It was so Thing in fact that it was both Things 1 AND 2 at the same time. It was also Thing 3, the Thing you didn't even know was there...
Which brings me to my next point: Jurassic Park is definitely the Jaws of dinosaur movies. Indiana Jones is the Jaws of... Archeology movies? Schindler's List is the Jaws of Holocaust movies.
Spielberg owns a lot of real estate here.
EDIT: I know this is supposed to be about killer animal movies, I'm just booored at work and fucking about.
Since you mention bears, I would go with the Revenant for them. I think that is the most iconic bear attack in a big budget film. Honourable mention to Cocaine Bear, I think I’ve only seen the trailer but that probably covered it
I’d pick Grizzly, mostly because it was the only memorable bear movie for a long time and rips basically everything off of Jaws, but the bear scene in Revenant makes me want a whole movie just about that
It's The Edge for me. It was a fun man vs nature flick much more along the lines of Anaconda or Lake Placid. Revenant was painful and depressing. I'm glad I watched it but it wasn't easy.
Jurassic Park means everything to me but I had to leave something for commenters, lol. I’d almost say JP is too much of its own thing to be the Jaws of dinosaurs, maybe Lost World? Has memorable characters but a little more grit and fear
Oh yeah that’s the peak of the cave girl dino genre. Despite myself, I sometimes go back to those old perverted movies just to marvel at that era of filmmaking. Just the idea of spectacle and showing people stuff they wanna see
For me, 1925's The Lost World is right up there with Jurassic Park. It's a genuinely great film that still holds up today, and every bit as impressive for its time as Jurassic Park is for its time.
I see I was going to say Halloween, but then I remembered psycho and I feel like arguments could be made for both movies because they both were very impactful. We wouldn’t have most slashers without Halloween and we wouldn’t have Halloween without psycho.
So you're thinking specific kinds of creatures?
For whales, I'd say John Huston's Moby Dick from 1956.
Aliens? That's easy, Ridley Scott's Alien. At least if we're talking aliens as monsters.
For ghosts/hauntings, that's difficult because there are so many worthy films. The Uninvited, The Innocents, The Haunting, The Changeling, Poltergeist, Ring, the Ju-on series, etc.
I’d give it to Poltergeist, it has the right feel and hits the jaws sweet spot where the first viewing is scary, and subsequent viewings are just jolly fun
If the criteria is "fun, crowd-pleasing entertainment", I would agree with you. Poltergeist is probably the most purely "fun" ghost movie, and it does that very well.
But if it's about nominating the most scary, unsettling ghost movie, there are many that do that more effectively than Poltergeist in my opinion.
Not really a crocodile in the strictest sense of the word, but I'd still rank Alligator the highest of the movies involving crocodilians. Lake Placid is a close second.
Totally agree. My favorite thing about that movie (besides Betty White swearing like a sailor) is that they treat it like an animal, and relocate it instead of killing it
I don't think this complies with your question, but I've always thought of Halloween as being very similar to Jaws.
Both Bruce and Michael Myers operate off of pure instinct. Both enter and terrorize a small community (Amity and Haddonfield) during a Holiday (The 4th of July and Halloween). Both Bruce and Michael have white faces and black eyes. In fact one could argue that Dr. Loomis's speech "the blackest eyes...the devil's eyes.." is extremely similar to Quint's "lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a dolls eyes..."
Alien is my favorite movie of all time and I still gotta give it to the Thing. Alien is almost too heavy with subtext to let your brain enjoy the ride, which I love. The Thing has plenty of subtext but also lends itself well to a popcorn watch. Also, every time I’ve shown a man or a woman The Thing, I’ve gotten laid. I owe that movie something.
