Best Shark Horror Movies (& Where To Watch) | Screen Rant – Screen Rant

With summer heat and shark week coming up in August 2020, theres no better time for horror fans to check out some of the best killer sharkmovies available on streaming. Sharks havent always been the movie villains that they are now. In fact, killer shark movies were hard to come by for most of early cinematic history save for a few films here and there that didnt garner too much attention. However, that all changed with the record-breaking success of Steven Spielbergs Jaws in 1975.

Jaws was a turning point for Great White sharks, fish curator at the Natural History Museum in London, Oliver Crimmen, said in an interview with the BBC. I actually saw a big change happen in the public and scientific perception of sharks when Peter Benchleys book Jaws was published and then subsequently made into a film. While sharks arent actually the evil killing machines that Jaws makes them out to be, the public couldnt get enough of the fishy murder movies.

Related: Everything Jaws Gets Wrong About Sharks

From the late 1970s forward, shark movies were made by the dozens, many of which simply cash in on the new perception of sharks as terrifying murderers with less than stellar effects and plot lines, very similar to how zombie movies exploded after Night of the Living Dead. However, quite a few directors have done the shark tale justice. Luckily, many of those films are available for streaming right now.

Starring Jason Statham and Ruby Rose, Jon Turteltaubs The Meg follows the story of a submarine thats been attacked by a massive shark, thought previously to be extinct, and the rescue divers that have to journey down to the craft in order to save the crew. While The Meg received mediocre reviews from critics and viewers, its a good addition to any shark movie marathon.

When sisters Kate (Claire Holt) and Lisa (Mandy Moore) travel to Mexico for a vacation, they decide to take the plunge on a shark-diving experience safe inside a cage. But, once theyre down in the water, surrounded by sharks, their worst fears come to light when the cage breaks away from their boat, sending them plummeting to the ocean floor with a dwindling supply of oxygen. 47 Meters Down is a British-American survival horror film that offers a straight-forward thriller about sharks and deep water.

In Jaume Collet-Serras 2016 film, The Shallows, medical student Nancy Adams played by Blake Lively travels to a secluded beach for a much-needed retreat after losing her mother. When she heads out for a surf, however, a shark attacks, forcing her to swim to a giant rock for safety, where she remains injured and stranded 200 yards from shore. The film follows her fight for her life as the shark circles her position and Nancy tries to get back to safety. Sporting a 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, The Shallows is a solid shark movie with a great premise, though the movie's ending gets a bit silly.

Related: Jaws: How A Malfunctioning Shark Created A Classic Horror Movie Technique

The infamous b-movie about killer sharks in a tornado, Sharknado follows a group of friends as they try to save the Santa Monica coast from shark-infested tornados. Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante disaster Sharknado is the first in a series of horror comedy films released by Syfy. Unlike some movies that end up in "so bad, its good" territory, Sharknado sets out to purposefully make an over-the-top B-movie thats fully aware of how terrible it is. For horror fans who love silliness and over-the-top camp, this is the perfect killer shark movie.

Bait 3D is an Australian-Singaporean 3D horror disaster film follows a group of people who become trapped in a submerged grocery store when a freak tsunami hits. Unfortunately, as they try to escape, they are hunted by a group of hungry great white sharks. While this movie is no cinematic masterpiece, its certainly not bad either. Its campy fun, while still being a fairly passable horror film, offering an interesting twist on the classic shark movie monster, by placing the protagonists indoors. Bait 3-Dis similar to Alexandre Aja's 2019 summer blockbuster,Crawl, but with sharks instead of alligators.

This Australian horror film focuses on a sailing trip that turns disastrous when the boat sinks and a great white shark starts hunting the helpless passengers. Directed by Andrew Traucki, The Reef is one of a few modern killer shark movies that has performed quite well, featuring an 80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It features great scares alongside all the tension of a deep sea monster movie.

When the couple, Daniel and Susan, embark on a tropical vacation, they do so with the intent of giving their diving certifications a spin. When they separate themselves from the group during a dive, an incorrect head count leaves them stranded in open water with sharks lurking beneath. Open Water offers great thrills and is based on the true story of a couple left behind in shark-infested waters, making the scares all the more real.

Related: Open Water & The Reef Prove Shark Movies Are Scariest Without CGI

Deep Blue Sea is a science-fiction horror film that centers on an island research facility where scientist, Dr. Susan McAlester (Saffron Burrows) is harvesting the brain tissue of DNA-altered sharks as a possible cure for Alzheimer's disease. But, when the facility's backers send an executive (Samuel L. Jackson) to investigate the experiments, a routine procedure goes awry and a shark starts attacking the researchers. Soon the sharks are outnumbering the scientists and they have to fight to keep the creatures contained and stop them from escaping into the ocean. This movie offers the best of science fiction monster movie tropes, plus sharks.

Years after the original shark attacks of Steven Spielbergs Jaws, Sheriff Martin Brody finds new trouble lurking in the waters of Amity Island. But, Mayor Vaughn wants to rid the beach town of the stain on its reputation and pushes forward with a sailing competition even after two divers disappear, despite the sheriffs warnings. Everyone thinks the sheriff is just experiencing post-traumatic stress, but then a shark fin cuts through the waters. Jaws 2 is a great followup to the original film, and the only of the Jaws sequels to offer serious thrills with a believable plot.

The iconic original shark film, Jaws, is the best of the best. It follows a series of attacks off the coast of Amity Island, a New England tourist town, as police chief Martin Brody attempts to close the beaches, but clashes with local politicians. When ichthyologist Matt Hooper and the grizzled ship captain Quint, played by Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw, offer to help Brody capture the killer beast, the trio engage in an epic battle of man vs. nature as they set out to sea. Arguably one of the greatestkiller shark movies of all time,Jawsis one nobody should skip.

Next: Killer Shark Movies: How The Genre Changed Over Time

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Certified horror addict and linguistics nerd, Maisy has been watching, reading, and reviewing horror since she was old enough to get a library card. She is most often found hiding in the woods with her nose in a book, usually horror or weird fiction, or in her bedroom snuggling with her husband and many pets while watching horror movies or playing Skyrim - usually both.Elusive and rarely out in public, Maisy can usually be baited with cheese, punk rock, or the promise of a rousing discussion on sociolinguistics and dialectology, though she has sometimes been known to come out to explore local parks, zoos, and distilleries on occasion.

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Best Shark Horror Movies (& Where To Watch) | Screen Rant - Screen Rant

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero