3. Grizzly (1976)
This one moves onto dry land, but it is very obviously a Jaws copycat from the get-go. Set in a national forest, a couple of female hikers are bloodily attacked and killed by a huge bear at the beginning of the film.
As per usual, the park's corrupt supervisor scoffs at the idea of closing the park. Who knew that closing a national park down for a couple of days was such a big deal? The movie has many direct parallels with Jaws including the supervisor's reluctance to close down the park and the Chief Ranger's (played by veteran bad movie actor Christopher George) inexperience with bears, which leads him to recruit a Brody-like naturalist character for help.
The bear is supposed to be a 16-foot monster, and is killed in Jaws fashion with a bazooka. This is not a good film.
2. Alligator (1980)
This movie is a pretty fun ride, and benefits from a liberal dose of satirizing these types of films. Several years after a pet baby alligator is flushed down a toilet, he grows to full on monster proportions in the city sewers, having fed for years on the dumped carcasses of lab test animals that were dosed with growth hormones.
Expectedly, the giant gator begins to dine on sewer workers and other folks, while a few familiar plot devices borrowed from Jaws are trotted out.
The special effects aren't great, but are pretty decent, and the film is equal parts funny and scary, making it worth seeking out.
1. Piranha (1978)
This killer fish film was called "the best of the Jaws ripoffs" by Steven Spielberg himself, and for good reason. It was produced by Roger Cormam, directed by Joe Dante, and is somewhat of a parody of the Jaws formula.
Most of the film was also shot at the legendary Aquarena Springs water resort which was located in New Braunfels, Texas at the time, giving the film a fun connection to this state.
There are lots of actors that regularly appeared in Roger Corman films, including Dick Miller and Paul Bartel, and Piranha is among the best of the Corman-produced movies.
The film begins with a young couple breaking into an abandoned complex located on a mountain they're hiking on, and then skinny dipping in what they think is a swimming pool of some kind. Bad idea, as they're quickly devoured by something in the water. Investigators drain the pool, accidentally releasing what turns out to be a military experiment - genetically altered piranha that can live in fresh or salt water - into a nearby river.
As the piranha head downstream, eating people along the way, the team of good guys realize they're heading straight for Lost River Water Park and Summer Camp, where they eventually make a smorgasbord of kids and councilors during a swimming marathon. After that snack, the still hungry piranha head straight towards Aquarena Springs, on its opening day.
After thwarting the piranha menace by releasing industrial chemicals, the threat is apparently over, and the film ends with a shot of a peaceful beach. Then the tell-tale sound that indicates a piranha presence begins again, giving the viewer one of those "The End?" Moments.
A combination of OK effects, good directing, and competent acting places Piranha above almost all of the other Jaws copycats, and makes it a fun B movie in its own right. Definitely worth looking for, especially for people that remember Aquarena Springs.
