Jaws Week: Jaws Movie Posters

See that image above?  That, my friends, is one of the most bloodcurdling things I've ever seen in my life.  It scares the crap out of me every time I see it!  It's not real, of course, just a painting used to promote another piece of fiction, no big deal, right?

Yeah it is.

As iconic and familiar as the Jaws movie poster is, it's easy for many to forget just how frightening and effective that image is.  It's as much a part of the power of the film as anything else, right up there with John Williams fantastic score.  I also think it's underappreciated, especially in this day where most movie posters are nothing more than Photoshop projects.  This was carefully painted with a clear artistic vision, and it is, in my opinion, the greatest movie poster ever created.

The artist is Roger Kastel, and you can read more about him here.  He also painted this:

Yeah, the guy's good.

Here are some other posters, mostly from other countries, that also put an interesting spin on the film.

Here is a Japanese poster that adds the cast to the mix.

Here is a poster that doesn't even feature the shark at all, but features his handiwork.  Terrifying!

Here is the poster from Poland that features just the dorsal fin--and a puddle of blood.  Very well done.

Here is the Polish poster for Jaws 2.  Two, two, TWO SHARKS IN ONE!

This American poster for the sequel also features two sharks.  Doublemint sharks!

This is a teaser poster released months (even a year?) before the release of Jaws 2 that was pulled from theaters for some reason.

This is an image I didn't know existed until I did research for Jaws Week.  It's from the soundtrack for Jaws 2 and differs greatly from the usual poster and resembles more closely the first film's poster, with the teen couple on the boat from the film replacing the swimmer.  Nicely done!

Finally, this is a fan-made poster for the first film that hit the Internet last year.  Scared me to death when I first saw it!

Thanks!