10 Secret Details That Make Horror Movies Even Creepier

Jaws is full of fantastic scenes, but one of Spielberg’s own favourites is the one in which Robert Shaw monologues about the tragic fate of the USS Indianapolis.

He tells the story of a WWII ship in peril, its body destroyed leaving its crew to be eaten alive in the shark infested waters beneath. It’s not just a dramatic story made for the screen though, in 1945 the USS Indianapolis really was hit by an enemy bomb which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of crew members.

Those who weren’t killed by the bomb were left stranded in the water, slowly dying from their injuries, from starvation and dehydration or from being ripped to shreds by hungry sharks. One crew member said in an interview for Jaws: The Inside Story that “the sharks would pull [the men] down and eat their extremities, and the rest of the body would bob to the surface.”

Quint, in his monologue, claims that over a thousand men went into the water and only around three hundred emerged - and whilst this may be a bit of an exaggeration, it really isn’t that far off. The horrors of the war were all too real, and if bombs and guns don’t scare you then maybe sharks will.