ORIGINAL AUDIO OF JAWS 2 AUDIENCE REACTION SCREAMING IN TERROR IN 1978 ... AND ITS AMAZING
Think the Jaws sequesls don’t provoke terror in the aisles? Think again, as this amazing audio from 1978 shows a packed audience screaming the house down in absolute terror at the Amity teens in trouble as the shark launches itself at them.
The footage was added after the fact, but the audio was recorded on audio cassette and then matched up afterwards. With the levels of screams, you’d almost be forgiven for thinking that they are on a theme park ride, or The Beatles had just walked on stage.
It features three tense scenes from the Jeannot Szwarc sequel, the first of which is when Mike Brody (Mark Gruner) is knocked unconscious and is floating in the water. Revel in the cinematic pandemonium as a cacophony of screams fill the auditorium the very moment the huge dorsal fin rises from the water and Mike’s friends struggle to pull him to the safety of the boat as the shark gains ever closer.
Just when you think they have got a grip and are about to pull him in, he slips back into the water and we get a great point of view shot from the dorsal fin, which only makes the screams get louder.
They just manage to pull him to as the open mouth of the shark smashes up against the side of the boat. Today, we might scoff at the bendy mouth as it goes out of shape, but it certainly didn’t diminish this audience’s sense of danger or excitement.
The second is one of the most shocking of the whole Jaws series, the death of Marge (Martha Swatek). As the shark strikes the flotilla of tied up damaged boats, Sean Brody (Marc Gilpin) enters the water – cue screams – screams that don’t stop and become increasingly nervous as Marge tries to push Sean up out of the water.
And then there is that shot – it sends chills just watching it – as the almost seemingly smiling shark glides to the surface and is the Jaws 2 answer to the estuary victim scene. In other words, it is pure nightmare fuel, an accolade only heightened by the volume of screams and sheer terror that greet what is unfolding in front of the terrified audience. You’d almost think they were actually there.
The third and final scene is the ending of the film with Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) smashing the exposed cable of Cable Junction with an oar to attract the great white. For this one the audience is almost deathly silent as the shark heads towards Amity’s police chief as he attempts to improve on the ending to Jaws, which naturally he can’t.
They scream in the final moments, but once that shark bites down on that cable the audience go suitably nuts and cheer and applaud the fishy firework as it lights up the screen and sparks fly. The shark from Jaws 2 is dead, long live the shark from Jaws 2.
In 1975, Jaws thrilled us and brought our fear of sharks to the big screen, all with hardly showing the great white. In the original Spielberg classic, it only had four minutes of screen time, the rest of it shown through point of view shots and suggested by the classic John Williams score.
For Jaws 2, John Williams and that score – which he builds on beautifully – were back and so was more shark. There was no reason to hide the shark, and besides people wanted to see it more, demanding more shark action.
And Jaws 2 certainly delivered a bigger, badder shark, it even having a battle scar. This audience audio shows that although Jaws 2 may not have reached the levels of filmmaking and fear of Jaws, it still delivered a satisfying shark horror thriller to its audience. And boy did that audience bite.
In fact, Jaws 2 would be the most successful sequel of all time until the release of Rocky II the following year. And for many, Jaws 2 – although not without its issues – has some flashes of brilliance and is still a worthy follow up to the greatest film of all time.
Words by Dean Newman
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