Jaws 3-D (stylized on-screen as Jaws III and released on home media as Jaws 3) is a 1983 American horror thriller film directed by Joe Alves and starring Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Lea Thompson and Louis Gossett Jr.. It is the sequel to Jaws 2 and the third installment in the Jaws franchise. The film follows the Brody children from the previous films at an aquatic park in Florida with underwater tunnels and lagoons. As the park prepares for opening, a young great white shark infiltrates the park from the sea, seemingly attacking and killing the park's employees. Once the shark is captured, however, it becomes apparent that the real culprit was a second, much larger shark that also entered the park.
The film made use of 3D during the revived interest in the technology in the 1980s, amongst other horror films such as Friday the 13th Part III and Amityville 3-D. Cinema audiences could wear disposable cardboard polarized 3D glasses to create the illusion that elements protrude from the screen. Several shots and sequences were designed to utilize the effect, such as the shark's destruction. Since 3D was ineffective in home viewing until the advent of 3D televisions in the late 2000s, the alternative title Jaws III is used for television broadcasts and home media. Despite commercial success, Jaws 3-D received primarily negative reviews. A fourth film, Jaws: The Revenge, followed in 1987.
Plot[]
While following an unsuspecting team of water skiers, a great white shark enters an aquatic park through its closing gates. Meanwhile, Florida announces the opening of the park's new underwater tunnels. Kathryn "Kay" Morgan, the park's senior marine biologist, and her assistants notice that the resident dolphins are afraid of leaving their pen. Shelby Overman, a mechanic, dives into the water to repair and secure the gates. He is attacked by the shark and killed, leaving only his severed right arm. Later that night, two men sneak into the park and go underwater to steal coral they intend to sell, but both are killed by the shark in the process.
The next day, Kay and Michael "Mike" Brody are informed of Overman's disappearance. They go down in a submarine to look for his body, and during the search, they encounter a smaller, 10 ft shark. The dolphins rescue Kay and Mike, first by warning them of the shark but getting misunderstood, then by giving them a ride back to the dolphin pen at a speed the shark can't match, but the shark escapes back into the park. They inform Calvin Bouchard, the park manager, and it excites his hunter friend, Philip FitzRoyce, and his assistant Jack Tate. They intend to kill the shark on network television, guaranteeing media coverage for the park. Kay protests and suggests capturing and keeping the shark alive in captivity, to guarantee more publicity for the park. The shark is successfully captured by Kay, Philip, and Jack. Afterwards, Kay and her staff nurse the shark to health. During this time, it does not even try to attack her. Calvin, desperate to start the money rolling in immediately, orders it moved to an exhibit, despite the fact they were to wait for Kay's blessing to do this. When she hears of it, she runs to the tank and tries to save the baby shark, but the shark dies in her arms anyway. Coldly, she permits Philip to photograph it.
Later, Overman's corpse is discovered. Reviewing the body, Kay realizes that the shark that killed him is the first shark's 35 ft long mother and that it must also be inside the park. Philip alone understands what she's saying but dismisses her as being silly, but she persists, arguing that her shark was just the baby. She can convince Calvin about this newest development only when the shark herself shows up at the window of the underwater cafe. Flushed out from her refuge inside a filtration pipe, the shark begins to wreak havoc on the park, injures Kelly Ann, and causes a leak that nearly drowns everyone in the underwater tunnel. Philip and Jack go down to the filtration pipe in an attempt to lure the shark back in as a trap and kill it. As Jack closes the pipe's gate, Philip successfully leads the shark into the pipe but his tether rope suddenly snaps due to the strong current. Stuck inside the pipe and unable to reach the ladder to the exit hatch, he tries to kill the shark with a bang stick to no effect, and the shark eats him whole.
Hearing that the shark has been lured into the pipe, Mike and Kay go down to repair the underwater tunnel, so the technicians can restore air pressure and drain the water. Calvin orders the pump to be shut down to suffocate the shark, which the two technicians question, preferring to blow it up. But Calvin asserts himself, so they obey him. This act instead allows it to break free from the pipe and attack Mike and Kay, but they are again saved by the dolphins Cindy and Sandy, who distract the shark with a brief counter-attack. Mike and Kay make their way back to the control room, but the shark appears in front of the window and smashes through the glass, flooding the room and killing a technician. Mike notices Philip's corpse still in the shark's throat grasping a grenade and uses a bent pole to pull its pin, triggering the grenade's explosion and killing the shark. In the aftermath, Mike and Kay celebrate with the dolphins, who survived their battle with the shark.