JAWS may be the granddaddy of shark movies but it isn’t the only one from the 70s-80s to make a mark. For this intrepid blogger there are a handful of shark-themed movies from that same general time frame that made an impression and secured spots in my list of films that I really love. So with that in mind and in commemoration of Shark Week, I figured I’d share with the world some of my fave classic shark infested movies.

The Jaws of Death

A man accidentally learns that he has a mystical connection with sharks, and is given a strange medallion by a shaman. Becoming more and more alienated from normal society, he develops an ability to communicate with sharks telepathically, setting out to destroy anybody who harms sharks.

This delightfully absurd film came hot on the heels of JAWS’s success and unlike other films that tried to ride the JAWS wave, this movie took a major turn into revenge movie territory while also putting sharks into the role of victims and mankind as the assholes who were causing trouble. This movie was like a bizarre amalgamation of DEATH WISH and JAWS that delivered all the fuckery one would expect from that odd combination.
The movie’s star, Richard Jaeckel, was so creepy as a weirdo with a telepathic bond with sharks and who has vowed to kill anyone that would do them harm. He had the distant stare of a raving lunatic down cold. And nearly everyone he encountered was a scummy bastard with designs on killing some sharks so everyone he killed really needed killing.