Almost everyone has that natural, built-in fear of the ocean. We're out of our element, we can't see what's beneath us, and we know it it's not our home, it's theirs...
When Jaws was released in 1975, it scared people so badly that the number of great white sharks actually plummeted. Fishers wanted their own "trophy sharks" and everyone held an odd sense of revenge against the "man-eating" sharks. But this also shows the power of a good film. Great movies, whether they're terrifying or gleeful, can elicit an emotional response. Viewers can feel drawn in, fascinated, captivated, and influenced.
Sadly, not all shark movies are made the same. Some have gone down in the cinematic history books, while others have been mocked and ridiculed. Here are the five best (and five worst) shark movies of all time.
Worst: Sharknado
When Sharknado came out on Syfy in 2013, it became a cultural phenomenon. Somehow, the concept of a tornado full of sharks really spoke to the American public. Before long, meteorologists were making Sharknado jokes, Twitter was rampant with memes, and even the Red Cross got involved in the fun.
But, now that years have ed, it's time for everyone to it the truth—the movie was garbage. The CGI was so atrocious that you couldn't even enjoy the sharks, every scene that didn't involve the sharks was so agonizingly bad that it wasn't worth it, and it took a really long time before any shark action actually happened. Let's face the facts, this was one of the worst shark films in human history.
Best: The Meg
The Meg is everything that Sharknado should have been. It was campy and ridiculous, but it was actually a lot of fun. In the film, a research team hypothesizes that the Mariana Trench is actually deeper than originally believed. As they dive down, they discover that they were right, but also that a giant prehistoric megalodon lurks in the ocean's depths.
The concept was fun, there's a good amount of shark action, and the dialogue doesn't make you want to saw your own ears off. The movie went on to be a megalodon-sized hit, earning over sequel is in the works!
Worst: Shark Night 3D
Sometimes, a movie gets released in theaters that very clearly should have been a straight-to-the-dumpster-never-to-be-seen-by-a-single-human-ever. This is the case with Shark Night. In this grotesquely forgettable film, a group of college kids visits a nearby lake that... wait for it... is actually filled with sharks.
The craptastic CGI is only made worse by the nauseatingly cheap 3D effects. Not even the film's all-star cast like Katharine Mhee (who?) can save this painfully weak film from disappointing the audience who just wasted their hard-earned money.
Best: The Shallows
In one of Blake Lively's most likable roles, she plays a surfer who gets stranded on a rock while a massive great white shark stalks her. Despite the fact that the film only has two main characters (Lively and the shark), it's filled with tension, action, and scares.
While the movie has some rather disappointing graphics and very clearly knew that two-hours of Blake Lively in a bikini was bound to bring in an audience, it's extremely fresh and a lot of fun. It's everything a great shark movie should be. Furthermore, The Shallows' success at the box office in 2016 is what helped spur the new wave of blockbuster shark films.
Worst: Open Water
When Open Water was first released, it was a smash indie hit, receiving critical praise. It was "real" and "gritty," focusing on two divers stranded at sea who are eventually picked off by sharks. Rather than being filled with epic shark attacks and the hunter/hunted scenario typical with shark movies, Open Water instead keeps the camera fixed upon the two divers above water.
What results is an entire film of watching two people bobble helplessly in the ocean and then die. The realism of the movie ruins it. It's not an exciting or thrilling tale—it's just depressing. Making matters even worse, the movie was based on the true story of Tom and Eileen Lonergan who were accidentally left behind by a dive boat and died. The end result is a film that feels horrifically sad and exploitative.
Best: 47 Meters Down
This sleeper hit took theaters by storm during the summer of 2017. Starring Mandy Moore, the movie was originally titled "In The Deep," but eventually was released under the name 47 Meters Down. The film was made on a very small budget and was almost destined to be a straight-to-DVD release.
Luckily, the box office success of The Shallows helped change the studio's mind and 47 Meters Down got a full theatrical release. The result was an excellent twist to the classic shark movie. Having a great white stalk unlucky divers is nothing new, but the concept of those divers being trapped underwater with the sharks added a new layer of complexity and scares (plus, that excellent twist ending), creating one of the best shark movies in the last 30 years.
Worst: L'ultimo squalo
1981's Italian shark film L'ultimo squalo, a.k.a. Great White, a.k.a. The Last Shark is about as annoying as the fact that the film has three names.
In the movie, a beach town is terrorized by a giant great white shark (sound familiar?), and it's up to one man to save the day. It's a lousy and pathetic rip-off of Jaws, and making matters even worse is that it actually did well at the box office. The film's various issues include the fact that it mixes footage of actual sharks along with the giant puppet—and we use the plural sharks for a reason.
The movie doesn't always use great whites, instead, mixing footage of various shark species, assuming the audience wouldn't notice. Not to mention that the shark puppet is about the size of a school bus, so, when interchanged with footage of a five-foot shark, the puzzle pieces never seem to fit. Finally, the enormous size of the puppet meant that the shark could only do one thing: pop out of the water, and then, ever so slowly, sink bank down, accomplishing nothing.
Best: Jaws
We all knew Jaws would be on the list. How could it not" but it also popularized the genre of giant animal movies as a whole. Without Jaws, there would be no Anaconda or Lake placid.
Also, it's a damn good movie. To this day, the scenes hold up (some in a rather campy way), the characters are well crafted, there is genuine tension and lots of excitement. The film's legacy spans three sequels, a video game, a poster recognized around the world, and, of course, that score composed by the great John Williams, which is instantly recognizable and is used everywhere. But here's something that a lot of people don't know: Jaws was actually based on a novel.
Worst: Jaws 2
While Jaws 3-D and Jaws: The Revenge have gone down in the history books as some of the worst movies ever made, let's face it, they've both become iconic. Jaws 3-D took risks, using 3-D technology that can only be described as tragic, incorporating interesting sets like the underwater tunnel, and basing the movie at Sea World... little did the film know that Sea World would soon have a very real killer lurking beneath its waters. And Jaws: The Revenge is just so awful, with such horrific graphics, and that scene at the end... It's so atrocious that it's become the most talked-about film in the entire franchise after the original, creating its very own legacy.
But Jaws 2? That's the one where...Ugh...? That's right, Jaws 2 is the one where nothing happened. They basically replicated the plot of the original, but with less convincing characters. It was stale, dull, and tried playing it safe, creating the most forgettable film in the entire franchise.
Best: Deep Blue Sea
For a while, Deep Blue Sea was mocked and unappreciated. But, recently, audiences have finally come around and accepted that it's one hell of a shark movie. While the CGI is lackluster, Deep Blue Sea managed to used animatronics for a good portion of the film, which increased its realism and made the sharks truly frightening. There are tons of iconic scenes, like when the shark breaks the glass of the underwater control room (a concept made popular by Jaws 3-D), and, of course, that heavily-memed Samuel L. Jackson speech.
The whole premise is that an underwater research facility is enlarging mako sharks to extract proteins from their brain to be used in Alzheimer's medication. By increasing the shark's brains they inadvertently made the sharks smarter. Now, there's a family of plotting, scheming, super-sharks terrorizing the facility, trying to get free. It's a movie so bonkers that really needs to be seen to be believed.
