History NightmareFuel / Jaws

* The opening scene of the film where the girl in the water is killed. [[NothingIsScarier You never see the shark]] -- only its perspective and her reaction, while hearing the amazing score by Music/JohnWilliams. Hearing her scream, struggle to breathe, and try to seek refuge on the buoy makes you imagine what the shark is doing to her under the surface. Bravo named it the scariest scene in film history for a ''reason''.

** Brody's reaction to Quint's death. He almost manages to save him, but Quint's hand slips from his grasp. When he Quint in the shark's mouth, he looks absolutely horrified.

** Making Hooper's reaction even moe effective and frightening is how slightly delayed it is. He's so in shock by the abruptness of the dismembered head that his brain takes a while to even process this terrifying new information.

* The search for Ben Gardner aboard his boat is one of the most frightening jump scares ever put to film. When Hooper goes into the ocean to investigate the hull of Gardner's seemingly abandoned boat, he discovers a shark tooth embedded in one of the holes of the boat. When he takes a closer look into the hole, the [[PeekABooCorpse severed head of Gardner]] (missing an eye) suddenly shows up with a terrifying shriek, scaring both Hooper and the audience. Creator/StevenSpielberg reshot that scene during post-production to make it into a JumpScare because he wanted to add "one last scream" into the film. [[NightmareFuel And it was definitely effective]]!

[[caption-width-right:350:It's Franchise/{{Popeye}} the Sailor Man]]

* The second major attack from the titular shark. A peaceful day, everyone's minding their own business, shouts of joy drowning each other out. Then, slowly, we focus on Brody's dawning horror, as we cut between him and a lone child, panicking beyond belief, bobbing up and down in the water '''''IN A GEYSER OF HIS OWN BLOOD. IN A PG MOVIE.''''' Then, the blissful calm turns to wary alarm as everyone on the shore starts rising up, murmuring in wonder and confusion. Then, all of a sudden, the child's screams stop, and we see a woman, Mrs. Kintner the child's mother, asking "Alex?" warily before it cuts from her to an image of a torn flotation device, surrounded by tomato-red water before fading to black. AdultFear '''indeed'''.

* The second major attack from the titular shark. A peaceful day, everyone's minding their own business, shouts of joy drowning each other out. Then, slowly, we focus on Brody's dawning horror, as we cut between him and a lone child, panicking beyond belief, bobbing up and down in the water '''''IN A GEYSER OF HIS OWN BLOOD. IN A PG MOVIE.''''' Then, the blissful calm turns to wary alarm as everyone on the shore starts rising up, murmuring in wonder and confusion. Then, all of a sudden, the child's screams stop, and we see a woman, Mrs. Kintner the child's mother, asking "Alex?" warily before it cuts from her to an image of a torn flotation device, surrounded by tomato-red water before fading to black. AdultFear indeed.

* The second major attack from the titular shark. A peaceful day, everyone's minding their own business, shouts of joy drowning each other out. Then, slowly, we focus on Brody's dawning horror, as we cut between him and a lone child, panicking beyond belief, bobbing up and down in the water '''''IN A GEYSER OF HIS OWN BLOOD. IN A PG MOVIE.''''' Then, the blissful calm turns to wary alarm as everyone on the shore starts rising up, murmuring in wonder and confusion. Then, all of a sudden, the child's screams stop, and we see a woman, Mrs. Kintner the child's mother, asking "Alex?" warily before it cuts from her to an image of a torn flotation device, surrounded by tomato-red water before fading to black.

* Quint slowly being killed by the shark is both nauseating and horrifying. The experienced shark-hunter slowly slides down the length of his boat, incapable of preventing his descent. The once fearless and excitable fisherman now looks absolutely terrified as he desperately kicks to prevent himself from going into the beast's jaws. Then we see the shark's teeth biting right into his stomach and all the blood spilling out from his body painting the water red. Throughout the last 15 seconds, you can also hear his spine breaking as poor Quint lets out '''EAR-SPLITTING ''SCREAMS'' ''' of agony as he chokes on his own blood. Those are NOT screams of terror, but the sound of inhumane '''''PAIN''''', like an animal being ground by a hay bailer.

* Quint slowly being killed by the shark is both nauseating and horrifying. The experienced shark-hunter slowly slides down the length of his boat, incapable of preventing his descent. The once fearless and excitable fisherman now looks absolutely terrified as he desperately kicks to prevent himself from going into the beast's jaws. Then we see the shark's teeth biting right into his stomach and all the blood spilling out from his body painting the water red. Throughout the last 15 seconds, you can also hear his spine breaking as poor Quint lets out EAR-SPLITTING ''SCREAMS'' of agony as he chokes on his own blood. Those are NOT screams of terror, but the sound of inhumane PAIN, like an animal being ground by a hay bailer.

* Quint slowly being killed by the shark is both nauseating and horrifying. The experienced shark-hunter slowly slides down the length of his boat, incapable of preventing his descent. We see the shark's teeth biting right into his stomach and all the blood comes out painting the water red. In the last moment you can also hear his spine breaking. His screams of agony add to the horror.

