Staff pick

Drive-in creature features

8 films · August 2026

After Jaws, every drive-in needed its own hungry animal. Some got a shark, some had to make do with a very large pig.

Jaws
1975 · USA · 124m
Obscurity: canon
The broken shark forced Spielberg to suggest instead of show. It made the film.
Piranha
1978 · USA · 94m
Obscurity: known
Sayles script, Dante direction, and jokes that land. The best Jaws rip.
Alligator
1980 · USA · 87m
Obscurity: known
Sayles again. A flushed pet in the sewers, and it knows how silly that is.
Grizzly
1976 · USA · 91m
Obscurity: cult
Jaws with a bear, pitched exactly that way, and it worked.
Orca
1977 · Italy/Netherlands · 88m
Obscurity: known
The whale wants revenge and has a plan. Morricone score, oddly moving.
Squirm
1976 · USA · 92m
Obscurity: cult
Electrified worms in Georgia. Rick Baker's early effects are the draw.
Razorback
1984 · Australia · 94m
Obscurity: cult
A giant pig film shot like a perfume ad. Somehow works.
Q: The Winged Serpent
1982 · USA · 93m
Obscurity: cult
Larry Cohen, a dragon over Manhattan, and a great Michael Moriarty.

Jaws