An Early Screening Of Jaws Had One Viewer Running To Go Vomit

"Jaws" remains the king of savage animal attack horror films, but by today's horror standards it's actually pretty tame. Of course, throughout the history of film, audiences have become increasingly desensitized to these sorts of things, to the point where only brutal splatter-fests like "Terrifier 2" are capable of testing seasoned horror fans. In fact, in the case of Damien Leone's so-called "mega-slasher," there were reports of audiences fainting and vomiting in their seats.

Anyone who knows even a little about "Terrifier 2" will understand why that might have been. The sheer level of brutality on display would make anyone at least slightly queasy. But back in the 1970s it seems audiences were slightly more sensitive.

When "Jaws" released in 1975 it became what many have dubbed the first ever blockbuster, becoming an instant hit and terrifying an entire generation, many of whom are likely still scared to go back in the water. But in our post-torture porn age of "Terrifier 2" and "Skinamarink," it's hard to grasp just how much this film, which is nothing compared to today's horror films, scared audiences. As a tale from the film's first test screening shows, however, terrify audiences it did — to the point of physical sickness.

in "Spielberg: The First Ten Years" (via Vanity Fair), the famed director speaks to author and French-American filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau about the very first time he and Universal screened "Jaws" for the public. The screening, which took place in March of 1975 at the Medallion Theatre in Dallas, was the first time a general audience laid eyes on Spielberg's film, and only the second time the director had screened one of his movies for the public. As he told Bouzereau, "I'd had only one experience prior to this with 'The Sugarland Express,' where the preview audience just kept quiet the entire time. But with 'Jaws,' it was very, very loud and people went crazy." Not only was the screening loud, but one unfortunate viewer found a particular scene too much to stomach.

In 1993, film producer Richard Zanuck told The Dallas Morning News about the "Jaws" screening in Dallas, recalling that, "We knew we had something big, but we didn't really know the scope of it. We didn't know if audiences would buy the shark." Following the disastrous "Jaws" production, which was actually turned into a Broadway play, Zanuck and pretty much everyone involved with the film were nervous for its debut. As the former head of production at 20th Century Fox put it, "We knew it mostly as a mechanical nightmare, and we had lost our perspective on how scary it might be." Thankfully, the movie made a big impression, with Zanuck recalling how the "first enormous collective scream" caused him and his colleagues to "hug each other" in the back of the theater.

But if they needed any further confirmation that the audience had "bought the shark," there was the man who couldn't quite keep his lunch down.

The scene which evidently led to one man throwing up was the death of young Alex Kintner (Jeffrey Voorhees), in which the unsuspecting boy becomes the second victim of the shark menacing Amity Island. Spielberg explained how he witnessed a man rushing out of the theater following the boy's death — which, it should be noted, isn't really shown in any great detail and of all the biggest "Jaws" moments is hardly the goriest. But as Spielberg told Laurent Bouzereau:

"A man got up and started walking out — I thought, 'Oh my God. Our first walkout.' Then he began running and I went, 'Oh, no, he's not walking out — he's running out.' I could tell he was headed for the bathrooms, but he didn't make it and vomited all over the floor. And I just went, 'Oh my God, what have I done? What kind of a movie have I made? A man has just barfed because of my film.'"

Interestingly, the Kintner death is perhaps the least gory kill of the movie, as we only see the unfortunate boy thrashing around from a distance — though there is plenty of blood in the froth. Still, it seems the mere act of killing off a young Amity resident was enough for this particular viewer to lose the contents of his stomach. Or perhaps it was the overt signature "Vertigo" zoom that Spielberg used on Roy Scheider immediately after the attack to signal Chief Martin Brody's alarm that actually prompted the hurling. That said, what seems more likely is that the viewer in question was treated to an original cut of the film that may have included a much gorier version of the Kintner kill.

In 2018, a behind-the-scenes photo from "Jaws" began circulating online, depicting a child on an inflatable raft about to be devoured by a giant shark. As it turns out, this shot depicts a dummy of Alex Kintner that was originally made for "Jaws" but which was not shown in the final cut. As Bloody Disgusting explains, the documentary "The Shark is Still Working," from the "Jaws" Blu-ray revealed how the dummy was built specifically to shoot a scene in which the mechanical shark emerges from the water and bites down on Kintner. According to the site, the scene was actually shot by second-unit director Joe Alves but was ultimately cut from the movie.

Could it be, then, that the mystery hurler from the first "Jaws" screening actually witnessed a version of the film with the original Kintner kill included? Was it this that caused such a dramatic reaction? Perhaps. But the other gem to come out of "The Shark is Still Working" was some 8mm footage from Vineyard resident Carole Fligor, who seemingly managed to capture some shots of the full Kintner kill being filmed, which you can see online here. But even in this footage, the kill doesn't appear to have been all that graphic.

So, while that clears up the mystery of what happened to Alex Kintner's full death scene, the mystery of what exactly prompted the unexpected test screening vomit remains unsolved. Still, at least "Jaws" can claim to have joined the pantheon of horror movies that made audiences physically sick. What's more, Steven Spielberg did at least confirm the vomitter in question was not entirely put off by his experience, telling Vanity Fair, "The great news was, about five minutes later, he went right back to his seat."