The Biggest Things Horror Movies Get Wrong About Real Shark Attacks – Screen Rant

Since Steven Spielberg's Jaws hit theaters, horror has over-exaggerated the reality of shark attacks; here's everything the genre gets wrong.

When Steven Spielbergs Jaws released in 1975, the genre was introduced to a new avenue of evoking fear in horror moviesshark attacks. The Earth is covered in approximately 70 percent water that can run as deep as 35,000 feet. There are hundreds of thousands of creatures lurking in the darkest depths of the worlds oceans, but the most terrifying of them all appears to be the shark. While horror movies featuring these creatures hold some truth in their depictions, they also get a lot wrong about real shark attacks.

With over one-thousand species of sharks gliding through the water, only one continues to reign supreme as a real-life threatthe great white shark. Spielbergs film featured the iconic creature, but with an additional thirst for human blood. The movie is a dramatization based on real shark attacks that occurred in 1916 along the New Jersey coast. The only truth behind Jawsis that residents enacted actual warfare on the creature that killed four people, resulting in the deaths of several innocent sharks. There was no actual blood-thirsty and violent monster who was actively preying on beachgoers. These fish are far more complicated than that, especially in regards to their attacks.

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Jaws is only one example of how shark-based horror films frame a false image of the relatively harmless fish. It spreads fear like a virus and results in the demonization of them, despite the fact that fourteen attacks on average occur every year. The primary misrepresentations of shark attacks are their behavior and size as well as their desire to feed on humans.

It is rare that a shark calculates its kills based on human population. Their migration patterns change with the seasons and will occasionally bring them to beaches that can be crowded based on the time of year. When great whites in particular come close to shore, it is within a couple hundred feet and for the sole purpose of hunting other sea life, such as seals. While horror movies about this specific shark are now occurring in the middle of the ocean rather than closer to the shore likeJaws, they still largely misrepresent their true behaviors and the purpose behind why they can attack people.

In the 2004 filmOpen Water,a group of divers leave behind two people who must survive in the middle of the ocean while being hunted by sharks. The sharks featured in the film are actually known for being relatively shy and almost never attack people. It is true that some sharks hunt in packs, such as the Caribbean reef sharks featured in the film, but horror's most common predator, the great white, is not known for this behavior. In fact, if they are competing for prey, they can and will turn on one another.

TheShallowsfeatures a more realistic attack, considering that the shark does it alone. They do attack surfers, but only because the combination of their limbs and surf boards make up the appearance of a seal or turtle. Yet, it is still an inaccurate representation due to the fact that there is no evidence that they remain in one location. It is more common that a shark's behavior when looking for prey is to patrol their area and leave if they are unsuccessful, only returning occasionally to double check. In short, sharks do not hunt in the way that Hollywood horror depicts it,and their kills are not as calculated either.

There is no evidence that sharks purposefully seek out people to consume for their survival. It is almost always bad judgement on the shark's end of things, considering the resemblance between humans and seals in the water. Due to the fact that the fish has existed for thousands of years prior to any evidence of human life on Earth, a diet of people was never on their menu. This explains why people injured in a shark attack commonly return without a limb, with a bite, or drained of blood likeThe Shallowsattempted to depict. As soon as the fish realizes what its just bitten into, it is likely it will not continue to attempt to feed.

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The most important fact to remember about sharks is that they are more afraid of people than people are of them. If they feel threatened, they can and will attack as a form of defense, but they will not return with a grudge or a revenge plot like many of horror's iconic sharks.Jawsfeatures such a plot, as does the third and most recent installment in theDeep Blue Seafranchise. As climate change forces three bull sharks into becoming vicious human hunting monsters, it is clear that the message is that sharks know who their enemies are as well as who threatens their environment the mostpeople. The fact is, there is absolutely no evidence that any species of shark seeks human flesh, it is a grossly emphasized dramatization of their behavior and history that horror movies get wrong time and time again.

Spielberg's film ultimately set the precedent for which shark species to fear the most and why, which makes the great white shark into one of the world's most disdained creatures. They do appear to be the most menacing but they are actually not the most deadly of them all.Deep Blue Sea 3gets one major fact about sharks right; the bull shark is the deadliest to humans. They are known for attacking people much more frequently than the great white. The reason they haven't been demonized to the point of no return is due to the fact that their attacks are not as publicized in comparison. While there are three major sharks that are known for attacking humans (great white, tiger, and bull sharks), the others have a lesser body count.

The more that horror films fixate on the great white shark as being humanity's largest underwater threat, the more misinformation and misrepresentation spreads throughout the public. Ultimately, it does a disservice to the shark population as it continues to decline due to hunting and targeting them based on Hollywood's depictions.Scientists have even critiqued horror's use of sharks because of everything that they get wrong time and time again.

While shark-based films in the genre are highly entertaining, they are just as damaging to the reputation of a fairly innocent creature in comparison to others.As horror continues to utilize sharks to evoke real-life fear, there is hope that, one day, there will be an accurate depiction ofshark attacks in horror moviesor fictional media in general.

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Marian Phillips is a writer, reader, and horror movie fan based out in Yonkers, New York. She is a dedicated historian, researcher, and content creator, and now works as a Horror Movie Features Writer for Valnet, Inc at ScreenRant. A graduate of the University of Kansas (BA) and Sarah Lawrence College (MA), she has worked diligently on crafting up-to-date and informative projects covering anything from horror films to punk musicians. Phillips travels throughout the United States presenting her research and learning more about the 21st century's "Horror Renaissance." Her hobbies include writing music, painting, reading comics, and hanging out with her cat Hero.

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The Biggest Things Horror Movies Get Wrong About Real Shark Attacks - Screen Rant