** The ride's original ending was arguably even more graphic. The skipper would shoot a grenade right into the shark's mouth. The shark would then go back underwater, only to explode mere seconds later, leaving behind a pool of blood and pieces of skin and flesh.
* In a meta example, after Amity was replaced by Diagon Alley, the creative team saved one full size Bruce and had him buried beneath the London fountain. So in a way, he'll always be there, lurking out of sight, just below the surface of the water...

* The scene where Hooper is in the cage, watching the shark slowly inch closer and closer. It passes the cage, seeming not to care. Hooper readies his spear. The shark slams onto the cage ''from the back'', just behind Hooper. The worst part is that, when the shark keeps lunging towards Hooper, [[OhCrap you honestly can't tell if it's a real shark or Bruce]]. The scene is even ''more'' terrifying in the book, where we get an agonizing description of Hooper's last moments.
--> "The fish thrust again, and Hooper saw with the terror of doom that the mouth was going to reach him."

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jaws_the_ride.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Sick burn!]]

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[[caption-width-right:350:This is the movie that made you '''deathly afraid''' to go out in the water.]]
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* The scene where Hooper is in the cage, watching the shark slowly inch closer and closer. It passes the cage, seeming not to care. Hooper readies his spear. The shark slams onto the cage ''from the back'', just behind Hooper. The worst part is that, when the shark keeps lunging towards Hooper, [[OhCrap you honestly can't tell if it's a real shark or Bruce]].

* The second major attack from the titular shark. A peaceful day, everyone's minding their own business, shouts of joy drowning each other out. Then, slowly, we focus on Brody's dawning horror, as we cut between him and a lone child, panicking beyond belief, bobbing up and down in the water '''''IN A GEYSER OF HIS OWN BLOOD. IN A PG MOVIE.''''' Then, the blissful calm turns to wary alarm as everyone on the shore starts rising up, murmuring in wonder and confusion. Then, all of a sudden, the child's screams stop, and we see a [[AdultFear woman, Mrs. Kintner the child's mother, asking "Alex?" warily before it cuts from her to an image of a torn flotation device, surrounded by tomato-red water before fading to black]].

** Brody tells Michael that he can go on his sailboat, but go to the pond and not the open water. He reasons that if the shark reappears, it won't go into a small estuary. Then an artist screams, "SHARK! SHARK! SHARK IN THE POND!" Brody is prepared to investigate halfheartedly if it's another hoax, before his wife reminds him, "[[WhamLine Michael's in the pond]]." Those words strike instant AdultFear in him; Brody's power-walk becomes a full-on sprint and he screams if someone has a gun. He nearly sees his son eaten alive.

*** A DeletedScene [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RFcl6xHri4 is even worse]], where the shark goes after Michael and at first he ends up in the boater's grip. The boater is thrashing while bleeding from the mouth, and Michael can't move at all. In the end, either the boater dies and his grip slackens or he uses the last of his strength to push Michael away to safety. You can see why it was cut, with the production crew saying [[EveryoneHasStandards it was too horrifying to use]], including the stuntman involved.

* How about [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc0KsiMsyZ4 this]] lost scene? In it, the man from the boat in the estuary is being dragged along the surface of the water by the shark ''as it goes after Brody's son Michael.'' We see Michael being pushed up against the dying man and shoved around in the water and it seems like the shark is trying to find a way to fit Michael in its mouth, too. Then, bleeding out in the shark's mouth, the poor guy manages to push Michael out of harm's way before being dragged underwater and ripped to pieces. Spielberg supposedly cut the scene for being too violent and horrifying, and it's not hard to see why.

** The ride's original ending was arguably even more graphic. The skipper would shoot a grenade right into the shark's mouth. The shark would then go back underwater, only to explode mere seconds later, leaving behind a pool of blood and pieces of skin and flesh.

* The bit where the two fishermen try to catch the shark. The dock they're on collapses, dragging one of the men out to sea. As he shakes himself loose and begins to swim back to shore, the piece of dock that the shark is still attached to stops and ''turns around'' and begins pursuing him. What makes this moment so terrifying is that at this point, we get a ThemeMusicPowerUp. Only his friend's constant encouragement of "Take my word for it, ''don't look back''! Swim, Charlie, ''swim''!" saves his life. You can almost sense the shark's disappointment that his prey has eluded him.

* The opening scene of the film where the girl in the water is killed. [[NothingIsScarier You never see the shark]] - only its perspective and her reaction, while hearing the amazing score by Music/JohnWilliams. Hearing her scream, struggle to breathe, and try to seek refuge on the buoy makes you imagine what the shark is doing to her under the surface. Bravo named it the scariest scene in film history for a ''reason''.

