'Jaws 2’ has more gore, terror

Press, 24 June 1978, Page 24

'Jaws 2’ has more gore, terror

By

ARTHUR SPIEGELMAN

NZPA New York Jaws 2“ has opened across the United States, and its makers hope it has a> much box-office bite as it'- phenomenally successful predecessor, seen by 200 million people. •Jaws 2' — just when vou thought it was safe to go back into the water.” the advertisements proBut the critics, sharpening their pencils, say this latest shark film lacks the poise. stvle, and •Jaws.”

These it may certainly charm of the original lack, but — if the reactions of a preview audience are anything to go by — there is plenty of terror and panache left in continuing the gnashings of the killer white shark. One preview audience cheered and shrieked at each bite made by the S2M mechanical shark as it swallowed water-skiers, pimply teen-agers, and even a helicopter before going out in a carefully planned blaze of glorious gore The producers of “Jaws

2” cheerfully admit that terror was their aim in reviving the most successful fish story since Moby Dick. “The aim was to fright en the audience in the movie sense, and what is wrong with that as long as we are not destroying society?” asked the film’s co.-producer, David Brown. In an interview in his New York office as “Jaws 2” was beginning its run m 686 United States cinemas. Mr Brown said: “People come to be scared in the safety of the theatre. As my co-produc-

er, Dick Zanuck, said of the original ‘Jaws' — we want to empty the beaches and fill the theatres.” Asked about the bad reviews that “Jaws 2” was getting from the critics, Mr Brown said there was a tendency to shoot down a movie of this kind because it was clearly commercial: it was made to make money. “If this movie is to be a big hit, and I think it will, it will come because of audience reaction, and our previews showed we are getting that,” he said.

To ensure success for the film, which will open overseas in December, the producers and Universal researched what the public wanted in a sequel. The result is that “Jaws 2” is told from the shark’s point of view, its chief victims being teen-agers, the group thought most likely to want to see the film. The shark is the hunter in the sequel, but it was the hunted in the original. The result is an increase in attack scenes, with more shark’s teeth per minute than the original.