FAQ for
Jaws 2 (1978) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Jaws 2 can be found here.

No. Jaws 2 is the movie sequel to Jaws (1975), which was based on the 1974 novel Jaws by American author Peter Benchley. However, the movie was novelized (1978) by American author Hank Searls. The screenplay for Jaws 2 was written by American screenwriters Carl Gottlieb and Howard Sackler. It was followed by Jaws 3-D (1983) and Jaws: The Revenge (1987).

Most of them do. The Brody family -- Police Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), his wife Ellen (Lorraine Gary), and their two sons Michael (Mark Gruner) and Sean (Marc Gilpin) -- are still living in Amity. Deputy Jeff Henricks (Jeffrey Kramer) is till working for Brody. Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) is still mayor of Amity. Shark expert Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) does not return, although Brody does put in a call to him and learns that Hooper is on the research vessel Aurora in the Antarctic Ocean and won't be within radio range until next spring. Shark fisherman Sam Quint (Robert Shaw) does not return, but the wreckage of the Orca, the fishing boat that Brody, Hooper, and Quint used in Jaws, is shown on the ocean floor in the opening scenes where it's being explored by two SCUBA divers.

Viewers who have seen Jaws 2 before seeing Jaws report that Jaws 2 can be seen as a stand-alone movie and is almost as terrifying as Jaws.

It is assumed that Jaws 2 begins four years later, evidenced when Brody is fired as police chief, and he bemoans, 'Four years shot to hell!' In Jaws, Brody was spending his first summer on the island and was in his first year as Amity's Police Chief, though it was made clear in the first film that he and his wife had bought their house there in the fall of the year before.

The Great White shark that terrorized Amity Beach in Jaws was destroyed, and people are no longer afraid to go back in the water. However, Chief Brody hasn't forgotten. When two SCUBA divers and two waterskiiers go missing, a dead killer whale with huge bite marks is found on the beach, and a photograph of a shark's eye surfaces, Brody comes to realize that another Great White is back. This time, Mayor Vaughn is sympathetic with Brody's concern but, as he is deeply involved with real estate developer Len Peterson (Joseph Mascolo), who is erecting a high-income beachfront resort in Amity, the mayor doesn't want to make any noise unless it can be proven that a shark is, indeed, the cause.

It seems far-fetched, but it is logistically possible. Great Whites tend to favor coastal areas rather than open seas, and one of those coastal areas is the New England/Atlantic coast of the United States. According to a study by the International Shark Attack File, analyzing the period from 1876 to 1994, the Atlantic coast accounts for three percent of Great White shark attacks worldwide. Source. Therefore, it is conceivable that, four years after the Amity shark attack as portrayed in Jaws, a second Great White could enter the same waters, especially if the food supply was ample.

Chief Brody asks shark expert, Dr Lureen Elkins (Collin Wilcox Paxton), whether it's possible that sharks, like whales and dolphins, can communicate with each other, but she poohpoohs the idea. However, Brody's question intimates that the shark from Jaws and the shark from Jaws 2 are in cahoots with each other. Searls' novelization says that the shark in Jaws 2 is actually the female mate of the shark in Jaws. This is highly unlikely since sharks do not take mates. A male shark wishing to mate will simply grab a female, hold her by biting her fins, and then move on. Sharks do not form a family unit. In fact, newborn sharks risk being eaten by their own mothers if they don't skedaddle quickly. Not to mention that the Great White's gestation period is between 11-14 months, but the Great White in Jaws was killed four years earlier.

After rescuing Tina, Mike, Timmy, and one other teen, Chief Brody locates the other teens and Sean drifting off Cable Junction, a small rocky island housing an electrical station. He tries to get close to them, but the shark attacks and his boat crashes on the rocks. Using the rope from a rescue raft, Brody tosses the teens one end and ties the other to a set of trawler hooks. He tells the teens to put over the hooks, secure them to their boat, and he'll pull them back using the winch. However, the hooks get snagged on a high-voltage electrical cable, and the shark attacks again, knocking mostly everyone except Sean and Jackie into the water. The teens frantically swim towards the island; everyone makes it. Brody winches up the cable and inflates the raft, intending to go out and disentangle the trawler hooks. He crawls out along the cable as the shark begins attacking Jackie and Sean's boat. Brody tries to distract the shark by banging on the cable with an oar. It works, and the shark heads towards Brody, its mouth wide open. However, when it tries to take a bite out of Brody, it bites down instead on the electrical cable and is electrocuted. In the final scene, Brody rescues Jackie and Sean, and the three row back to the island to join the other teens and await pick up.

Research is still being gathered as to what attracts sharks, but two things seem to be emerging as most important...sound and color. Sound is one of their greatest attractants, e.g., irregular sounds (like Chief Brody pounding on the electrical cable), the sounds of swimmers or wounded fish flailing in the water, the sound of an aircraft plunging into the water, etc. Sharks also appear to be attracted by certain colors, especially light colors like yellow, white, and silver and by glinting metals. Many divers maintain that clothing, fins, and tanks should be painted in dull colors to avoid shark attacks. One group of experimenters, noticing the sharks' preference for a certain shade, dubbed the standard life jacket color 'yum-yum yellow.' Whether sharks are actually attracted by the smell of blood is not known. Blood may only be a by-product of wounded individuals flailing in the water.

Jaws is considered THE benchmark shark attack movie but, following Jaws, there have been a number of similar movies. You may wish to take a look at ¡Tintorera! (1977), Cyclone (1978), L'ultimo squalo (The Last Shark) (1981), and Deep Blue Sea (1999). There is the Shark Attack franchise featuring Shark Attack (1999), Shark Attack 2 (2000), and Shark Attack 3: Megalodon (2002). More recently, there is Open Water (2003), The Reef (2010), Sharktopus (2010), Shark Night 3D (2011), and 2-Headed Shark Attack (2012).