I’m Still Afraid of Sharks, but Jaws Is on Blu-Ray

I don’t really like scary movies. My brain takes them seriously.

Thanks to some long forgotten film, I suffer from an unnatural fear of quicksand (although I’ve never actually even seen quicksand). I worry sometimes about dolls coming alive.

And, of course, thanks to JAWS (1975), I still have a deeply entrenched fear being torn apart by those pesky, jagged teeth of a shark — even when I’m in a freshwater lake.

How can it be that it’s already more than 35 years since I first heard John Williams’ two terrifying musical notes of doom?

It seems impossible that there are still people who haven’t seen this classic film whose promotional poster tells all.

But if you have never seen it or if you haven’t seen it in a long time, it’s time to think about an end-of-summer group watching event. JAWS is frightening and campy and full of howl-inducing fun.

Best yet, just yesterday on August 14, the new Blu-ray version was released as part of Universal’s 100th Anniversary series. The restoration gives the film “the sight and sound that I didn’t get when I made the movie,” says director Steven Spielberg.

The release of the JAWS Blu-ray was also also timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Discovery Channel’s annual celebration of Shark Week.

As a result, shark is totally in the air. It’s time for a shark party.

There are tips on shark drinking games at sites like Brobible. Shark paraphernalia is available at sites like The Jungle Store and Cafe Press. And amazing feats of shark party creativity are rocking the boat on Pinterest.

You can even have your shark spotters take a quiz. There’s a fascinating collection of JAWS trivia on IMDB. (Did you know that Peter Benchley was livid about the ending of the movie? He didn’t think it was believable. Spielberg told him that the audience would believe anything after watching the movie for two hours, even the blowing up of the mechanical shark.)

I’ll still be scared when watching this one, but sort of like being scared with a good friend. JAWS has everything for a chomping good time.

Gloria Bowman is a writer, storyteller, blogger, movie lover, freelance editor,
and author of the novel, Human Slices.
Access her blog at www.gloriabowman.com; on Twitter @GloriaBow