News
5 Times The ‘Jaws’ Plot Was Like Coronavirus Pandemic
Memes have been floating around the internet lately comparing the coronavirus pandemic to certain plot elements of Jaws. While we try to get come to terms with all that’s going on in the world and at the same time remain sheltered in place, there are people who want to throw caution to the wind.
If we learned anything from the 1975 blockbuster it’s that you shouldn’t act hastily just because life doesn’t suit you or your bottom line favorably.
Here are five times that the plot of Jaws mimics the real COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Larry Vaughn
Despite constant warnings that fishermen caught the wrong shark, Amity Island’s Mayor Larry Vaughn is insistent that the beaches reopen even though the waters are still red from the blood of recent victims. Perhaps worried that he won’t get re-elected, Vaughn re-opens the beaches with added security. Things don’t go so well and once again science prevails.
Money, Money, Money
The economy is almost more of an antagonist than the Great White in Jaws. Normally Amity island is a tourist mecca on the Fourth of July weekend, to close the beaches means certain ruin for businesses that rely on that trade.
Much like the coronavirus quarantine, businesses are struggling to remain open. Which brings us to number three.
The Beaches
Like in Jaws, beaches play an important part in the pandemic, especially this week. Over the weekend, in Jacksonville Florida, people rushed to the shores once an order to re-open them went into effect, the same day the state documented a record number of coronavirus cases.
“We all live on it, so it has been torture looking at it and not being able to be out here,” one beachgoer told CNN.
Cue the “Mrs. Kintner slap.”
Versus Scientists
As healthcare workers and scientists race to reduce the number of deaths, people are under the impression that freedom is another word for immunity. Oceanographer Matt Hooper in Jaws tried to warn the mayor, in the same way, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is pleading their case for safety.
In the movie, tourists and locals were apprehensive to return to the water, but with a little encouragement from Mayor Vaughn, they eventually did, regrettably so.
With COVID-19, the aggressors who are eager to return to normalcy are questioning science or ignoring it. They have also received some political support from the county’s highest authority. Which despite being ill-advised, in Mayor Vaughn’s case, led to re-election and a role in Jaws 2.
Oxygen Tanks
Oxygen tanks are important in the movie for a much different reason than they are in the real-life pandemic.
Since COVID-19 reportedly attacks the respiratory system, oxygen is an important resource for patients who test positive and are recovering.
In the movie (spoiler alert) they are used to kill the shark, blowing him to smithereens.
A Word About Safety
Wherever you stand during this unprecedented time in history it’s important to follow the guidelines as presented by the CDC. Unlike the magic of the movies, people are really dying and those numbers could be reduced as long as we are accurately educated, cognizant and use common sense.
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Movies
‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments
It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.
We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.
“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”
That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”
Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:
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Movies
‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening
Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.
Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.
Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.
Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.
Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.
The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.
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News
Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date
Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.
Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.
These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:
According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”
Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.
Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.
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