''Cruel Jaws'' (also known as ''Jaws 5: Cruel Jaws'' and ''The Beast'') is a 1995 English-language Italian

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

directed by

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

(under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

‘William Snyder’). The film utilizes unauthorized footage from the ''Jaws'' film series and the 1981 Italian knockoff The Last Shark, and was marketed in some regions as a sequel, though it has no official or narrative connections to the franchise. The film was shot in Florida, including at the

Theater of the Sea Theater of the Sea, established in 1946, is a marine mammal park located in the Village of Islamorada, Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders th ...

marine theme park in

Islamorada Islamorada (also sometimes Isla Morada) is an incorporated village in Monroe County, Florida, United States. It is located directly between Miami and Key West on five islands— Tea Table Key, Lower Matecumbe Key, Upper Matecumbe Key, Windl ...

. It was released

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

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

and

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 ki ...

in relative obscurity, mostly outside of the United States.

Plot

When a 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 an aquarium alongside his sons Bob and Larry, is trying to stop bigwig Samuel Lewis from shutting things down due to months of unpaid rent. On the beach, the body of one of the ''Cleveland'' divers is discovered. Police chief Francis Berger and fish expert Bill Morrison bring it in to perform an 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 Dan 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 the shark breaks the pier, it kills nearly everyone who falls in the water. It also causes Dag’s wheelchair-bound daughter Susy to fall in the ocean. Bill’s girlfriend Vanessa jumps in to save 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 the shark but is terrified when it appears, this causes him to fall in the water and the shark devours 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.

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

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

Great White Great White is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The band is named after both the shark with the same name, and guitarist Mark Kendall's former stage nickname. In August 2008, Great White estimated they had sold aroun ...

''. Even though Michael Morahan is the credited composer, the movie’s soundtrack consists entirely of stock music. One piece, ''Excellence'' by Wolfgang Kafer, notoriously utilises

the theme ''The Theme'' () 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. The film was heavily cens ...

from ''

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

''. One of the shark’s motifs is the soundtrack of the movie '' Curse II: The Bite''. Coincidentally, that movie’s composer Carlo Maria Cordio scored ''Deep Blood''.

Home media

The film was released on

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

in 2009. A

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

release from

Scream Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

was planned (packaged as a double feature with '' Exterminators of the Year 3000''), 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 independent film production and distribution company known for restoring and releasing cult films on DVD and Blu-ray. It is considered a boutique Blu-ray and DVD label. History The label was created in 2006 in Los A ...

Documentary

In 2024, a

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about the film was announced, titled Twilight Jaws. It features interviews with the original cast and focuses on the film's cult status and its numerous legal issues.

References

Other sources

External links

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