The best shark movies and other aquatic horror for Shark Week

Shark Week, the Discovery Channel’s annual shark-based TV block, has returned to television. What at first began as a novelty marketing tactic designed to lure viewers in to watch television during the summer months morphed into a full-on cultural phenomenon in 2006 with Tracy Morgan’s iconic “Live every week like it’s Shark Week” line on 30 Rock, spawning a frenzy of imitators and a plethora of outlandish movies alike that channel the exploitative terror of fanged underwater predators first conjured and perfected by Steven Spielberg’s Jaws and making it into guilt-pleasure horror material for the entire family.

There’s as many underwater horror films as there are schools of fish in the ocean, and finding just the right one to sink your teeth into can be a difficult choice. In recognition of the 35th annual Shark Week, we’ve plumbed the depths in search of our favorite shark and shark-adjacent horror movies to stream and rent.

From classics like Spielberg’s aforementioned thriller and modern classics like The Meg and Jaume Collet-Serra’s The Shallows to the eldritch horror of William Eubank’s Underwater starring Kristen Stewart and Deep-sea HumanoidsHere are 12 of the best shark week horror films.

Jaws

Universal Pictures

The original movie blockbuster remains one of Steven Spielberg’s best, and is just as much a thrilling creature feature as it is an unnerving study of the ways in which leaders will abandon the people they serve in the pursuit of capital. With how our world currently responds to mass crises, it’s as relevant as ever. —Pete Volk

JawsTubi allows you to stream it.

The Shallows

Sony Pictures Releasing

Jaume Colllet-Serra is a Spanish American director who has spent years making action films with Liam Neeson. Black Adam Warner Bros. Jungle Cruise for Disney. But one of his very best movies is this “woman stranded in the water is pursued by a shark” thriller starring Blake Lively.

It’s a simple and well-tested setup, but it works because of Lively and Collet-Serra. It’s one of the richer roles Lively’s played post-Gossip GirlCollett-Serra loves the excitement that sharks require. The Shallows remarkable is the way it portrays text conversations in its narrative. —PV

The ShallowsPeacock allows you to watch it live online.

The Meg

Image: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

If we’re positing that aquatic horrors are among the greatest pleasures capital-C Cinema can offer (we are), then The MegIt is one of our most prominent names. I mean this not only factually — though megalodons are among the largest fish to ever exist, if you hadn’t heard — but in terms of the splash it can make in your life, were you to welcome it into your heart. The team, which includes a large number of notable and unwieldy researchers from the Pacific dive deeper into Marianas Trench than any other time in their history to encounter a frightening creature the modern world was not prepared for. The Meg is a film best enjoyed for the hammy pleasures it can offer you, rather than the ones it can’t. Though there are twists and turns, and Jason Statham doing his best as a gruff rescue diver, the film is trying to surf between “full-blown ludicrous” (your Sharknados) and “grounded and fulfilling politics piece” (JawsIt is the GOAT. It does it succeed every single time? Perhaps, but maybe not. There are better ways to spend the night than to screech as the Meg gives another explosive appearance, putting the entire crew at risk. —Zosha Millman

The MegThis video is also available on Fubo for streaming or digital rental, as well as purchase via VOD platforms.

Jaws Revenge

Universal Home Video

Do not make a mistake Jaws Revenge This is an absurd movie. It’s not, however, one of the worst sequels ever made, as its reputation suggests. (It’s not even the worst Jaws The tepid sequel Jaws 3-D This is the crown. Get on its funky wavelength and there’s a film here that belongs in the so-bad-it’s-good canon. The fourth Jaws Lorraine Gary returns as Ellen Brody. She is followed by the shark to the Caribbean where it attempts to pick off her entire family. She also has a psychic connection with the shark, which gives her some Spidey-sense in its attacks. That’s absurd! But the movie seems to know it’s absurd. RevengeIt takes many big and bizarre turns in support of its plot. It’s a Christmas movie, for some reason. There’s a ton of weird, frank sex talk in front of multiple generations of family. Michael Caine portrays Hoagie, a wisecracking pilot. Mario Van Peebles, a man with long, dreadlocks, and an inexplicable, broad patois, is also present. He sings the John Williams tune at one point. All of this could seem a little too clever, however. RevengeMost people know how stupid they are. This deserves another look. —Brad Sanders

Jaws RevengePeacock allows you to watch it live online.

