The Last Shark (1980)

Enzo Castellari's Jaws rip-off opus The Last Shark lifts much from Steven Spielberg's classic terror-in-the-water flick, though that won't stop B-movie revelers from getting much enjoyment out of this ultra-derivative schlock fest. There's plenty to link the two -- the beach town, the characters, the day-for-night shots, the red balloon substituting for the barrels, and so on and so forth. What truly makes the picture is two-fold: Castellari's willingness to push the outrageous envelope on the explosive deaths (you will believe a dummy can fly!), and Vic Morrow's Quint-like character, complete with an out of this world Scottish accent. The shark itself is a mammoth beast of a fake monster, with a large gaping mouth that is repeatedly shown breaching the surface of the water right near an unsuspecting swimmer. For all its brazen faults, it does eat a helicopter, which is always an impressive feat for a fish -- even if the scene was stolen from Jaws 2. There most certainly have been bigger rip-offs in the world of Jaws lore (see Cruel Jaws for proof), but no other movie had the gall to follow up the classic series as quickly as this one did (in the theaters, no less!). Fanatics would be wise to hunt down this curiosity to see how low a near master of Italian crime and Western cinema such as Castellari once sank. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide