In 1975, people around the country refused to go near the water. By 1987, they were laughing hysterically. After a so-so second film, the Jaws series nose-dived with one of the most laughable sequels of all time, Jaws 3-D. Then, for whatever reason, some exec over at Universal thought a 4th film was in order. Though not as bad as Jaws 3-D, Jaws: The Revenge has little to recommended.

Ellen Brody (played for the third time by Lorraine Gray) is now a widow after her husband, Martin Brody, passes on from a heart attack. Right around Christmas, her son Sean (Mitchell Anderson) is brutally attacked by a great white. Her other son Michael (Lance Guest) invites her down to the Bahamas to try and calm her down. However, Ellen feels that the shark is following and knows it won't stop until it kills off the entire family.

Jaws: The Revenge might have been a decent sequel. The direction is fair, acting on par, and the scenery is gorgeous. A few nice, gory death sequences and some mild tension make this somewhat tolerable as well. What ruins the entire experience is the notion that the shark and Ellen have some sort of "connection." Yes, this giant great white shark really does have it in for the Brody family and no explanation is ever given for its actions (though the book places the blame on a voodoo curse).

As if that wasn't laughable enough, the shark itself looks incredibly cheap and nowhere near the original creation of the first film. Far too much screen time is given to the beast and there are more than a few moments where you can see the track that leads the monster around. Then, it gets even more asinine at the end when the shark suddenly produces some vocal cords and lets out a cheesy roar (brought over from countless 50's monster films) and explodes when impaled by the boat.

The ending is actually a small piece of movie history. The original script had the shark simply get impaled but a few of the Universal higher-ups didn't believe this would work with the audience (or they may have responded during test screenings). They ordered a new ending with a shoestring budget and what came out was a cheap miniature and stock footage from the first film. Either way, it's a sad end to what should have been a classic series. (** out of *****)