Sink your teeth into these flicks
Ranking the top 10 shark movies. Beach, anyone?
For more than 40 years, it hasn’t been safe to go back into the water. Thanks, “Jaws.”
The big screen has played host to a never-ending spate of troublesome man-eating sharks ever since Steven Spielberg’s killer-fish spectacle. Next up might be the largest catch yet: Action hero Jason Statham and a group of scientists tackle a gigantic prehistoric megalodon – think the “Jurassic Park” version of the usual dorsal-finned nightmare – in “The Meg” (in theaters Friday).
Audiences have a deep hunger for these underwater antagonists – Shark Week, anyone? – so let’s rank the top 10 shark movies ever. (It’s probably worth noting that, like with basketball comedies, the quality has a quick drop-off after the first few.) And sorry, “Sharknado.” We’re excluding made-for-TV flicks from our list, but you, “Ghost Shark” and “Sharktopus” are still cool.
10. ‘Jaws 3-D’ (1983)
SeaWorld has one huge PR problem when a young great white shark manages to find its way into the park’s new underwater tunnels, and it gets even worse when the deadly fish’s mom shows up, too. The film is an obvious ploy to freak people out with 3D technology, yet you can’t argue with Louis Gossett Jr. and Dennis Quaid doing what they can to keep it watchable.
9. ‘Bait’ (2012)
It has chintzy effects and doesn’t know if it wants to be a disaster film or a shark movie, but at least it flips the script on the “Jaws” template. A tsunami floods a grocery store and leaves a pack of survivors trying to find their way out, as well as avoid the great white swimming through the aisles.
8. ‘47 Meters Down’ (2017)
Two sisters, played by Mandy Moore and Claire Holt, go cage-diving in Mexico to see sharks up close and – shocker! – things do not go to plan. It’s a pretty simple plot – the women have to escape their cage at the bottom of the ocean and not get eaten – made a lot better by smart use of lighting to ratchet up the scares.
7. ‘Jaws 2’ (1978)
Imagine the pressure of following “Jaws” without Steven Spielberg and two of your top actors. But unlike the two sequels that came later, this followup wasn’t absolute chum. The shark is still crazy destructive – even taking on a helicopter – but what’s neat here is the return of Roy Scheider as the police chief who’s voted out when the powersthat-be don’t believe another beast is in the water but saves the day anyway.
6. ‘The Meg’ (2018)
It does give you the hand-to-fin combat you want from Statham battling a 75foot-long prehistoric shark, but getting there is a bit arduous: Researchers plumb new depths off the coast of Shanghai and accidentally unleash the Meg. It’s all pretty corny and earnest until the ginormous shark starts wreaking havoc on ships and people in inner tubes.
5. ‘The Reef’ (2010)
A bunch of friends (including a pair of lovers) sailing to Indonesia crash on a reef. Their only hope is to get to a nearby island, made harder – and more tense – by a clever great white, noteworthy for being real rather than CGI. Extra points for a headless giant turtle corpse.
4. ‘Open Water’ (2003)
This Sundance Film Festival breakout also used real sea life to add all-toorealism to its worst-case vacation scenario. A married couple go on a scuba expedition to help their relationship and wind up getting stranded, with jellyfish stinging and sharks circling. It’s an unnerving narrative that aims for authentic emotions and some very hard decisions when it comes to survival.
3. ‘The Shallows’ (2016)
The prettiest shark movie you’ll ever see, it’s essentially “Let’s go surfing with Blake Lively in paradise” until her character becomes the target of a hungry shark. A scene-stealing seagull is her only confidante as she tends to a really nasty leg bite – luckily, she’s pre-med! – and uses her smarts (and a flare gun) to foil the shark’s meal plans.
2. ‘Deep Blue Sea’ (1999)
Sure, the ridiculous factor is high when you consider the sci-fi thriller centers on super-smart sharks born from the studies of scientists working on an Alzheimer’s cure. But it totally owns that silliness in an enjoyable way, like a shark using a dude strapped to a gurney as a battering ram. Bonus: The film offers up an all-time great movie death, a joyously gnarly munch you don’t see coming until it’s too late.
1. ‘Jaws’ (1975)
The seafaring masterpiece sinks every other shark movie in its utter perfection. Hollywood’s first summer blockbuster is aces across the board, from sheer terror to the unforgettable John Williams score (which keeps the dread going even without a toothy predator). But what really elevates the film from creature feature to complex shark-ridden drama is the trio of main characters, including top cop Brody (Scheider), nerdy oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and Ahabesque hunter Quint (Robert Shaw).