Spinning off from the Comic Book Bears Podcast, regular hosts Bill Zanowitz and Steve Mowry talk about the blockbuster classic JAWS, celebrating its 50th anniversary in the summer of 2025. After some introduction to the concept of a "backdoor pilot", and some background on Steve's introduction to horror films from a young age, thanks to cool babysitters, Saturday Matinee on the local indie station, and USA Up All Night, Steve also gets into what to expect with this new podcast series, and his hopes for upcoming episodes.

Diving into JAWS, we bite into the meat of why Bill loves this movie so much. Steve provides a (low spoiler) summary of the movie before taking a look at the filming process, the reception in 1975 and beyond, some behind-the-scenes bits, and of course, their favorite scary moments. Bill also lists off some of his other favorite "Jawsploitation" horror films that came after the success of the first international blockbuster - some to be explored in future episodes!

Additional resources used for this episode:

JAWS (1975) dir. Steven Spielberg

Jaws at 50 (2025) by Amblin Documentaries

How Jaws Changed the World (2012/2025) by Channel 4, Discovery Channel

IMDB.com

Oscars.org

FilmAffinity.com

JAWS can be streamed on the following services: Netflix and Peacock; available for rent or purchase on most digital platforms, or on DVD or 4k/Blu-ray disc.

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