10 Monster Movies No One Was Ready For

It wouldn't be going too far to say that the world at large simply wasn't well equipped to deal with Jaws. Steven Spielberg's masterpiece quite literally damaged the tourism trade, and likely inspired the fear of sharks in people no matter how inland they lived.

Peter Benchley's novel had come out one year prior to the 1975 movie, which brought to the screen the kind of tension that could only be created by a true master of the craft. Over 50 years later, and you could argue that this is still the director's masterpiece.

At the centre is the shark itself, of course, which was cleverly kept off the screen as much as possible. Attacks focused on the victim and the blue water turning red rather than the monster, until the final act. Instead of relying heavily on poor CGI or an unconvincing model, the fear was largely based around the idea of the shark, the unknown aspect of when and if it would attack next, and that there was no reason or motivation outside of its nature, rather than the beast itself.

This allowed scenes like a dog or a group of children innocently splashing to be enough to set heart rates through the roof, and as such, Jaws just hasn't aged. It was terrifying in 1975, and it's still terrifying now.