It is a long-standing tradition in Hollywood that if a blockbuster makes a ton of money, then other studios will quickly produce a not so good knock off in order to capitalize on its success. This rule definitely applies to the original summer blockbuster, Jaws.
Of course, the ripple effect of Bruce the shark’s mighty splash continues to this day, and sharkplotaion flicks are still being produced with movies such as The Meg and The Sharknado series. Head back to the past to look at the films that honestly believed they were worthy contenders to the ocean thriller’s throne or at least thought they could take a bite from its success.
Mako: The Jaws Of Death (1976)
For a film that was released just a year after Jaws and even includes the word "Jaws" in its title, the trailer for Mako: The Jaws Of Death has some cheek describing itself as a “unique adventure.”
For those who don’t sit around in their underwear watching Shark Week, compared to a Great White, a Mako is kind of a pathetic alternative beastie to battle. But what if there are a swarm of them? Still kind of pathetic, unfortunately, even when they’re being telepathically controlled by a man with a magical medallion. Yes, that’s the actual plot.
The Last Shark (1981)
In all fairness, the Great White model used in The Last Shark is kind of impressive for a low budget movie, perhaps even more impressive than those used in the last two Jaws sequels. However, unlike the original, it is overused to the point that you can see it only has one method of attack for a reason: pop up under a boat/pier/helicopter then bite the victim in half.
The plot may sound familiar: Vic Morrow and James Franciscus must save a coastal town from a toothy pest, but there is one key difference that makes the story completely different: this shark is 35 feet long! That's 10 feet longer than Bruce! Which makes it 10 times scarier, right? Well, not quite.
Devouring Waves (1984)
Also known as Monster Shark, Devil Fish, or it’s original title Shark Rosso Nell ’Oceano, Devouring Waves sees a marine biologist, a dolphin trainer, a research scientist, and a local sheriff defend Florida from a sea monster.
The twist? This isn’t your regular big toothy fish. This beast is part shark, part octopus, and all bad.
Alligator (1980)
Now, this list of Jaws copycat films branches out from sharks and includes other monstrous beasts with one-word titles. Alligator sees a baby alligator get flushed down a toilet and grow up on a steady diet of jacked-up, steroid tested laboratory mice.
Of course, he grows up big and strong and decides to celebrate his adulthood with a night on the town, munching down on all those who want to ruin his good time.
Grizzly (1976)
Released a year after Spielberg's masterpiece, take Amity Island and replace it with a state park, drunken fishermen with drunken hunters and a 25-foot shark with an 18-foot grizzly bear and you have Grizzly, “The Most Dangerous Jaws On Land,” according to the poster's tagline.
One cool piece of trivia, the original poster was painted by comic book legend, Neal Adams.
Claws (1977)
One year after Grizzly took the Jaws format and made it about a grizzly, Claws did the exact same thing. In fact, in Canada and Mexico, it was released as Grizzly 2, despite having no connection to the fore-mentioned movie.
After hunters wound a bear, the bear decides to take up vengeance as its new way of life and wreaks havoc in the Alaskan wilderness.
Tintorera (1977)
Tintorera is a weird little film, which sounds disingenuous on a list filled with weird little films. To watch the trailer gives the impression that the movie's main focus is on the creepy love triangle between two shark hunters and a British holidaymaker, with the killer tiger shark attacks as an afterthought.
The main selling point for the feature is that it uses real sharks, which is true, but those real sharks come in the form of stock footage featuring five-foot-long nibblers you could probably best with a well-aimed kick to the nose.
Blood Beach (1981)
Have you ever wanted to see Pauly from Rocky as a noir-style detective investigate a mysterious series of deaths on a beach? Then Blood Beach is the film for you. Burt Young leads this no star cast, tracking down clues to work out who or what is responsible for the murders that make this beach so bloody.
Is it human? Is it a creature? is it the sand itself? Only one thing is for sure, this is how you make a Jaws knock-off when the budget doesn’t stretch fair enough to build a rubber shark prop.
Piranah (1978)
Easily the most well-known movie on this list, enough for it to become a cult classic, spawn a sequel literally called Piranha II: The Spawning and be remade twice, what separates Piranha from the other Jaws cash-ins on this list?
The fact that it unashamedly knows exactly what is and embraces its own goofiness to the point of parody. Richard Dreyfuss himself even makes a cameo in the 2010 version.
Orca (1977)
Finally, we have Orca, featuring the legendary Richard Harris as Captain Nolan, going after a killer whale who is attacking a fishing harbor for killing its mate and child, introducing the concept of fishy revenge before Jaws 4 brought it to the mainstream.
A cinematic classic for all those who have seen it, albeit, for the wrong reasons, Orca considered itself legit competition with the shark series that it emulated. The movie even features Orca killing a Great White Shark to demonstrate what a furious a beast it is, which may be the reason why Jaws 2 opens with the corpse of a well-munched killer whale found on the beach.