Maws — Maws( Blu Ray)

Now here’s one of the more creative/orginal takes on the sharkploitation genre. A half-man/ half-shark serial killer, set in a genre blend of unsettling slasher & criminal-on-the-run thriller with touches of demented creature feature, action, and, of course, Jaws send-up. Here from SRS Cinema is a new Blu-ray of this 2026 film, taking in a director's commentary & trailer.

Maws was directed by Milan, Michigan-born Matt Jaissle. Since the 1990s, he has sixteen feature credits- but in the last year or so he’s really upped his output- with six films done & dusted, and another four presently in production. I’ve this year so far reviewed three of his films, including this one- the other two were atmospheric ‘n’ gory creature feature Gobblefoot, and killer rats meets zombie horror of Night Of The Rats. Notable older titles from him take in cheap satanic horror of Back From Hell (1993), floating killer baby/ back from the dead serial killer– gore sleaze fest The Necro Files (1994) to the bad-action/ sci-fi of 300 Killers (2010), and more recently AI horror of Amityville VR (2024).

The film has a trim runtime of just seventy minutes- it largely remains engaging, though here & there we have some pacing issues/ moments of clear, if entertaining enough filler.

Things kick off decidedly uneasily as we see our half-shark/half-man killer stalking around an abandoned factory. There's an effectively eerie drone-meets-light industrial churning score and the rasping sound of the creature. It has (as I guess you’d imagine) a shark's head and a human male body- with a topless, taut/ skinny frame, wearing cut-off jeans.

We then meet our three male leads who are in a truck barrelling down the road. One is long-haired with a scraggly beard, another wears a beanie hat & sports a goatee, and the third is older, bold, and bespectacled. We find out the trio have just stolen a large amount of drugs- and need somewhere to lie low. They decided on the Ghana beachside resort- which unfortunately hides a deadly secret- a half-shark, half-man killing machine that was seemingly created by the nazi’s.

Maws is a very low-budget affair, though they do their best with what they’ve got- you just have to turn off logic/ sense a bit, and turn a blind eye to some of the more wonky effects/ looks at the creature in full daylight.

So in the film we shift from uneasy stalking- in the seaside reeds, under bridges, in an abandoned warehouse, and of course in the water. When the creature finally gets its victim, it bloody tears/ rips at the body, and on one occasion we see a severed arm floating in the water.

The main cast is small- basically our three crooks and a female realtor showing a client around a vacant building via zoom. The acting is fine for this type of thing. And we do get a few cameos from friends/ supporters of Jaissle- playing news reporters, locals, etc.- these are decidedly mixed on quality.

On the whole, I’d say Maws is another slice of entertaining very low-budget horror from Mr Jaissle. The stalking elements are really eerie, and when in low light/ shown briefly, the creature is decidedly unsettling. Oh, and the resolution very much nods towards the original Jaws.

No extras on the disc aside from a commentary track and teaser trailer. The track is with director Matt Jaissle, and it’s worth a play. He begins by talking about the origin of the film; apparently he & Ron Bonk-the film's writer/ SRS head honcho- had got fascinated with Ghanaian crazy poster reinterpretations of western films. The one for the original Jaws featured a shark/ man with a machine gun, so the thought was to recreate this figure. He talks about locations & vehicles used- many of which belong to actors in the film. He points out actors as they appear- many of whom have appeared in his other pictures. We find out the film was shot in high summer, and most of the acting is improvised- he just gave an idea of what he wanted in a scene from actors, other than firm/ scripted dialogue. He chats about the main location- which, in reality, isn’t a seaside town; it sits on the side of a lake. We find out that a maw is a word for a big open mouth. Later on, he talks about the shark-man's possible back story, and of course much more. All in all, a decent/ down to earth directors commentary track

So, if you like the idea of a low-budget film that blends sharkploitation, slasher and thriller into one package, then Maws is for you. Another entertaining/ engaging film from Mr Jaissle