOT GET SUED?!?!?

[camarossdriver · 1/10 · 31 January 2021]

This is such a BLATANT RIP OFF (and a HORRIBLE one at that) of "Jaws" that I really can't believe they didn't get sued. They actually take direct quotes from "Jaws" and deliver them miserably. There is not one good redeeming thing you can say about this train wreck of a movie. The acting is awful at BEST! When there IS a shark attack you can't tell what is going on. It's like the cameraman was having a seizure when he was TRYING to shoot an attack scene. This isn't even a so bad it's GOOD movie...it's just...plain...bad. Seriously,if you want to have a fun time watching a bad shark movie,go watch "House Shark" at least you will have some laughs with it. This movie is just a cringe fest. I wasted valuable time of my life on this disaster...If I can save just one person from doing the same...I have done my job.

Another hilarious Jaws rip-off

[loveaweeble · 5/10 · 3 May 2021]

This actually feels more like a rip-off of The Last Shark, which is a Jaws rip-off. This movie steals plot, dialog and music. The characters are terrible. I would call this a "So bad, it's good" movie. Definitely worth a watch if you're a fan of cheesy Italian movies.

This is an awesome movie!

[insitu98 · 9/10 · 19 June 2009]

OK so this movie is a rip off! Is this the real problem? Does anyone think that if the "actors" had their own lines instead of stolen ones, much would change? If the shark was more real rather than this papier mache pile of crap, the film would go up one category?

Still I think that the level is so extremely low, that everything in the film is so badly made, the actors, the lines, the footage, the music, the editing, the shots, that is is actually extremely enjoyable to watch with friends simply in order to pause, rewind, and laugh again at the unbelievable crap one sees. That's what we did.

One thing to note though, that no one seems to have noted so far...

1) Don't you have the impression that every after shot they took, they got rid of the female actors, and started filming some serious gay porn? I mean, all the actors seem completely out of gay porn sensitivities, their clothes, their style of acting, and I can swear that even the director must have some experience in the field, considering the sensuous close-ups of all male actors.

2) I am convinced that the extent of the rip-off of the film goes beyond everything. I have the strong suspicion that even the credits of the film are taken from another. In this version that we just saw in europe, the film credits list more than 70 people in all possible positions such as 9 carpenters, endless gaffers, and, best of all, about 25 make-up and special effects crew. Make up and special effects? In this film? What where they doing? And it also has quite a few people in charge of sound mixing, re-recording and re-mixing. Sound crew?

OK I could go on but I just stop here. But I think its worth while collecting all the fantastic lines and shots from this film. First comment with the top 20 list shows the way...

I like Bruno Mattei, but this is just TERRIBLE!

[jorgito2001 · 2/10 · 4 March 2021]

Some say Director Bruno Mattei has always been "rip off" artist, but I personally found his 80s movies loads of fun, films like Hell of the Living Dead (1980), Rats: Night of Terror (1984) and The Other Hell (1985) were just great, cheesy, gory, B-movie Grindhouse fun! What is it about these Italian gore director's losing whatever charm they captured outside of that decade?! (even Dario Argento made some stinkers in the 90s) The dialogue is hard to hear, the plot a blatant rip off of Jaws, musical cues stolen from not just Jaws, but STAR WARS as well (and its OH so obvious), it even steals a few scenes from the various Jaws movies! This film lacks what the other Mattei movies I mentioned have...that cheesy B-movie "fun" feel. Cruel Jaws is just poorly made, overly long, and BORING! Go seek out his 80s Grindhouse films instead!

infamous rip off

[fleischwolf · 5 October 2002]

i am in awe, that the makers of this piece of trash aren't ashamed about their "work". most of the shark scenes are taken from the jaws movies! and those sharkscenes with a real shark are that of a white skark, not a tigershark! that aside, the whole plot and the "actors" (if you would call this untalented bunch this way)are beyond bad! watching this movie makes you angry for wasting the energy to keep awake during this fiasco!