47 Meters down

Image: Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures

You can find it here. you’re anything like me, you like your survival tales with a twist. I’m less interested in watching characters plumb the reasons for persisting (who isn’t these days) and more inclined to watch something that somehow twists the formula, either through genre or grander philosophical aims. If 47 Meters down accomplishes this at all for you, it’s through the former, with generic titillation that makes the world of cage-diving with sharks more visceral than it had to be for a movie of this caliber. After their cable broke, Lisa and Kate (Claire Holt), are plunged into the infamous depth. They find themselves stranded below the surface. With both visibility and oxygen levels low, and sharks circling the dark, murky water around them, the pair’s efforts to stay alive clock in at a tight 85 minutes. So it goes. 47 Meters downThere is some rarity in this air. It perfectly balances between the adrenaline these films need and the sea madness it needs to stand out. —ZM

47 Meters downHulu streams it.

Underwater

Photo by Alan Markfield/20th Century Fox

There’s plenty in between Charlie’s Angels, The Happiest SeasonThe Oscar-nominated actress in SpencerAnd the David Cronenberg movie about body horror Crimes of the FutureKristen Stewart played a leading role in Kristen Stewart’s performance, but it gets less attention. In William Eubank’s UnderwaterStewart is Norah price, a mechanical engineer working aboard a drilling boat at the Marianas Trench. When an earthquake strikes, disaster follows, as well as some… surprise guests. It’s a thrilling 95 minutes of good genre fare, with strong performances by Stewart, Jessica Henwick, Vincent Cassel, John Gallagher Jr., and Mamoudou Athie. —PV

Fubo offers Underwater streaming. You can also rent digital copies or make a purchase via VOD platforms.

Crawl

Image by Paramount Home Media Distribution

This tightly contained hurricane thriller slithered under the radar in 2019, but it’s one of the more efficient horror releases of recent years. Kaya Scodelario, a college swimmer, returns to her dad’s house to rescue him (Barry Pepper). While looking for him, she is ambushed by a group of alligators who trap her in the house’s crawl space. Alexandre Aja’s tight direction and strong central performances make this a thrilling movie of creature features that runs for 87 minutes.Piranha 3D). —PV

Crawl It is currently available for rent at $3.99 from Amazon, Apple and Vudu

Piranha

Image: New World Pictures

Piranha (1978) isn’t exactly a Good movie, but the film Steven Spielberg reportedly called “the best of the Jaws rip-offs” has become a cult hit, thanks to self-aware direction from Gremlins’ Joe Dante and a slyly winking script co-written by indie-movie maestro John Sayles. Like so many other Roger Corman productions, it feels like the remit was clearly “Make sure there’s gore and a couple of women are topless,” and otherwise the filmmakers were given the freedom to do whatever they wanted. The filmmakers wanted to add humor, but not mock the audience.

Piranha Hits some of the same subversive markings as Jaws — the authorities are selfish and shortsighted, and the public is oblivious — so the themes have some heft, but Dante and Sayles are both smart enough to know the whole project is a little ridiculous, and they remind the audience every chance they get of how contrived and conceptually silly a killer-fish movie has to be, given that most people have the option to just stay out of the water. —Tasha Robinson

Piranha It is free to stream on Plex, as well on Peacock and Tubi and Pluto TV with advertisements.

Orca

Image: Scream Factory

There’s no denying that Orca is a self-serious knockoff of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, but that’s actually a selling point for me — Michael Anderson’s 1977 film is a fascinating exercise in brinksmanship. The success of Jaws, Dino De Laurentiis tasked fellow producer Luciano Vincenzoni with finding an aquatic creature that poses an even greater threat than a great white shark, as if size was what really made Spielberg’s film so terrifying. The melodramatic promotional materials proudly claimed that, aside from humans, killer whales are the only animals that kill for revenge, thumbing a nose at the unthinking killing machine from Spielberg’s movie. Orca It even starts with the killer whale removing a great-white shark. Jaws Orca is her name. However, the story was very straightforward. In the second act, Captain Nolan (Richard Harris), plays a increasingly histrionic game cat-and mouse against Orca whose mate died in the first act. Naturally, the final product is nowhere near as thrilling or rich with allegory as Spielberg’s work — at its best, Orca is more “Moby-Dick as a B-movie,” which is fitting, given that Jaws turned out to be Vincenzoni et al.’s white whale. —Danette Chavez

