10 Exact Moments That Changed The Horror Movie Genre Forever

7. Jaws - Chrissie Goes Skinny-Dipping

All of us can agree that Steven Spielberg’s 1975 Jaws is a true juggernaut of cinema, and it’s also a picture that helped to shape the horror genre. One moment in particular, though? If ever there was a scene that sums up the sheer terror and intensity of Jaws, it’s when poor Chrissie Watkins decides to take a drunken dip in the ocean.

Played by actress Susan Backlinie, Chrissie’s swim would famously not end well. A dark and dimly-lit ocean setting saw the doomed skinny-dipper attacked by the movie’s toothy beast, and Chrissie would be violently dragged from pillar to post before succumbing to this apex predator.

From there, the tone was set for Jaws and the ante had been upped for the horror genre. In fact, so impactful was Chrissie’s death and the film itself, a ridiculous amount of moviegoers remain scared of the water to this very day.

Not only is Jaws rightly cited as helping to kickstart the concept of the “summer blockbuster”, the success of Spielberg’s film saw the shark movie subgenre launched as the industry looked to cash-in on this landmark in cinema history.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

First Posted On: 25th Jul 2019

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