Jaws 2 (1978)

Despite a notable but effective change in story emphasis, Jaws 2 is a worthy successor in horror, suspense and terror to its 1975 smash progenitor.

Directorially, last minute replacement director Jeannot Szwarc has done a nice job and there's some really nice photography here.

The surprise in Jaws 2 is that, given the givens, it came out as well as it did. For me, in terms of sheer visceral zapping, it’s better than the first time around (or under).

For a film about deep water terror, Jaws 2 is really quite shallow. [16 June 1978, p.3-2]

It never comes close to the classic status of its predecessor, but for drive-in horror thrills, this still has sufficient bite.