Jaws 2's "Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back In The Water" might just be horror's greatest tagline. The original Jaws was based on the novel by Peter Benchley and saw a seaside resort being stalked by a great white shark. The production was a mess that ran wildly over schedule and budget, and reportedly still gives director Steven Spielberg stress-related nightmares to this day. This resulted in the first true summer blockbuster and it became an instant classic. Jaws was made in an era before sequels or franchises were really a thing, but it was such a hit that Jaws 2 was quickly put in production.
Sadly, history repeated itself when original Jaws 2 director John D. Hancock was fired after a month of filming, and his original screenplay thrown out and rewritten when new helmer Jeannot Szwarc took over. While reviews were mixed at the time it was another big hit for the studio, and it's critical reception has grown warmer over time. The same can't be said for Jaws 3D or Jaws: The Revenge. The former is a dull slog that relies on terrible 3D effects while the latter is regarded as one of the worst films ever made. An unconfirmed rumor suggests the reason Jaws and its sequels are never paired in the same boxset is that Steven Spielberg doesn't want to be linked to the follow-ups.
Jaws 2 sees Roy Scheider's Chief Brody suspect another shark is munching on luckless victims around Amity Island, but with thin evidence, nobody will believe him. This leads to a third act where the shark stalks numerous teenagers - including Brody's two sons - on the ocean and it's up to the Chief to save the day. Jaws 2 is an underrated, suspenseful follow-up to the original and it also comes with one of the best horror taglines ever conceived: "Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back In The Water."
Jaws 2's ominous tagline is credited to the late trailer advertiser Andrew J. Kuehn, and accurately summed up the terror caused by the original Jaws, which dissuaded many people from swimming in the years that followed. This tagline came in a decade famous for iconic tags like Alien's "In Space No One Can Hear You Scream" or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's "Who Will Survive, And What Will Be Left Of Them?" Jaws 2's tagline might just be the best of the bunch and has been homaged and parodied relentlessly in the decades that followed.
That said, Jaws: The Revenge produced its own classic tagline with "This Time It's Personal," which referred to the plot where the shark is now intentionally targeting the family of Chief Brody. The tagline, like the movie itself, was mocked relentlessly with even Terminator 2's "It's Nothing Personal" being a jab at the 1987 Jaws sequel. While Jaws 2 doesn't hold up compared to the original - which is true for most horror films - "Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back In The Water" remains one of horror cinema's best taglines.