How To Watch The Jaws Movies In Order

Stephen Spielberg's "Jaws" created the summer blockbuster in 1975. Taking over movie theaters across the world and traumatizing an entire generation, it forced people everywhere to think twice before stepping into the ocean (lest they become shark food).

The story of one town slowly unraveling as it's beset by a hungry human-eating great white shark terrified audiences with its spectacular photography, ominous score, and endearing performances. It also made Spielberg a household name and has, across the span of 50 years, grossed over $484 million at the box office thanks to its initial run and subsequent theatrical revival screenings.

With such ripping success, sequels were inevitably going to happen, and Universal Pictures was happy to throw chum into the water, giving audiences three more shark-infested films. They are as follows:

• "Jaws" (1975)
• "Jaws 2" (1978)
• "Jaws 3" aka "Jaws 3D" (1983)
• "Jaws: The Revenge" (1987)

Unfortunately, none of these "Jaws" sequels ever get close to the magic of Spielberg's original, itself one of the true "lightning in a bottle" films that still holds terrifying power to this day. Universal has reportedly approached Spielberg about rebooting "Jaws," but he's refused, which means that as of this writing, you're best off watching the films chronologically as they were released. Read on to learn what each individual movie is about.

Even if you are reading this article and you somehow haven't watched the original "Jaws," there still probably wouldn't be anything I could tell you that you haven't heard before. It had one of the most famously difficult film shoots of all time, with Spielberg and his team building an incredibly large mechanical shark that never worked quite right. Because of this, he had to shoot around the shark, keeping it hidden despite its massive size until the exact moment it was about to strike, at which point it was too late.

Despite these problems (or perhaps even because of them), Spielberg's film held the world's imagination with a death grip. For the last 50 years, every frame of "Jaws" has been poured over with a fine toothed comb to uncover why it's just so damn good. These range from the little things, like the way Spielberg refused to use the color red anywhere on set except for the buckets of blood that would pour out of the shark's victims, to the film's most famous and, as it were, improvised line and John Williams' simple yet terrifying score. In the end, however, there is no singular element that explains why "Jaws" has remained such a foundational movie in cinema history.

Whether the audience is full of dedicated cinephiles or casual moviegoers looking for a cool theater to beat the heat on a summer day, everyone loves and/or is terrified of Spielberg's shark classic. Many, many films have tried to capture the spirit of "Jaws," and few have succeeded, including the three direct sequels that followed in its wake. So, maybe it would be best if you stopped here and let "Jaws" be a singular object in your memory — a great film with no sequels. Or, if you so choose, you can move on to watch "Jaws 2," but don't say I didn't warn you.

After "Jaws" spent many, many weeks as the number one film in the United States, a sequel was all but guaranteed. After all, Universal Pictures was built on its monster pictures, and so its hope was to turn the evil shark into the next Dracula. Unfortunately for the studio, Spielberg had endured such a nightmarish experience shooting the film out on the open ocean that he refused to return to direct a sequel. He had barely survived the first time, and he believed coming back for seconds was tempting fate.

Producers David Brown and Richad D. Zanuck replaced Spielberg with workman director Jeannot Szwarc, who had big shoes to fill. Lucky for Szwarc, composer John Williams returned to once again handle the score, with Roy Scheider and Lorraine Gary also coming back to reprise their roles as Chief Martin Brody and Ellen Brody, respectively. A few other supporting actors returned as well, including Murray Hamilton as slimy Mayor Larry Vaughn (who, against all reasonable judgement, again refuses to act despite the obvious evidence of shark-infested waters).

The meanest thing you can say about "Jaws 2" is that it never carries the same viscous bite as the original feature. The film is mostly concerned with playing out many of the same types of scenes as we've seen before, with Brody finding evidence of a shark returning to Amity and none of the powers that be believing him until it's too late. It's a hollow retread in that its emptiness reminds us of just how special "Jaws" is, and that's maybe the only reason you should watch "Jaws 2."

The nicest thing you can say about "Jaws 2" is that it is the best of the "Jaws" sequels ... but perhaps you should take that as a sign to just stop now before it's too late.

In the 1980s, 3D technology was back in vogue, and every Hollywood studio was looking for ways to shoehorn in the effect to get audiences to watch their films. "Jaws 3" is one of the more notorious examples: Largely unconcerned with following up any of the story of the prior two films, this is a standalone movie starring Dennis Quaid as an older Michael Brody traveling to SeaWorld where... and you're never going to believe this... the park is attacked by a killer shark. Louis Gossett Jr. joins the cast as the park manager who thinks he can fight the shark, while the true heroes who save the day are the SeaWorld dolphins who protect Michael in a dolphin vs. shark battle. So, yes, you can technically skip this one and move right on to "Jaws: The Revenge," but think about what you'll be missing out on. (That's sarcasm in case you missed it).

If that all sounds silly and ridiculous, you might be thinking it would actually be fun to watch "Jaws 3." Sadly, you would be wrong. The film was built around its cheap, '80s-era 3D effects, and it doesn't even do a good job with those. When you watch the lowly 2D version, the shark is reduced to a cardboard cutout floating across the screen.

Luckily, the original "Jaws" is now available in one of the best 3D transfers ever made, so if you're really dying to see a shark pop out of the screen, go watch that. Or maybe go back and watch one of those "Jaws" knock-offs I was talking about earlier. I mean, have you seen "Alligator" or "Tremors?" They are so good. Definitely better than this, anyway.

So, you went back into the waters of Amity Island, and you're shocked to hear that a killer shark is eating people for the third time. But this time, it's not just random shark attacks. No. This time, it's about REVENGE. Yes, in the plot of "Jaws: The Revenge," Chief Brody dies off screen of a heart attack, leaving his widow Mrs. Ellen Brody (played by original actor Lorraine Gary, who came out of retirement) alone on the island. After her son is killed by a great white off the coast of Amity, Ellen travels to the Bahamas with family to get her mind off the tragedy, only to be stalked by the same killer shark down to the tropical island.

How does a shark know Ellen is in the Bahamas? Did he tail her to the airport? Did he bug her telephone? Did he rifle through her trash to find a discarded plane ticket receipt? Did he put on a trench coat and watch her board the flight? If you're asking yourself these questions, you've thought about this more than anyone involved in the actual production of the film did. "Jaws: The Revenge" is rightfully considered one of the worst sequels of all time. Skipping over everything that happened in the prior film, it positions the entire franchise as the story of one shark family's blood feud against the Brodys. It's preposterous at every level, and if you watch this last, you'll be shocked to see just how far this franchise has fallen since Spielberg's original masterpiece.

Let me reiterate that you do not need to watch this. Michael Caine, who stars in the film as the pilot Hoagie, has previously called it one of his "worst pictures." And even he hasn't seen the movie (but he has admitted, "I have seen the house it bought my mother, and it's marvelous!") So, if for some reason you still want to watch "Jaws: The Revenge" instead of, say, rewatching Spielberg's original or any of those knock offs (I'm not kidding about "Tremors." It's a perfect movie!), just remember that it at least helped Michael Caine buy his mom a house. How's that for a silver lining?