* The second major attack from the titular shark. A peaceful day, everyone's minding their own business, shouts of joy drowning each other out. Then, slowly, we focus on Brody's dawning horror, as we cut between him and a lone child, panicking beyond belief, bobbing up and down in the water '''''IN A GEYSER OF HIS OWN BLOOD. IN A PG MOVIE.''''' Then, the blissful calm turns to wary alarm as everyone on the shore starts rising up, murmuring in wonder and confusion. Then, all of a sudden, the child's screams stop, and we see a [[AdultFear woman, Mrs. Kintner the child's mother, asking "Alex?" warily before it cuts from her to an image of a torn flotation device, surrounded by tomato-red water before fading to black.]]

*** A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RFcl6xHri4 DeletedScene is even worse]], where the shark goes after Michael and at first he ends up in the boater's grip. The boater is thrashing while bleeding from the mouth, and Michael can't move at all. In the end, either the boater dies and his grip slackens or he uses the last of his strength to push Michael away to safety. You can see why it was cut, with the production crew saying [[EveryoneHasStandards it was too horrifying to use]], including the stuntman involved.

* Sharks, on the whole, are misunderstood and nonviolent creatures. However, ''Jaws'' was based on one very atypical shark in ''real-life'' that brutally killed four people over the course of five days. So, a creature whose species isn't normally given to murder goes on a killing spree... [[AxCrazy wait, doesn't that make it even WORSE?]]

* The scene where a disgruntled Brody dumps chum in the water and the shark makes a [[JumpScare sudden appearance]]. They definitely should've gotten a bigger boat... This moment is even more powerful by the soundtrack - or lack thereof. All throughout the movie John Williams has been training you that Shark = Music and that No Music = No Shark. Every attack, we get Williams leaning hard on the string section and fake out moments like the boys with the cardboard fin are scoreless. So later in the movie, it's been a while without an attack, the audience has gotten relaxed, Brody is throwing out chum and suddenly BAM! SHARK! Our first good look at the beast, and there was no "okay, here comes the monster" music. It completely catches the audience off guard, creating one of the most memorable moments in the movie, and it's all because the soundtrack sucker-punched you.

* The attack on Alex Kintner was originally going to be even ''more'' gruesome and terrifying. Originally, it was planned that the shark would rise from the depths and gobble up Alex in plain sight. It was scrapped for being too graphic, and the film went with a NothingIsScarier approach where the attack isn't clearly shown. However, the scene ''was'' filmed at some point, and there's [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CEQQ9N8XIAICoFi.jpg:large a truly creepy picture showing what it would have looked like.]]

* The opening scene of the film where the girl in the water is killed. [[NothingIsScarier You never see the shark]] - only its perspective and her reaction, while hearing the amazing score by Music/JohnWilliams. Hearing her scream, struggle to breathe, and try to seek refuge on the buoy makes you imagine what the shark is doing to her under the surface...
** Bravo named it the [[Series/OneHundredScariestMovieMoments scariest scene in film history]] for a ''reason''.

* It's a short moment, but as the two fishermen are trying to catch the shark, Brody is flipping through a book about sharks. The first couple of pictures aren't too bad, showing mostly just shots of sharks swimming or sharks that were caught, but the last few photos are ''real'' pictures of shark attack victims, including a lingering shot of a man with a chunk of flesh the size of basketball ''ripped out of his side'', with his hip protruding from the gaping hole of where the rest of him used to be, and a man (possibly a corpse) who is missing almost all of the flesh of his leg from the knee up.
* When the dog disappears, with the very strong implication that he's become shark food. It can be very unpleasant for people who really like dogs. It doesn't help that right after the above happens, there's the attack on Alex Kintner. There's perhaps the most distressing thing about the implied death of the dog. ''NO-ONE NOTICED''. As horrible a thought as it might sound (especially to pet lovers), if someone had actually sighted that the dog had been taken by the shark, it would have given them some warning. And young Alex might have been spared his fate as a result. But no. A silent predator sneaks in, takes someone's cherished pet, and then takes someone's son. What's even more horrifying about the scene is that it's the horror version of the Shell Game; the audience is too busy trying to pick out Bruce's next victim that they lost track of the dog in the process.

* Quint describing the ''Indianapolis'' disaster. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_%28CA-35%29#Loss Because that really happened]]''. Sure, some of the finer details are wrong, but potentially hundreds of people ''really were'' EatenAlive. One of the most chilling scenes and it doesn't involve any action at all. After he told his bonechilling story, you can hear a haunting sound. Quint explains it's just a whale, but it's still creepy.

** In a bit of FiveSecondForeshadowing is Hooper's reaction to learning that Quint's arm scar is of a removed ''Indianapolis'' tattoo. Hooper, who had been drinking and is in a very jovial mood after swapping scar stories, ''immediately'' stops laughing and is SuddenlySober. Clearly aware of what happened to the ship, for the rest of the story he keeps quiet and stares at Quint with a look of shock and fear.

* The scene where the shark attacks one of the victims riding a paddle-boat followed by the sight of the poor man's severed leg drifting in the ocean.