OrcaIt is currently available for rent at $3.99 from Amazon, Apple and Vudu

Dead Calm

Warner Home Media

The seemingly unkillable sea monster in 1989’s Dead Calm isn’t a shark — it’s Billy Zane. Based on Charles Williams’ novel. Orson Welles failed to adapt it. The Deep, Phillip Noyce’s film pits Zane’s Hughie Warriner against John and Rae Ingram (Sam Neill and Nicole Kidman) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Warriner rows a dinghy to the Ingrams’ yacht and claims food poisoning killed his crewmates, but his odd behavior arouses John’s suspicion, and he rows out to the capsizing ship to investigate. John finds the bodies, Warriner commandeers the yacht, and Noyce doesn’t let his foot off the gas for the rest of the film, maintaining a high-wire, nervy intensity as Warriner comes unglued and the separated Ingrams find the resolve to reunite and bring him down. The performances of all three actors are outstanding, with Zane giving a standout performance as Warriner. He is infused with genuine menace, and a childlike, off-putting demeanor. Dead Calm Although it may not be as terrifying as traditional underwater horror, the psychological aspect of this movie is more compelling than its counterpart. Jaws The final shot shows that its good looks are reflected in its homage. Smile, you son-of-a. —BS

Dead CalmIt is streamable on Kanopy using a library card. You can also rent it for as low as $2.99 at Amazon, Apple and Vudu.

Deep-sea Humanoids

Shout Factory Image

Barbara Peeters was a New World Pictures vet when Roger Corman hired her to helm 1980’s Deep-sea HumanoidsIt is possible to direct the following: Burial me an Angel And Summer School Teachers For the cult-studio. Humanoids was her final feature before moving on to a career in television, and its go-for-broke verve made it one of New World’s best. Set in a California fishing village during its annual salmon festival, Peeters’ film adds harrowing feminist subtext to the post-Jaws subgenre by introducing an aquatic menace that’s bent on procreation with human women. The growth hormone is meant to be used in salmonids, so a school ancient coelacanths are exposed to it overnight. They undergo many millions of years worth of evolution. Creature of the Black LagoonHumanoids resembling humanoids, come to the shore in search of mates. It’s a lurid premise, and Peeters doesn’t flinch from its ugliest implications, shooting fish-on-human assaults and an AlienWith gripping confidence, a film-inspired scene for a birth. (A scientist played by Ann Turkel may be Peeters’ surrogate here; she’s not taken seriously by the town’s macho fishermen even though she’s the only person who understands what’s going on.) The humanoids’ climactic attack on the boardwalk is a virtuosic set-piece of no-budget violence that suggests what would have happened if Chief Brody hadn’t been able to close the beaches. —BS

Deep Humanoids You can stream it on Shudder, Tubi and Plex.

Blood Vessel

Image: Entertainment Squad

A definition of aquatic terror is slippery as an egg. Justin Dix’s WWII-set Blood Vessel It is best described as a movie about vampires that takes place on the sea. However, it manages to bring back enough watery scenes to merit its aquatic title. Opening long shot shows a lifeboat drifting in an empty, vast ocean. This sets the mood. The movie glorifies the terror of living alone in open water and the danger of not being rescued. The lifeboat and its ragtag crew soon find a seemingly abandoned Nazi warship, but it isn’t long before things get vampiric. It feels almost like a tribute to each. Raiders of the Lost Ark And Hellboy, Blood Vessel’s batlike vampires are on deck because of the Third Reich’s meddling in the occult. Those aren’t the only nods to other films; shades of Aliens, The Dirty DozenAnd Jaws Also, dot it. Dix’s direction is canny enough to transcend the game of spot-the-reference that he indulges in. His tight focus emphasizes the fear of being trapped aboard a ship filled with bloodthirsty ghouls. The film’s final bite confirms what aquatic horror directors have known since the dawn of time: A plume of blood blooming underwater looks amazing on film. —BS

Blood VesselYou can stream it on Vudu, Tubi and Tubi without ads.