10 Horror Movie Characters You Thought Were Dead For Sure

There's improbable survival and then there's Jake in the execrable fourth Jaws movie, Jaws: The Revenge.

In the film's climax, Michael Brody's (Lance Guest) best pal Jake (Mario Van Peebles) carries out the heroes' plan, to drop an electrical emitter device in the murderous shark's mouth.

However, he also seems to pay the mortal price for his role, as the pissed off shark quickly grabs him in his jaws and disappears underwater.

Given that Jake is covered in the red stuff before disappearing under the surface, it doesn't seem like there's even the remotest possibility of him making it.

And yet, after the shark is dispatched a few minutes later, Michael finds a brutally wounded but very much alive Jake floating in the water and brings him back to shore.

There's actually a behind-the-scenes reason for Jake's sudden survival, though. In the original cut of the film he did indeed die - hence the ridiculous amounts of gore when the shark bites him - but after test audiences responded negatively, he was given a reprieve.

It doesn't really make any sense at all considering the extent of Jake's injuries and the insane amount of blood he clearly lost, but in a movie about a shark with a literal personal vendetta, it's not nearly the most ridiculous thing.