Oh friend, you just haven't seen enough big pig films. I've seen Pig Hunt, Chaw and Boar for comparison and Razorback falls a smidge short. I did go buy the novel and that's really good! Still, those poor boars always getting short shafted in the movie department. \^\_\^
Alien is the Jaws of Aliens even though the thing also deserves that honor also but alien was first
Not an animal, but the exorcist is the Jaws of demonic position movies
The descent is the jaws of underground horror
The birds is the jaws of bird horror movies lol, I can’t actually think of many others
I
I’d personally specify the Descent for cave monsters, simply because Tremors is practically a perfect example of a Jaws-like movie and features underground creatures. It’s the Jaws of worms. I can’t think of a better choice than Descent for cave monsters, though.
When it comes to giant killer pig movies, there was a Korean film called Chaw that had a pretty good looking pig that ran around and caused havoc. They even managed subtle jokes with a grizzled Quint-esque hunter who keeps being asked by the news to sound more dramatic when he talks about tracking the beast, a pretty hairy ending and not horrible CGI in places. I'd also recommend a film from Australia called Boar that has a good prop boar and pretty likable people. I have watched a lot of giant boar films.
The Thing was peak thing.
Probably the best thing ever made about things
Of all Things that have ever Thinged, The Thing Thinged the most.
What a thing to say
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Funniest comment ever, (but I’m drinking).
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It was so Thing in fact that it was both Things 1 AND 2 at the same time. It was also Thing 3, the Thing you didn't even know was there... Which brings me to my next point: Jurassic Park is definitely the Jaws of dinosaur movies. Indiana Jones is the Jaws of... Archeology movies? Schindler's List is the Jaws of Holocaust movies. Spielberg owns a lot of real estate here. EDIT: I know this is supposed to be about killer animal movies, I'm just booored at work and fucking about.
Since you mention bears, I would go with the Revenant for them. I think that is the most iconic bear attack in a big budget film. Honourable mention to Cocaine Bear, I think I’ve only seen the trailer but that probably covered it
I’d pick Grizzly, mostly because it was the only memorable bear movie for a long time and rips basically everything off of Jaws, but the bear scene in Revenant makes me want a whole movie just about that
It's The Edge for me. It was a fun man vs nature flick much more along the lines of Anaconda or Lake Placid. Revenant was painful and depressing. I'm glad I watched it but it wasn't easy.
When it comes to bear movies, we can't exclude Backcountry. One of the most disturbing animal attack scenes I've seen.
Annihilation scene
Back Country, Legends of the Fall and Jeremiah Johnson all would like a word!
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Love the question, but I genuinely can't believe you had to ask that for dinosaurs. Does Jurassic Park mean NOTHING to you?!
Jurassic Park means everything to me but I had to leave something for commenters, lol. I’d almost say JP is too much of its own thing to be the Jaws of dinosaurs, maybe Lost World? Has memorable characters but a little more grit and fear
Haha fair, fair. Excluding Jurassic Park (and maybe the whole franchise), how about One Million Years BC?
Oh yeah that’s the peak of the cave girl dino genre. Despite myself, I sometimes go back to those old perverted movies just to marvel at that era of filmmaking. Just the idea of spectacle and showing people stuff they wanna see
That's exactly my justification for going for that film, I just couldn't be bothered to type it (and you said it better than I would have anyway!)
Great minds!
For me, 1925's The Lost World is right up there with Jurassic Park. It's a genuinely great film that still holds up today, and every bit as impressive for its time as Jurassic Park is for its time.
Halloween and and Jaws are as perfect as they get
Oh yeah the first Halloween is the pinnacle of slashers. Perfect suspense, scary killer, fantastic cast, and timeless formula
Totally 😂 I watch the original halloween every halloween night, have done for over 20 years and will still do so
I’m coming over and we’re putting on Alien right after
I see I was going to say Halloween, but then I remembered psycho and I feel like arguments could be made for both movies because they both were very impactful. We wouldn’t have most slashers without Halloween and we wouldn’t have Halloween without psycho.
TCM, Black Christmas. and Friday 13th are serious contenders
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Jurassic Park Aliens Predator Congo Terminator 2
Congo! The Jaws of gorillas. Terminator 1 is a strong contender but T2 has that almost Amblin before Amblin feel
Going say T1, he was the main there. T2 was amazing but had 2.
