Editorials
The Scariest Moment in ‘Jaws’ is Still Pure Nightmare Fuel
Exactly 42 years ago, Jaws gave rise to the summer blockbuster as we know it. And with it came countless fears and deep-seated nightmares that still persist to this day.
Why are so many people so afraid of sharks, despite the deep sea predators actually posing very little threat to humans? Much of that credit, for better or worse, must be given to Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, which has been keeping people out of the water for four decades now.
An adaptation of Peter Benchley’s same-named novel, released just one year prior, Jaws wrote the book on summer blockbusters as well as shark attack films. With the tale of a Great White terrorizing the fictional Amity Island, Spielberg crafted a horror film that may very well be the best one ever made.
Everything you could ever want from a horror movie is found in Jaws, driven by such incredible storytelling, character work and acting that it’s so much more than a “scary movie.” It’s arguably not even the shark itself that has kept horror fans coming back again and again over the years… but holy shit is that shark still terrifying after all these years.
Jaws is loaded with truly nightmarish scenes, including two jump scares that no horror film may ever match. I’m referring to the shocking appearance of Ben Gardner’s severed head during a late night dive and, of course, the shark breaching the surface while Martin Brody is chumming the waters.
But what’s the scariest moment in the entire film? If you’re asking me, it’s one that is much more subtle than the aforementioned jump scares. And it’s one of the film’s many moments that benefited from, oddly enough, the mechanical shark being the most reluctant actor in horror history.
Infamously, Jaws took a less-is-more approach to many of its early shark appearances out of necessity more than anything else; it’s not until the 1-hour mark that we actually catch a good glimpse of the shark for the first time. That glimpse comes courtesy of the “estuary attack” scene, wherein an unlucky boater has his leg chomped clean off by the razor-toothed menace.
At first, we see the shark approach the man from a birds-eye-view angle. The shark is completely turned on its side and is only faintly visible underneath the surface of the water, before eventually lunging its head out to give us a much better look. But it’s the initial glimpse of the shark that’s the true nightmare fuel, as it’s an exercise in restraint that makes one thing crystal clear: it’s often what we don’t quite see in horror movies that is the scariest.
When I tweeted about this particular scene just last night, many of my followers chimed in with some great insights…
- “This scene shows just enough to send your imagination into overdrive. A perfect one-frame lesson in restraint.” – @BluGilliand
- “To this day, it’s this scene that still freaks me out.” – @ArenaBrothers
- “Yeah this is probably the most shocking scene. Just the silhouette of the shark in the water is creepy. Less is more in my book.” – @BeeWilsonBeeman
- “The most frightening shot of the film. And the leg dropping to the ocean floor is disturbingly realistic looking.” – @KyleWarner3000
In a film so loaded with terrifying moments, it may seem impossible to pick just one to hold up as the scariest of the scary. But to this day, I’m not so sure that I’ve ever seen a moment in a horror movie that defines the overused term “nightmare fuel” as well as this one from Jaws. Even over 40 years after its original release, a more bone-chilling movie moment has arguably never been brought to the screen.
And that’s the power of Jaws: the most timelessly terrifying movie of them all.
Auteur Filmmaking is a term that gets thrown around a lot these days in reference to big name directors like Quentin Tarantino and even Wes Anderson, but the truth is that film is a collective medium, and no one person can be responsible for every single aspect of a particular production. However, the smaller a film’s budget, the bigger the individual impact of every creative decision behind it – and the easier it becomes to identify a genuine auteur.
This isn’t necessarily a judgement of value, as blockbuster filmmaking comes with its own challenges and a good movie remains a miracle regardless of how big the crew is, but I’ve always been more interested in soulful b-movies produced by handfuls of passionate artists than blockbusters backed by creative armies.
That’s why I love exploring low-budget franchises that never left the hands of their original creators, as you really get to know the artists involved with these flicks and can accompany their evolution over a period of time. With that in mind, I’d like to invite readers to join me in this multi-part series as we look into a vampire saga helmed by one of the most fascinating auteurs of the 1990s. Naturally, I’m referring to Ted Nicolaou’s criminally underrated Subspecies!
The Birth of an Unlikely Horror Franchise
A proud graduate of the University of Texas’ Film program, Nicolaou got his start in the industry as a sound technician working on Tobe Hooper’s original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. From there, the filmmaker would go on to work for notorious indie producer Charles Band, the founder of both Empire Pictures and Full Moon Productions. According to Nicolaou, Band would usually contact him with an offer to direct a feature after more prominent filmmakers, such as the late, great Stuart Gordon, had already refused, meaning that his projects tended to have lower budgets and more inexperienced crew members.
