Mako: The Jaws Of Death + Bog — Mako: The Jaws Of Death + Bog( Blu Ray)

Here’s the 14th release in Dark Force Entertainment's Drive-In-Double Feature series. And for this addition to the series, we have two decidedly aquatic-focused 70’s films- sharksploitation Mako: The Jaws Of Death, and stalking merman creature feature Bog.

First up we have 1976’s Mako: The Jaws of Death. This was directed by Miami Florida, he had fifteen features to his name. And really stood as one of the more versatile directors working in the US exploitation in the 60’s & 70’s. His output went jellyfish man creature feature Sting of Death (1966), onto Crime drama The Hooked Generation (1968), through to soapy drama- hag horror The Naked Zoo (1970), and hippy road movie The Psychedelic Priest (1971).

 

Going from Mako: The Jaws of Death's, title & poster artwork you’d think this was another straight Jaws rip-off, but in reality, it’s a fairly distinctive & original slice of sharksploitation. With a nice blend of underwater footage, some neat set-ups, an effective soundtrack that moves between brooding-to-tense organ/ jazziness and a nice moody led soundtracking.

The film kicks off in a fairly standard manner- seeing three men trying to catch a shark with a hook & fishing line- all of a sudden, a driver suite wearing figure cuts the fishing line, jumps on board the boat & kills all three men. Fairly soon we find out the driver is Sonny Stein (Richard Jaeckel)- a brooding loner who lives out in swamps, though from time to time he pops into the local bar to pick up scraps for his friends- these friends are sharks.

As things progress, we get a dodgy vet who wants to breed a shark in captivity, and a huge cigar-chewing bar owner who wants to use one of Sonny’s friends in his female water tank dancer act- initially Sonny helps both of them out, but expectedly things don’t go to plan.

 Jaeckel is great as the mean & moody loner. The supporting cast are fairly good/ memorable too, and we even get Harold Sakata(Oddjob) as one of the local shark-stalking goons.

All in all, Mako: The Jaws of Death is certainly one of the worthy & distinctive examples of sharksploitation genre.

 

 

So next we have 1979’s Bog (The Bog Monster)- and this a cheap, cheerful, at times cheesy slice of regional creature feature filmed around the swamp lands of Wisconsin. The film was directed by Chicago-born Don Keeslar. Bog was his one & only feature film- otherwise, he helmed A Day in Old Milwaukee (1964) a twenty-eight-minute documentary about a circus-focused parade through the streets of Milwaukee. And TV film The Capture Of Grizzly Adams(1982) which saw the friendly backwoods man being wrongly accused of murder.

The films eerier pre-credits see us dropping into the quiet of an early morning swamp. A man is throwing dynamite into the water killing all of the fish- but his activities awaken something that has been buried & slumbering since prehistoric times- it fairly soon comes to the surface to take this man's life as he screams wide-mouthed. The credits roll with panning shots of the swamp & the nearby small, with a very tone unfitting 1970s female-sung country pop.

As things unfold more folks are attacked swamp side- with seemingly all of their blood being drained. And it’s up to the films three local heroes- brash, outspoken & .likes his whiskey sheriff Neal Rydholm(Aldo Ray), studious middle age pathologist Ginny (Gloria DeHaven), heavy set- looking for romance Dr Brad Wednesday(Marshall Thompson). To try and stop the monster.

The ‘monster’ is not revealed until the film's last quarter, and even then, it’s sensibly fleeting. It has large, yellow-eyed black pupiled mermen. The violence/ gore is rather of a PG level- though there are some effective POV shots, be it eerier through the water, the monster coming to surface, or fixed screams of the monster's victims.

Acting-wise- much of its either rather soapy flat, or brash/ abrupt. With a notable mention goes to the woman that plays the film's woodland mystic- who offers up some of the eerier/ moody scenes, as she details the creature's back story/mythos.

The film is a little heavy of dialogue scenes in many shades of brown 1970s offices, and the film's flow is a little uneven. But I must say I enjoyed Bog well enough as a low-budget creature feature, with the more moody/brooding elements having been quite memorable.

 

In finishing I’d say Mako: The Jaws of Death is the better of the two films presented here, though Bog is entertaining enough for what it is. On the extras side, we get a press cuttings/ poster gallery for Bog, which is rather interesting. You can watch the films as a double bill, or singular. So, another worthy addition to Dark Force Entertainment's Drive-In-Double Feature.