The 31 Scariest Ocean Horror Movies That'll Keep You On Dry Land
- 1Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss
- 2Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows, Samuel L. Jackson
Bringing to mind the conundrum of Jurassic Park, Deep Blue Sea proves you cannot play God, and you really shouldn't even try. In increasing the shark's brain size to help the scientists better harvest a protein complex they believed could help in healing Alzheimer's disease, they accidentally turned the sharks into killing machines, more deadly and intelligent than ever.
The effective use of that premise, coupled with memorable death scenes, make it easy to understand why Deep Blue Sea was hailed as “the greatest non-Jaws shark movie of all time," by an editor for Wired.
More Deep Blue Sea
- 3Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays
Leviathan taps into the fears we all have of the ocean, that there can be anything in its mysterious and dangerous depths. Add in the horror of experimenting on human test subjects, and a government conspiracy, and there are more than enough anxieties to keep audiences up at night.
- 4Blake Lively, Óscar Jaenada, Brett Cullen
Like most shark films, The Shallows begins with our protagonist trying to find some peace on vacation after a traumatic event, but finding the opposite. This film also comes with an important life lesson - do not surf alone. Coming in at around 80 minutes, The Shallows is chock full of tension, suspense, and a Great White shark that wants to remind you that it may have been many years since Jaws, but that does not mean you should feel safe going back into deep waters.
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- 5
Underwater
Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Mamoudou AthieUnderwater begins as a type of natural disaster movie, with an underwater drilling station taking on water after a terrible earthquake. From there it only gets more claustrophobic and stressful, when the crew realize the escape pods are gone, and their only option for escape is to traverse the deep sea floor of the Mariana Trench. The inability to communicate with those above water, and a lack of oxygen are not all the crew has to worry about, when mysterious, violent creatures begin picking them off.
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- 6Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn
The Abyss is a claustrophobic thriller with a strong cast of characters, played by Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Chris Elliott. Non-Terrestrial Intelligence, mysterious creatures, nuclear weapons, extreme cold, a submarine with leaks, and diminishing oxygen supply are just a few of the terrors within James Cameron's Academy Award-winning sci-fi thriller.
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- 7Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt
If you're looking for a film like Jaws, but with a new twist, Lake Placid sees its protagonists stalked and ripped apart by a giant crocodile. Part dark comedy, Lake Placid still manages to bring the gore with beheadings, vicious attacks, and more than one apex predator on the loose. Bonus? Lake Placid features Betty White in a supporting role that Rotten Tomatoes reviewers said is “worth the price of admission alone.”
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- 8Julianna Margulies, Ron Eldard, Desmond Harrington
Ghost Ship has one of the most memorable opening scenes in horror. In a matter of five minutes, a lively Sixties-era dance party aboard the MS Antonia Graza turns into a bloodbath, a massacre of almost the entire ship that leaves behind a pile of body parts and one horrified child.
The supernatural elements get a little muddy as as the movie goes on, but it still earns a spot on this list for the opening alone.
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- 9Zoe Naylor, Adrienne Pickering, Gyton Grantley
A 2009 study found that Great White sharks have a lot in common with human serial killers, because they don't like to attack at random. They stalk and hunt their prey, as you can see in The Reef. The reassurance in a creature feature is often that the humans are more intelligent than the beast, and can therefore outsmart it. That is unfortunately not the case with Great Whites, as the characters of The Reef find out the hard way, when they are stalked, and picked apart, one by one.
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- 10Claire Holt, Mandy Moore, Chris Johnson
Johannes Roberts' 47 Meters Down is an 85-minute anxiety nightmare in which a sweet, sister getaway turns into a brutal fight for survival. Murphy's law is an adage that means anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and characters Lisa and Kate learn that the hard way. The idea of being trapped 47 meters down and running out of oxygen is terrifying enough, without the addition of bloodthirsty sharks, and an inability to communicate with help above water.
- 11Blanchard Ryan, Daniel Travis, Saul Stein
Open Water is the kind of movie that stays with you - and makes you want to rethink that vacation scuba diving excursion. It's a harrowing tale of how a tiny error (miscounting tourists on a group boat excursion) can turn into a massive nightmare. Open Water is a story powered by dread, isolation, and hopelessness. With a 71 percent fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, it seems this low-budget thriller has left its mark on many.
