Mako: The Jaws of Death

Sonny Stein, shark conservationist and reclusive oddball is seduced by the wife of a wealthy entrepreneur and tricked into giving up his finned friends for scientific research and sideshow entertainment. But when Sonny discovers the ruse, he uses his mystical ability to command his sharks to hunt and kill those responsible.

Richard Jaeckel was always an engaging actor to watch over many decades of distinguished film service, and despite his simpleton turn here, there's still a hint of the professionalism in his thespian skills, that will endear his character and have you rooting for the shark guy. Throughout the movie, Jaeckel's rather dim alter ego descends into paranoia and eventual insanity, culminating in a frenzied rampage led by his number one Tiger shark who he commands with a telepathic dominion. In flashback we see that his supernatural power is the result of an ill-fated trek in the tributaries of South East Asia, many years earlier, where he survived in shark infested waters, and was bestowed an ancient medallion by a local Shaman.

Being low budget, "The Jaws of Death" can't afford to rely on expensive special effects or the bells and whistles usually associated with shark attack pictures. Stunt men interact with real sharks, offering a raw, realistic view of the relationship between marine life and humans. Despite the daring sequences, it's an unappealing contrivance in which the two species look anything but comfortable in each other's presence, and disappointingly, the sharks look decidedly harassed and exploited, which doesn't convey the mutual respect Sonny is supposed to enjoy with his much maligned 'friends'.

As much a character examination as it is a B-grade action-thriller, there's enough in Jaeckel's offbeat portrayal to warrant interest, and some familiar faces in the wings (Harold Sakata, John Davis Chandler, Luke Halpin) to provide character contrast. Worth a look if you find a reasonable DVD transfer that hasn't been re-produced from scratchy VHS source material.

Sonny loves sharks.He feeds them and swims with them.But when a group of fisherman set out to exploit and kill the sharks Sonny and his carnivorous friends take bloody revenge."Mako:Jaws of Death" by William Grefe is an average animal attack film with unspectacular death scenes.The performances are weak and there is no suspense.The cinematography is murky and there is very little blood.However some underwater shots look impressive.I have seen "Whiskey Mountain" by William Grefe and I must say that I enjoyed that movie more than "Mako:The Jaws of Death".Still if you are into low-budget 70's horror "Mako" is definitely one to check out.6 sharks out of 10.

I knew about this movie, but I never had the chance to actually sit down and watch it. At least not before now in 2025. And needless to say that I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch it, despite the fact of knowing that it was a cash-in on the success of the 1975 movie "Jaws".

However, I have to say that I harbored zero expectations to "Mako: Jaws of Death", as it just seemed to be a low budget cash-in on the major success of "Jaws". But still, I opted to give the movie a fair chance. And I suppose the 4.3 rating that the movie has on IMDb, as of this very moment of me writing this review, was also a testament to this not being a stellar movie.

The storyline in the movie was pretty sluggish. There was a whole lot of drama going on, and very little shark action, which ultimately made this movie a bit of a boring drag to sit through.

Of the entire cast ensemble, I was only familiar with Richard Jaeckel, Harold Sakata and John Davis Chandler. The acting performances in the movie were fair.

Well, I can check "Mako: Jaws of Death" off of my watched-movies-list now. And in all honesty, I am never returning to watch it a second time.

My rating of director William Grefé's 1976 movie "Mako: Jaws of Death" lands on a four out of ten stars.

Someone already pointed out that MAKO: THE JAWS OF DEATH is a hybrid of JAWS and a cult classic about a young man with a twisted connection to rats, WILLARD. But this film's director William Grefé's STANLEY, about a slightly older fella hooked on snakes, already borrowed from the WILLARD template, making JAWS OF DEATH a clone of a clone of a clone...

As Richard Jaekel, no stranger to creepy roles despite or even accentuated by his blond-haired, man-next-door look, goes back and forth from the seaside town to the sea itself, where the opening credits of a diver swimming smoothly beside a killer shark proves the introductory scrawl, about how the underwater crew risked their lives in making this motion picture, wasn't just for show: the first two minutes alone defines exploitation cinema at its finest, and riskiest...

But for the fictional story, time moves rather slow like in these kind of shoddy, super low budget films, especially conversations between Jaekel and the sexy tavern-swimming dame he saves from being raped by two town bullies...

Seedy shark-hunters played by cult actors Harold 'Odd Job' Sakata ala GOLDFINGER and John Davis Chandler, who looks like Jaekel's brother from another father... Peter Lorre. And Jennifer Bishop's Karen isn't very wise when Jaekel shows-off two pet sharks he feeds from an estuary below his island shack's floorboard. She actually calls him crazy, right then and there. No other ingenue in a killer fish flick has ever asked for it so much... but that's only the beginning of her extremely predictable/inevitable fate...

Meanwhile, her boss and boyfriend, and the film's primary exploiter, Buffy Dee as Barney, is the real target: he owns the club where both the girl and Jaekel's trained shark will swim behind glass for the patrons (throwing in a little KING KONG and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG influence)...

Going back to WILLARD, Barney's the Ernest Borgnine character here (who played Bruce Davison's bitter boss), only Jaekel works for no one but himself. And again like STANLEY, practically note-for-note, the girl erotically "dances" with the main character's beloved pet... that he unwittingly sold for that reason, while not realizing the otherwise docile predator would be unfairly harmed: plus there's a trusted doctor that winds up a backstabber, and he also doesn't live very long...

But the best, most original scene occurs in the beginning where a fishing charter boat thinks they caught a prized Mako, and in fact, for a few minutes, they have: until ascending angel Jaekel moves in wielding severe yet entertaining ultra-violence... but perhaps too soon...

More similar creative body count moments distributed evenly throughout would've made this a lot more fun for the drive-in audience it seems intentionally made for/catered to. Instead there's a lot of waiting between preachy talk about protecting sharks from evil humans...

It's always more fun when the psychotic lead isn't so idealistic and self-righteous wherein, like SILENT RUNNING, he kills for supposedly forgivable reasons. But for shark cinema enthusiasts, MAKO, definitely more well filmed than well put-together, is something to admire, at least once.

This film proudly opens with the following announcement: "The producers wish to express their sincerest gratitude to the members of the underwater crew who risked their lives to film the shark sequences without the benefit of cages or other protective devices". Hell yeah they should be grateful! Especially because, at that point, the cameramen probably didn't yet know anything about how tepid the story lines and how ridiculous the plot of "Mako: The Jaws of Death" actually were! I'm secretly convinced that these people severely regretted the life-endangering efforts they made once they got to see the finished product. "We risked our lives for this piece of crap?!?" And they would be right, too. Anyways, let's start with a bit of good news first! Despite the title and the big virulent white teeth parading the VHS-cover, this is NOT a rip-off of Jaws at all. Writer/director William Grefé only eagerly cashed in on the popularity of sharks in horror movies, but he was ambitious enough to come up with an entirely original and personal story-idea, albeit an incredibly silly one. Sonny Stein has a great understanding with sharks and refers to them as his friends. That is to say, he feeds the sharks and protects them against greedy fishermen, and in exchange they don't eat him when he goes for a swim. The kind of relationship Willard had with rats. Through a flashback, Stein explains to a random striptease dancer how an old & anonymous shaman handed him a peculiar amulet, and since then the sharks obey him. Stein is also extremely naive and dumb, as he 'donates' sharks, supposedly for good causes, to a science lab and to a sleazy (and mega-fat) bar-owner for an original entertainment act. When both place abuse the animals, Stein immediately avenges his friends. The script is too implausible & idiotic for words, but everyone involved takes it very serious, like it's the most essentially moralistic nature-versus-humans movie ever made. However, there are one or two good sequences to enjoy, notably the one where the shark-whispering hero kills a poacher and drags him behind his own boat; his mouth attached to a hook. The budget was generally very low, so don't expect too many special effects. Heck, whenever there's supposed to a shark attack going on, you just see a couple of fuzzy images and water mixed with red paint to raise the impression the sea turned red with blood. The acting performances are downright atrocious to observe. Especially Richard Jaeckel ("The Amazing Mr. No Legs", "Grizzly") really sucks in the lead. Maybe he subconsciously realized that the screenplay was a bunch of nonsense and his acting talent therefore went on a strike. His character also hasn't got a sense of humor, which is a huge mistake according to me. He doesn't use his shark-friends to score with the ladies, doesn't say anything witty when he hunts down shark killers and he doesn't even make a joke about how astonishingly fat and tasteless the owner of the striptease bar is! He's just a silent, arrogant and asocial loner who cares too much about sharks. How sad. I'm generously rewarding this film with a four out of ten rating because I appreciate the effort and because I like sharks but, in all honesty, "Mako: The Jaws of Death" isn't worth any rating higher than two.