Shark Week 2026: Group Photo #1

     Sunday night markes the beginning of the Discovery Channel's 38th "Shark Week." I haven't paid to stream the Discovery App, but I don't need it to watch shark movies. Physical media rules! 

    Let's see what's on the Holiday Horror Shelf!

        Ah, Jaws, the OG. I was six when this movie opened, and I didn't see it until it finally aired on ABC when I was ten. I wasn't allowed to stay up to watch the whole film (I had school the next day), and that was okay. In the opening scene when Chrissie is attacked by the shark, she screams, "It hurts!" That was enough to scare the crap out of me.

    Now I count this as one of my favorite movies. Jaws has everything. It's a horror film, a monster movie, a sea adventure, a thriller, a drama, and I'd argue it's a buddy film, too. 

    Let's see, we've got the 1995 letterboxed VHS, 2005' 30th anniversary edition DVD with the Commemorative Photo Journal, the 2012 Blu-ray, and the NES game from 1987. The game's storyline, if you can call it that, has more in common with Jaws the Revenge, the 4th Jaws film, and that's not a compliment.

    Peter Benchley's novel, Jaws, came out about a year and a half before the movie. Director Steven Spielberg was rooting for the shark when he first read the novel because the characters were so unlikable (according to IMDB). I have read this book, and I agree with him. 

    As for the other three Jaws books... I haven't quite absorbed them, yet.    

    This one of my favorite skateboard deck designs. Jaws, Robert Shaw, Narragensett beer, and skateboarding? Yes, please!

    Yes, I even dressed up for the beginning of Shark Week. 

    I'm such a nerd...

    

    Stay safe in the water!