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- 12Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton
Just when you thought it was safe again to enjoy the water, another Great White sets its sights on the residents of Amity Island. The stakes are raised when Captain Brody's son Mike, and his 10-year-old younger brother, Sean, disobey their father's orders to go sailing, not realizing they've landed themselves right in shark territory. Electrocution, an embolism, mauling, and explosions are just some of the horrors that make up this sequel.
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- 13Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman, Billy Zane
There are many horrors at play in Dead Calm, grief, isolation, a storm on the water, and an untrustworthy stranger. Rae and John Ingram learn the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished, when they offer aid to what appears to be a stranded sailor, but ends up being a violent and unhinged killer. The impressive acting by Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill, and Billy Zane make the audience all the more invested, and the terror even more palpable.
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- 14Treat Williams, Famke Janssen, Anthony Heald
Deep Rising may not be the best film on this list, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 32 percent. However, for those that like creature features, there's plenty of slaughter to satiate. That's not all, however, as the character Finnegan is known for exasperatedly asking "Now what?" The crew also has to deal with mercenaries, sabotage, explosions, and a bloody feeding ground. There's tons of carnage to go around.
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- 15Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson
The Mariana Trench is the deepest oceanic trench in the world. It's so deep that it still holds many mysteries despite all of the scientific research. It stands to reason one could find some horrible, terrifying things that far below the water - something like a giant extinct monster shark called a Megalodon, or Meg. It may be a B-movie, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of wild kills and gory attacks to satiate horror fans.
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- 16Jacqueline Bisset, Nick Nolte, Robert Shaw
The lead actors and director all learned how to scuba dive for The Deep, so that they could film seventy-five feet underwater on real shipwreck, The R.M.S. Rhone. The realism of being underwater for so much of the film adds to the anxiety and terror, as does the double threat of giant monsters like a moray eel, as well as a violent drug kingpin.
More The Deep- #97 of 199 onThe Best Movies Of The '70s, Ranked
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- 17Melissa George, Liam Hemsworth, Rachael Carpani
Triangle taps into some primal fears, using the horror of a storm on the water, the idea of being trapped in the middle of nowhere, and the notion that you cannot trust anyone to make a confusing, but well-acted horror story. The film has an 80 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The spookiness of an abandoned ship combined with an enigmatic assassin in a creepy mask make Triangle a film that lingers in your mind after the credits roll.
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- 18Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson
Sphere is adapted from the book of the same name by the mastermind behind Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton. Sphere has something for everyone - aliens, time travel, an underwater environment, black holes in outer space, extreme weather, giant sea monsters, explosions, and violent humans. Talk about an intense 134 minutes.
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- 19Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper, Morfydd ClarkMore Crawl
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- 20
Orca
Bo Derek, Richard Harris, Charlotte RamplingLike Deep Blue Sea, some of the fear of Orca comes from the animal's intelligence. This is not a mindless creature defending its habitat, but a man-eating monster with the capability of holding a grudge, and seeking out violent revenge.
And seek revenge it does, plowing through a whole cast of people, with cool, underwater camera work and fine special effects.
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- 21Taurean Blacque, Nancy Everhard, Greg Evigan
- 22Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Jerry O'Connell
Piranha 3D, which has a certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, sees prehistoric, man-eating fish being unleashed on a lake town right as they are inundated with tourists celebrating spring break.
The campy Piranha 3D takes the basic idea of Jaws, and runs with it, introducing wilder monsters and gorier deaths.
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- 23Matthew Davis, Bruce Greenwood, Olivia WilliamsMore Below
- 24
Sea Fever
Connie Nielsen, Hermione Corfield, Dougray ScottMore Sea Fever- #40 of 44 onThe 40+ Best Lost At Sea Movies
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- 25William Petersen, Adrienne-Joi Johnson, Charles Martin Smith
- 26Sophie Nélisse, Corinne Foxx, Brianne Tju
- 27Sara Paxton, Dustin Milligan, Chris CarmackMore Shark Night
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- 28Jamie Foxx, David Morse, Doug HutchisonMore Bait
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- 29
The Burning Sea
Kristine Kujath Thorp, Henrik Bjelland, Rolf Kristian LarsenA submarine operator descends to the ocean floor to save the man she loves from a sunken oil rig.
- 30Gary Oldman, Emily Mortimer, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo
