Enzo G. Castellari‘s 1981 shark epic is in no way an unofficial remake of Jaws.  It is entirely it’s own film with a unique plot.

The Last Shark is the story of a small town with a beach intended just for swimmers.  No sharks allowed.  And this one gigantic great white shark, we will call him Sharkey,  gets pissed about this bigotry and segregation.  Okay, well, not really, I mean, Sharkey is a shark, people.  A big shark.

Anyways, there are a couple shark attacks and a guy keeps trying to tell the Mayor there is a shark.  The mayor does not want to hurt tourism, so he keeps it a secret.  And then a shark attacks people at a big event in front of a television audience no less.  So some guys get in a boat and hunt the shark  Completely different from Jaws.  See?  I mean, the “No Sharks Allowed” rule at Chief Brody’s beach was more implied.

This shark actually looks better than in Jaw 3-D two years later.  That does not mean it looks good.  Just better.  The shark is a combination of stock footage of different kinds of sharks and a big immobile model.  The model bobs up out of the water to “scare” people.

The film is full of shots of people doing things in slow motion.  Running into the water.  Running out of the water. Flotation balloons moving through the water.  People windsurfing.  There is a lot of slow motion shots in this film.  A whole lot. Like, this hour and twenty minute film would be around thirty eight minutes if those slow motion scenes were played at a regular speed.

Really, the Last Shark is pretty unbearably boring that figures as long as you see a fin cut through the water and people in their swimsuits…and a cut rate Quint and the audience will be all in.  And uh…well, you might be shocked to discover that this simply is not true.