9 Scariest Shark Movies to Watch During Shark Week (June 20-26)
“What are all these sharks doing here?” “I dunno. Maybe someone put them there.”
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No horror movie fan who swims in the ocean can say they have never been afraid of sharks. Not only are there so many great shark attack movies, but in real life whenever a shark attacks a human, it becomes a huge news story. Sharks conjure up an ancient fear of an underwater conflict where we are at the mercy of killing machines, a bloody battle that we are not equipped to win. This list catalogs the scariest shark movies. For more water-based horror, check out our beach horror movies, swimming pool horror movies, and underwater horror movies lists.
Jaws (1975)
Based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley—which was inspired by a series of real-life shark attacks in New Jersey in 1916—Jaws follows small-town Sheriff Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), who already fears the water, as he tries to protect his town against a killer great white and a mayor who cares more about tourism dollars than he does about safety. As the shark begins picking off swimmers and growing more emboldened, Brody teams with a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a crusty-but-tough fisherman (Robert Shaw) in a quest to slay the massive beast. Jaws is a cautionary tale about the clash between civilization and the untamed wild and had a tremendous impact on popular culture. It grossed nearly $500 million on a budget of $9 million.
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
Working on a $200-million grant from a wealthy investor who seeks to cure Alzheimer’s, an unethical marine biologist in an isolated underwater research facility called Aquatica devises a way to enlarge shark brains. The underwater guinea pigs—a group of super-fast mako sharks—become so intelligent that they figure out how to escape their captivity and begin terrorizing the underwater crew. The team has to work together to outsmart the sharks and rise to the surface without being killed.
Open Water (2003)
Open Water is based on the true story of Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who traveled with a scuba-diving group to the Great Barrier Reef in 1998 and wound up stranded when the group’s ship left them behind after taking an inaccurate headcount. Stranded and drifting in the vast, cold sea, the couple, who are renamed Dan and Susan in the screenplay, must fight dehydration, stinging jellyfish, saltwater sickness, and the looming threat of a pack of sharks who have discovered them. Every shark in this movie is real, and the actors ended up spending 120 hours in the water with the sharks.
The Reef (2010)
The Reef is based on the real-life story of Ray Boundy, who survived an incident where his boat was capsized and a tiger shark killed two of his crew mates. In The Reef, five people—including the ship’s captain, Luke—go on a sailing trip when their boat hits a reef and capsizes. The passengers decide to swim toward Turtle Island for safety, while the captain stays on the floating boat because there are sharks in the water. The four swimmers are then stalked by a great white.
Shark Night (2011)
A scary shark movie that feels like a slasher film. Shark Night follows a group of college friends vacationing at a lake house for the weekend. Despite being located on fresh water, the friends begin to be picked off by sharks one by one. Eventually, they discover the attacks aren’t an accident.
47 Meters Down (2017)
Mandy Moore and Claire Holt star as two vacationing sisters who decide to be adventurous and do a caged shark dive. A snafu on the trip results in the sisters being trapped at the bottom of the ocean. While they are still protected by the cage, they have only an hour of oxygen left. Surrounded by great white sharks and needing to surface slowly in order to prevent deadly decompression sickness, the sisters struggle to survive.
47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019)
A survival horror movie following a group of friends (and frenemies) who go scuba diving to explore the ruins of an underwater Mayan city. An accident causes some of the ruins to collapse, sending silt everywhere and separating the friends in the ensuing chaos. The girls attempt to leave but a shark appears and chases them deeper underwater.
The Reef: Stalked (2022)
An Australian horror movie following four friends on a kayaking adventure. While spearfishing, one of the women notices a shark in the water. She scrambles back to her kayak safely but her friend is killed by the shark. The remaining three friends must paddle back to land while a great white shark stalks them.
Dangerous Animals (2025)
A survival horror movie about a free-spirited surfer, Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), who is abducted by a shark-loving serial killer, Tucker (Jai Courtney). Tucker routinely abducts women to make “movies” as he feeds them to sharks off of his boat. Zephyr is a fighter and relentlessly fights to free herself and make it off of Tucker’s boat.
