Deadly Jaws (1974)

A trio of tourists arrange to meet one of their uncles to get information about an Aztec sunken treasure of insurmountable wealth.  When they arrive at the uncle's apartment they find him bleeding to death, but he manages to divulge the location of the secret map before his demise.  The killer is still in the apartment though and instead of killing the group, he somehow arranges for himself to be the captain of the boat they hire to go find the treasure. After getting some dive training in, the group set off and find the site of the treasure which is teeming with deadly sea life, including a fearsome octopus, creepy eels, a hammerhead shark and more.  It isn't only the creatures of the sea that the treasure hunters need to worry about though as a local gangster has been following them, waiting for the loot to be pulled up to claim for himself. Made the year before Steven Spielbergs's Jaws, this rare German production is more of an action adventure than killer creature feature.  Cinematography by the prolific veteran Franz Lederle.   Lederle borders on brilliant, giving the locations a tropical brilliance with superb underwater photography as well.   89 minutes STANDARD FORMAT English audio sound with non-removable Japanese subtitles DVD is NTSC format, Region 0 (region free) playable world wide Also known as: No Gold for a Dead Diver, Ein toter Taucher nimmt kein Gold Directed by Harald Reinl and Jurgen Roland Starring: Horst Janson, Hans Hass Jr, Marius Weyers, Monika Lundi, Sandra Prinsloo and Gert Hoffman