Why Jaws The Revenge IS A Christmas Movie
Die Hard is a Christmas film, been there, bought the t-shirt - or should that be white vest? Like Jaws the Revenge, it is a film set at Christmas and features numerous festive elements - to be fair the John McTiernan action classic probably does have a greater claim, but non-the-less the third Jaws sequel does feature numerous Christmas nods.
For starters, it opens just a few days before Christmas and the town of Amity is early in full festive swing, complete with carol singers singing the first noel, who act as an effective cutaway as Sean Brody is attacked by a Great White shark after attempting to move some flotsam - or was it a Christmas log? It's actually quite a disturbing scene, juxtaposing a time associated with one of safety and love and family, when we get shark carnage, loss and a family being torn apart by grief.
Prior to this we have a lovely scene with Ellen, Sean and his fiancé walking through the festive streets of Amity, wishing people Merry Christmas and organising eggnog drinks in the week. Sean's even saying how he is going to get a big tree and all the old ornaments down.
It's directly after this exchange that Sean pops into the office, Amity Island P. D., where we see the new Polly next to a picture of Chief Brody. We even get a Lenny name check. Jaws The Revenge may get an awful lot of stick, but these scenes on Amity (once again filmed on Martha's Vineyard) have real heart and are quite lovely.
It may have a bit of a Hallmark Channel film feel about it, even the blossoming romance with Ellen and Hoagie does, but I like it all the same.
After Sean's death we even get to welcome back Mrs Kintner and Mrs Taft, in a nice hark back to the original, there to comfort Ellen in her loss. See, even after all these years Amity really does mean friendship.
Michael Brody returns to Amity for the funeral of his brother and convinces his mum to return with him and his family to the Bahamas, something not all of us will be able to do this year, for the remainder of Christmas and into the new year. The cold and winter of Amity is replaced by warmth and bright sunshine, but we are still very much in the holiday season. We even get presents exchanged around the tree, so still very much a movie set at Christmas.
Sean Brody walking through Amity and passes preparations for a performance of the nativity
In the Bahamas, Hoagie (Michael Caine a few years before his Muppet Christmas Carol exploits) and Ellen attend a Junkanoo Parade, a local celebration that takes place every year in late December.
Of course Jaws The Revenge isn't a Christmas film in the traditional sense of the word, so it is never going to be sold next to Home Alone, Miracle on 34th Street or Elf.
But if you fancy mixing up your festive themed features with those that are also set around the Christmas period, then yes, it is as much a Christmas film as Die Hard is a Christmas film, or Trading Places, Lethal Weapon, Iron Man 3, Dark Angel, The Conjuring 2 or yes, even Invasion USA.
It's not an on the nose Christmas-themed horror like Santa's Slay, Black Christmas or Silent Night, Deadly Night either.
And what I like about the subtle use of Christmas in Jaws the Revenge is that it gives it an uneasy undercurrent, despite Sean's death, it continues. Having experienced loss at Christmas, I know how subverted it can all feel. I've often felt like doing a Michael Brody and running up that beach.
In many ways the film is about grief and Ellen trying to escape it, by heading to the Bahamas, but - like the shark - it follows. There may not be the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future - but the ghosts of the past are certainly there with Chief Brody's off screen death and Ellen getting echoes of the past with the sepia flashbacks (even if they were events she never saw, I'm sure Martin would have told her about them), the ghosts of the present are her family and her worry that her only remaining son may die because of the shark, and the future is her possible new one with Hoagie.
Three generations of Brodys open their Christmas presents
Ultimately, Ellen realises she can no longer run from her fear and most face it head on, which she does with the bow of the boat. Yeah, I'm having trouble linking that to Dickens.
So, alongside Christmas With The Kranks I'll also be spending Christmas with the Brodys, watching Jaws the Revenge whilst sipping a Bahama Mama. Yes, it's not a patch on Jaws, no one is even trying to pretend it is, but it still reminds me when I first rented it aged 12.
Like it or not, it is part of the Jaws series. You can ignore it if you want to, but I don't, and it shall long remain top of the tree and part of my essential Christmas-themed film viewing.
Words by Dean Newman
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