Sort of.  The success of the movie “Jaws” spawned many look alike movies that we celebrate in this post.  To make our list, the movie plot requires:

• An animal eating people.
• A sheriff.
• A Mayor hell bent to hold an event.
• An animal expert.

In order of “lameness” we present:

MANEATER

A Bengal tiger appears almost  magically to munch townsfolk  who are stupid enough to wander into the woods.  Gary Busey puts in a surprisingly strong performance.  This one varies just enough from the Jaws plot to keep you on the edge of your seat.

 

GRIZZLY

Hot on the heels of JAWS, this yarn finds an eighteen-foot-tall grizzly bear terrorizing a state park, leaving it up to a Park Ranger to save the day. Christopher George gets to be the Park Ranger and wishes he was still on Rat Patrol. There’s a “Dad” instead of  a Mayor.  Just as gory as JAWS, it’s sure to scare the kids.  There’s plenty of sexy ’80’s chicks for Dad.

 

SNOWBEAST

Oh sure, pick on Bigfoot.  Sasquatch is eating the skiers at a Colorado ski resort.  Clint Walker is the Sheriff.  Bo Svenson’s reporter wife is the “expert”.  You have to suffer through long skiing and snow machine montages to get to the plot.  It is actually worth the trip as the plot builds to a genuinely scary ending.

CLAWS

The first of the rhyming knock offs, CLAWS is a bad knock off of the knock off, GRIZZLY.  Root for the bear because it’s not his fault. Bad acting combines with bad writing to  produce this stinker.  Best viewed stoned, this epic builds to a confusing and badly edited finale.  YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.

 

Here’s something to cleanse your viewing palate.

 

 

 

Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)
Spiders this time. A small Arizona town is overrun with giant poisonous spiders. A Veterinarian (William Shatner) and an sexy Entomologist lead the charge. SPOILER ALERT: They eat an airplane.