The plans for Subspecies began almost immediately after the fall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, with screenwriter David Pabian turning in an initial draft of the film after a Romanian producer contacted Band and explained that Romanian tax incentives could cover the cost of film production there so long as Full Moon took care of the post-production process. Since Stuart Gordon was unwilling to travel to Romania, Ted Nicolaou ended up taking over the picture.
However, while the financial incentives meant that this Romanian-American co-production could look and feel much more expensive than it really was, with Nicolaou scouting for locations in advance and selecting real castle ruins to be featured in the movie, the director was soon faced with an incredibly difficult shooting process. In interviews, Nicolaou would later describe the experience as something of a nightmare, with language barriers and the generalized distrust of capitalist outsiders sabotaging many of the team’s plans for the film.
In fact, the script, which had already been altered by Band, ultimately had portions of it rewritten by both Jack Canson and Nicolaou himself in an attempt to adapt the story to their unique limitations.
Radu Is One of Horror’s Greatest Underrated Villains
In the finished film, which was released directly to video in 1991, we follow a pair of American anthropology students, Michelle (Laura Mae Tate) and Lillian (Michelle McBride), as they reunite with their Romanian colleague Mara (Irina Movila) in her native land. The group intends to study the folklore surrounding the secluded town of Prejmer, but their research is cut short by the return of Radu Vladislas (Anders Hove) – the evil son of a vampire king (Angus Scrimm) who had previously established a truce with the region’s human residents. It’s now up to Radu’s human-loving half-brother Stefan (Michael Watson) to protect the girls from a fate worse than death as the power-hungry vampire seeks to control a magical artifact known as the Bloodstone.
Right off the bat, you may have noticed that the film’s premise sounds decidedly old-fashioned when compared to other vampire movies from around the same time. While the 1990s saw the rise of cool-looking bloodsuckers with badass elements borrowed from Westerns, as well as the sexy aristocrats of Anne Rice’s stories, Subspecies has a lot more in common with Nosferatu and the Hammer Horror series than any of its contemporaries.
This is both a blessing and a curse, as the film falls victim to overly familiar genre tropes while also standing out as a rare example of a ’90s vampire flick that isn’t afraid to flex its muscles as a Creature Feature. In fact, I’d argue that the presence of age-old clichés is a small price to pay when confronted with one of the most compelling vampire antagonists in all of cinema.
Named after Vlad the Impaler’s real-life brother, Anders Hove’s Radu is such a fascinating character and the main reason why Subspecies is still worth watching 35 years later. From his animalistic mannerisms to the joy he feels in simply existing as a chaotic creature of the night, and that’s not even mentioning the iconic makeup that almost certainly inspired the undead from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Radu is a hypnotic presence harkening back to a time when audiences didn’t mind purely evil villains that couldn’t be redeemed through tragic backstories or sex appeal.
Gothic Atmosphere on an Indie Budget
Of course, the film’s Romanian setting and authentic art direction do a lot of the heavy lifting whenever Radu isn’t around. From the masked festivals of the village to the visually interesting selection of local extras, Subspecies’ multicultural elements help it to stand out when compared to similar flicks from the ’90s.
That being said, Nicolaou’s unique eye for special effects and exciting action sequences – as well as Vlad Paunescu’s excellent cinematography – make the movie a delight for fans of expressionist cinema and old-timey gothic horror. While the crew is obviously dealing with limited resources, many of the flick’s blemishes (such as the odd stop-motion demons that serve Radu) end up feeling more like charming idiosyncrasies than actual flaws.
I’d argue that the only real issue here is pacing, as there are long stretches of film where the protagonists are simply bumbling around without realizing what’s really going on around them. Thankfully, the gorgeous visuals and surprisingly effective soundtrack usually make up for this. Besides, how can you dislike a movie where shotgun shells are loaded with rosary beads and our lead vampires duke it out in a dramatic swordfight that would feel out of place during the golden age of Hollywood?
Your overall enjoyment of Subspecies will mostly depend on whether or not you find low-budget corner-cutting and janky practical effects charming rather than distracting, but I know I’ll keep coming back to this Full Moon feature again and again in the future.
That being said, while this first movie is worth revisiting by its own merits as the birth of an indie horror icon, I’d like to invite you to join us as we look into the cult sequel Bloodstone: Subspecies II soon.
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