Cruel Jaws, also known as The Beast, is a 1995 direct-to-video Italian horror thriller film shot in Florida including the Theater of the Sea.[1] The film stars Richard Dew and David Luther and was directed by Bruno Mattei (under the name of William Snyder).[2] It was released on VHS and DVD in relative obscurity, mostly outside of the United States. While marketed in many areas as Jaws 5: Cruel Jaws, it actually doesn't have any connections to the Jaws franchise.[3]
| Cruel Jaws | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Bruno Mattei |
| Screenplay by | Robert Feen Linda Morrison Bruno Mattei |
| Story by | Robert Feen Bruno Mattei Linda Morrison |
| Produced by | John Kent |
| Starring | David Luther George Barnes, Jr. Scott Silveria Kristen Urso Richard Dew Sky Palma |
| Cinematography | Luigi Ciccarese Ben Jackson |
| Edited by | Bruno Mattei |
| Music by | Michael Morahan |
| Distributed by | VPS Video Beam Entertainment Teliwa DMEG Severin Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 93 minutes (USA) 96 minutes (Japan) |
| Language | English |
When a crashed military ship, Cleveland, is rumored to be holding a top-secret Navy material, three friends named Paco, José, and Ramone board their boat and investigate the area where the ship sank, intending to sell the Navy material and become rich. Paco and José head down to search it, leaving Ramone to guard. While searching, the pair becomes trapped after a massive tiger shark knocks a bunch of rocks off a cliff, blocking the exit. One of the divers, Paco, uses a bomb to blow up the exit. The explosion is loud enough to attract the tiger shark back onto their location, and it manages to kill the divers. Ramone is confused by the explosion, but also gets killed by the shark after it has attacked their boat.
Meanwhile, in Hampton Bay, Florida, Dag Soerensen’s aquarium is being shut down by bigwig Samuel Lewis. On the beach, a body of a diver is discovered, and Police Chief Francis Berger and Fish Expert Bill Morrison bring it into autopsy, figuring out that it was indeed a tiger shark.
Although Samuel and the Mayor, Godfrey, disagree on the shark theory, they don’t bother to postpone the upcoming Regatta. At Old Beach, a couple goes swimming, and one of them is killed by the shark. Meanwhile, Dag does everything he can to stop Lewis from taking down his aquarium. Berger tries to reason with the Mayor, who refuses. A few shark-proof gates are placed, and apparently the shark is killed, but Bill disagrees. Even when Ramone’s broken boat shows up, they still go on with the Regatta. The shark breaks through the gates and kills many of the surfers. When it breaks the pier, this causes Dag’s wheelchair-bound daughter, Susy, to fall in. Bill's girlfriend, Vanessa, jumps in to save her and is killed.
Lewis offers up a reward and is revealed to be working with the mafia. His son, Ronnie, goes out and tries to kill it with his friends, but fear causes him to fall and be attacked. His friends die after accidentally blowing up the boat. Berger goes out to kill the shark in a helicopter, but the shark is over eight meters long and is strong enough to bump into the helicopter so that Berger falls into the water and dies. The mafia boss sends two thugs out to kill the shark. They explore the Cleveland wreck and are also killed by the shark. Apparently, the shark was the top-secret navy material.
When the thugs are eaten, Dag, Billy, Dag's sons, Bob and Larry go out to kill the shark by blowing up the Cleveland. This works, and Dag's aquarium reopens.
Due to the low budget, the movie heavily utilizes footage from all 4 movies of the Jaws film series, as well as the Italian films Deep Blood (basically the entire climax of the movie) and Great White.[3] In some airings (f.e. Germany), one scene even utilized the theme from Star Wars.
The film was released on DVD in Europe in 2009.[4] A Blu-ray release from Scream Factory was planned (packaged as a double feature with Exterminators of the Year 3000), but ultimately cancelled due to the film's unauthorized use of footage from the Jaws franchise and other shark movies.[5] The film was officially released on Blu-ray and DVD in the US on September 29, 2020 by Severin Films.
Films directed by Bruno Mattei | |
|---|---|