''Cruel Jaws'', also known as ''The Beast'', is a 1995

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

Italian horror thriller film shot in Florida including the

Theater of the Sea Theater of the Sea, established in 1946, is a marine mammal park located in the Village of Islamorada, Florida, United States. It is a tourist attraction located on Windley Key in the Florida Keys. Visitors can swim with Atlantic bottlenose dolph ...

. The film stars Richard Dew and David Luther and was directed by

Bruno Mattei Bruno Mattei (30 July 1931 – 21 May 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor who directed exploitation films in many genres, including women in prison, nunsploitation, zombie, mondo, cannibal, and Nazisploitation films. Ma ...

(under the name of William Snyder). It was released on VHS and DVD in relative obscurity, mostly outside of the United States. While marketed in many areas as ''Jaws 5: Cruel Jaws'', it actually doesn't have any connections to the ''Jaws'' franchise.

Plot

When a crashed military ship named the ''Cleveland'' crashes, two divers named Paco and Jose search it and are killed by a large tiger shark. The shark also kills their captain Ramone. Meanwhile in Hampton Bay, Florida, aquarist Dag Soerenson, who runs the aquarium alongside his sons Bob and Larry, is trying to stop bigwig Samuel Lewis from shutting down the place due to months of unpaid rent. On the beach, one of the divers body is discovered and police chief Francis Berger and fish expert Bill Morrison bring it into autopsy where they determine that a large shark indeed attacked the diver, but Lewis and the Mayor Godfrey disagree and don’t bother to postpone the upcoming Regatta. One night, at Old Beach, a woman, Katie Adams, and her boyfriend Jan go swimming and Katie is killed by the shark. Berger tries to reason with the mayor but he still refuses. A few shark proof gates are placed and the shark is apparently killed but Bill doesn’t agree. Even when Ramone’s broken boat shows up they still go on with the Regatta. The shark breaks through and kills many surfers. When it breaks the pier, it kills nearly everyone that falls in. It also causes Dag’s wheelchair-bound daughter Susy to fall in. Bill’s girlfriend Vanessa jumps in to safe her and is devoured. Lewis offers up a reward and is revealed to be working with the Mafia. His son Ronnie goes out and tries to kill it but is terrified of the shark which causes him to fall in and the shark eats him. His friends die by blowing up the boat by accident. Berger goes out to kill the shark but the shark is revealed to be too large to kill using the helicopter. The shark takes the helicopter out of the sky and devours Berger and the pilot. Bill explains that the ''Cleveland'', that crashed in an area called Cape Farrows, was carrying the shark which was trained as top-secret navy material to attack the enemy. The Mafia boss sends two thugs out to kill the shark, but they go to Cape Farrows to explore the ''Cleveland'' when they steal Bill’s map to the wreck’s location. During this, they are both devoured. Dag, Bill, Bob and Larry sail to the ''Cleveland'' where they load the wreck with dynamite and blow it up which kills the shark. Dag wins the reward which allows him to pay rent for the aquarium.

Production

Due to the low budget, the movie heavily utilizes footage from all 4 movies of the ''Jaws'' film series, as well as the Italian films ''

Deep Blood ''Deep Blood'', also known as ''Sharks'' and ''Sangue negli abissi'' (literally: "Blood in the Abyss"), is a 1989 Italian sharksploitation drama. The credited director Raffaele Donato (as Raf Donato) only directed the first scene in which the bo ...

'' (basically the entire climax of the movie) and ''

Great White Great White is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The band peaked with several albums during the mid-to-late 1980s, including the platinum-selling records '' Once Bitten'' (1987) and '' ...Twice Shy'' (1989), and those albums ...

''. In some airings (for example, in Germany), one scene even utilized

the theme ''The Theme'' (russian: Тема, Tema) is a 1979 Soviet comedy film directed by Gleb Panfilov. It tells the story of an egotistical playwright who thinks of himself as an artist, but who allows the system to make him write conformist plays. Th ...

from ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

''.

Cast

* Richard Dew as Dag Soerensen * David Luther as Francis Berger * George Barnes, Jr. as Samuel Lewis * Scott Silveria as Bob Soerensen * Kristen Urso as Susy Soerensen * Sky Palma as Glenda * Norma J. Nesheim as Vanessa * Gregg Hood as Bill Morrison * Carter Collins as Ronnie Lewis * Natasha Etzer as Gloria Lewis * Larry Zience as Larry * Jay Colligan as Tommy

Home media

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in 2009. A

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

release from

Scream Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

was planned (packaged as a double feature with ''

Exterminators of the Year 3000 ''Exterminators of the Year 3000'' ( it, Il Giustiziere della Strada) is a 1983 Italian-Spanish science fiction action film directed by Giuliano Carmineo. The film is set in a post-apocalyptic future where water is considered a precious substanc ...

''), but ultimately cancelled due to the film's unauthorized use of footage from the ''Jaws'' franchise and other shark movies. The film was officially released on Blu-ray and DVD in the US on September 29, 2020 by

Severin Films Severin Films is an American film production and distribution company known for restoring and releasing cult films on DVD and Blu-ray. History The label was created in 2006 in Los Angeles, and other offices were founded in New York City and Londo ...

References

Other sources

External links

* * {{Bruno Mattei 1995 films 1995 horror films Films about sharks Italian horror films Natural horror films 1990s Italian-language films Films directed by Bruno Mattei Films set in Florida Films about shark attacks Films shot in Florida Unofficial sequel films Direct-to-video horror films 1995 direct-to-video films 1990s English-language films