Jurassic Park for dinosaurs Godzilla 1954 for giant monsters/kaiju
Willard
So you're thinking specific kinds of creatures? For whales, I'd say John Huston's Moby Dick from 1956. Aliens? That's easy, Ridley Scott's Alien. At least if we're talking aliens as monsters. For ghosts/hauntings, that's difficult because there are so many worthy films. The Uninvited, The Innocents, The Haunting, The Changeling, Poltergeist, Ring, the Ju-on series, etc.
I’d give it to Poltergeist, it has the right feel and hits the jaws sweet spot where the first viewing is scary, and subsequent viewings are just jolly fun
If the criteria is "fun, crowd-pleasing entertainment", I would agree with you. Poltergeist is probably the most purely "fun" ghost movie, and it does that very well. But if it's about nominating the most scary, unsettling ghost movie, there are many that do that more effectively than Poltergeist in my opinion.
I’d say Lake Placid for crocodile movies.
Not really a crocodile in the strictest sense of the word, but I'd still rank Alligator the highest of the movies involving crocodilians. Lake Placid is a close second.
Alligator is a cult classic
Totally agree. My favorite thing about that movie (besides Betty White swearing like a sailor) is that they treat it like an animal, and relocate it instead of killing it
That’s a niche topic! What are the contenders…rogue, crocodile dundee, ???
I can think of Crawl as a recent example. The 1987 Australian film Dark Age is said to be good, but I haven't seen it.
Rogue is superior imo.
Ghosts in the darkness for lions
Tremors!
Such a fun classic. Nice recommendation!
I don't think this complies with your question, but I've always thought of Halloween as being very similar to Jaws. Both Bruce and Michael Myers operate off of pure instinct. Both enter and terrorize a small community (Amity and Haddonfield) during a Holiday (The 4th of July and Halloween). Both Bruce and Michael have white faces and black eyes. In fact one could argue that Dr. Loomis's speech "the blackest eyes...the devil's eyes.." is extremely similar to Quint's "lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a dolls eyes..."
A fine snippet of intertextual comparison!
It definitely works!
Either The Thing or Alien for alien.
Alien is my favorite movie of all time and I still gotta give it to the Thing. Alien is almost too heavy with subtext to let your brain enjoy the ride, which I love. The Thing has plenty of subtext but also lends itself well to a popcorn watch. Also, every time I’ve shown a man or a woman The Thing, I’ve gotten laid. I owe that movie something.
Razorback for hogs
Oh friend, you just haven't seen enough big pig films. I've seen Pig Hunt, Chaw and Boar for comparison and Razorback falls a smidge short. I did go buy the novel and that's really good! Still, those poor boars always getting short shafted in the movie department. \^\_\^
Alien is the Jaws of Aliens even though the thing also deserves that honor also but alien was first Not an animal, but the exorcist is the Jaws of demonic position movies The descent is the jaws of underground horror The birds is the jaws of bird horror movies lol, I can’t actually think of many others I
I’d personally specify the Descent for cave monsters, simply because Tremors is practically a perfect example of a Jaws-like movie and features underground creatures. It’s the Jaws of worms. I can’t think of a better choice than Descent for cave monsters, though.
The Shining
Exorcist is the top of its subgenre
The quintessential demon movie
Tremors and Feast! Both awesome movies
Jurassic Park is the Jaws of the dinosaurs
Blades (1989). Jaws on a golf course. https://youtu.be/lM-tCDnYh-o?si=EJKOXs_Sref0qsBW
It Follows
When it comes to giant killer pig movies, there was a Korean film called Chaw that had a pretty good looking pig that ran around and caused havoc. They even managed subtle jokes with a grizzled Quint-esque hunter who keeps being asked by the news to sound more dramatic when he talks about tracking the beast, a pretty hairy ending and not horrible CGI in places. I'd also recommend a film from Australia called Boar that has a good prop boar and pretty likable people. I have watched a lot of giant boar films.