10 Iconic Horror Movie Characters Done Dirty

1. Martin Brody

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 Chop-Top Bill Moseley
Universal Studios

Roy Scheider is one of cinema's greatest ever actors, and the New Yorker was never better than his turn as Martin Brody in Steven Spielberg's iconic Jaws. Likewise, Scheider was on similarly excellent form in Jeannot Szwarc's Jaws 2.

Unfortunately for film fans, Scheider didn't return for either Jaws 3-D or Jaws: The Revenge. While that in itself was disappointing - although even the presence of the Academy Award nominee wouldn't have saved those two stinkers - even more baffling was the decision to kill the Chief Brody character off-screen and between movies.

While Scheider purposely took on the Murphy role in Blue Thunder to make himself unavailable for Jaws 3-D and stop Universal asking him to return as Brody, he was offered the chance to reprise the Amity Police Chief gig for Jaws: The Revenge. And much like Matt Hooper actor Richard Dreyfuss, Scheider declined to be involved with The Revenge.

As a result of this, Universal opted to have Jaws: The Revenge reference how Martin Brody had died of a heart attack between the events of Jaws 3-D and that fourth film. With that, a beloved character was done dirty; disposed of with a throwaway line that served simply to fuel the grief of Brody's wife, Ellen.

Watch Next


 
Posted On: 
Senior Writer
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 dayjob, 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, Jamie Hayer, 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.