Watch Mako: The Jaws of Death For Free

the audience applauded

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Oddball loner shark conservationist Sonny Stein (well played with tremendous gusto by Richard Jaeckel) has a special psychic link with and a strong abiding affinity for sharks. Stein declares war on no-count shark poachers and anyone else who's cruel to animals.Director William Grefe, working from a compelling script by Robert Morgan, relates the enjoyable story at a steady pace, maintains a likable sincere tone throughout, and stages the shark attack set pieces with flair. While Jaeckel dominates the proceedings with his delightfully vibrant and unbridled go-for-it enthusiasm, he nonetheless receives sturdy support from Jennifer Bishop as bitchy exotic dancer Karen (Bishop fills out a sparkly silver bikini quite nicely, too), John Davis Chandler as the slimy Charlie, Harold Sakata as Charlie's equally scuzzy pal Pete, Buffy Dee as fat slob bar owner Barney, and Ben Kronen as smarmy marine biologist Whitney. The shark sequences possess a genuinely harrowing sense of real danger. Julio C. Chavez's bright cinematography provides an attractive sunny look. The funky syncopated score by William Loose and Paul Ruthland hits the get-down groovy spot. A fun flick.

Mako: The Jaws of Death (1976) * (out of 4)William Grefe's film about a lonely man who befriends the sharks and soon trains them to kill. Universal sued the filmmakers of this claiming it was a Jaws rip-off, which it somewhat is but the film owes more to the director's Stanley, which was nothing more than a Willard rip. Either way, this is a pretty bad movie that doesn't have too much going for it except for some of the underwater scenes with the sharks. None of these rips will ever be as good as Jaws but there aren't too many as bad as this one here.

This film proudly opens with the following announcement: "The producers wish to express their sincerest gratitude to the members of the underwater crew who risked their lives to film the shark sequences without the benefit of cages or other protective devices". Hell yeah they should be grateful! Especially because, at that point, the cameramen probably didn't yet know anything about how tepid the story lines and how ridiculous the plot of "Mako: The Jaws of Death" actually were! I'm secretly convinced that these people severely regretted the life-endangering efforts they made once they got to see the finished product. "We risked our lives for this piece of crap?!?" And they would be right, too. Anyways, let's start with a bit of good news first! Despite the title and the big virulent white teeth parading the VHS-cover, this is NOT a rip-off of Jaws at all. Writer/director William Grefé only eagerly cashed in on the popularity of sharks in horror movies, but he was ambitious enough to come up with an entirely original and personal story-idea, albeit an incredibly silly one. Sonny Stein has a great understanding with sharks and refers to them as his friends. That is to say, he feeds the sharks and protects them against greedy fishermen, and in exchange they don't eat him when he goes for a swim. The kind of relationship Willard had with rats. Through a flashback, Stein explains to a random striptease dancer how an old & anonymous shaman handed him a peculiar amulet, and since then the sharks obey him. Stein is also extremely naive and dumb, as he 'donates' sharks, supposedly for good causes, to a science lab and to a sleazy (and mega-fat) bar-owner for an original entertainment act. When both place abuse the animals, Stein immediately avenges his friends. The script is too implausible & idiotic for words, but everyone involved takes it very serious, like it's the most essentially moralistic nature-versus-humans movie ever made. However, there are one or two good sequences to enjoy, notably the one where the shark-whispering hero kills a poacher and drags him behind his own boat; his mouth attached to a hook. The budget was generally very low, so don't expect too many special effects. Heck, whenever there's supposed to a shark attack going on, you just see a couple of fuzzy images and water mixed with red paint to raise the impression the sea turned red with blood. The acting performances are downright atrocious to observe. Especially Richard Jaeckel ("The Amazing Mr. No Legs", "Grizzly") really sucks in the lead. Maybe he subconsciously realized that the screenplay was a bunch of nonsense and his acting talent therefore went on a strike. His character also hasn't got a sense of humor, which is a huge mistake according to me. He doesn't use his shark-friends to score with the ladies, doesn't say anything witty when he hunts down shark killers and he doesn't even make a joke about how astonishingly fat and tasteless the owner of the striptease bar is! He's just a silent, arrogant and asocial loner who cares too much about sharks. How sad. I'm generously rewarding this film with a four out of ten rating because I appreciate the effort and because I like sharks but, in all honesty, "Mako: The Jaws of Death" isn't worth any rating higher than two.

I just purchased a DVD copy of this film, having subsisted on an ancient VHS tape for a few years. Alas, the DVD appears to have been mastered from either very poor stock, or from a VHS tape. The opening sequence is almost unwatchable. Even the credits appear blurry. The picture is dark and seems out of focus. I don't remember it being this way when I saw it in the theaters. Then again, I was six, so what did I know? I still like the psychic/psychotic connection Jaeckel has with the sharks, although I could definitely lose the hokey "shark medallion" sequence, which accomplished nothing. I've ordered a new DVD edition put out by a different company. Both versions sell very cheaply on Ebay. We'll see how it goes.