A Rare Behind the Scenes Image From a Deleted Scene of ‘Jaws’ Showing the Shark Killing Little Alex Kintner

Did you know that there is a scene from Jaws (1975) that never made it onto the film? The reason, it was deemed too graphic, too shocking for audiences to handle. It shows the death of Alex Kitner, a young boy. The edited scene that you saw in the film shows a little gore, but nothing like the deleted scenes that shows Jaws extend out the water to grab the boy and pull him under, and a fountain of blood shoot up into the air.

The rather shocking image can be seen above, and inspired many fans to dub it everything from terrifying to nightmarish. It’s not hard to see why, as it’s basically the worst thing anyone swimming in the ocean could possibly imagine. The story behind the photo is that it's from an alternate version of Alex Kintner’s death.

Originally, the boy’s demise was to be depicted onscreen in a much more gruesome fashion, with Jaws’ titular shark rising up out of the water and snatching the boy in its massive mouth. The shark would’ve then bitten down on Alex’s body, resulting in a torrent of blood. This more upsetting take on Alex becoming shark food is said to have been deleted from the final cut of Jaws for two main reasons. The first is, as one might imagine, it was determined to be too graphic and shocking. Secondly, Spielberg decided he didn’t want to give away the shark’s full appearance until later in the film.