Through the door comes a boy (Michael Brody played by eleven year old Chris Rebello). Smiling, he announces, "Mom, I got cut", and then, holding up his left hand to display a jagged line of blood that runs diagonally across the palm from index finger to wrist, adds, "I got hit by a vampire." A wider shot of the kitchen places Brody to the left of the screen and Ellen to the right. In their reactions both parents immediately conform to the stereotype of father as disciplinarian and mother as carer. While Brody admonishes his son ("You were playing on those swings again, weren't you?"), Ellen steps forward to tend to the cut. When Michael thrusts his palm towards her, Ellen makes light of the incident ("I think you're going to live.") but Brody underlines the potential risk of injury ("Those swings are dangerous."). The parents' reactions establish a pattern for the rest of the movie: the father constantly worrying about lurking danger, the mother carefree (and, in some instances, careless) and confident in the safety of their environment.
Ellen is happy for the children to go swimming the day after the first shark attack and allows Michael to sit in his boat at the dock. She is not unsympathetic to her husband's fears and, when faced with evidence (the picture in the shark book), can be equally authoritative ("Michael? Did you hear your father? Out of the water! Now!"). It is only when her son narrowly escapes death in the Pond (thus fulfilling her prophetic words in the kitchen) that Ellen begins to appreciate the potential threat. By the time her husband sets off on the shark hunt, the roles have been reversed: he makes light of the danger ("Tell them I've gone fishing.") and she exits (both the scene and the movie) in tears.
For their son Michael there is a similar transformation. At the beginning of the movie the only monsters in his world are those of the imagination ("I got hit by a vampire.") and he can smile in the knowledge that they do not really exist. When faced with a real monster, his gaze (directed out at the audience) is of pure terror.
