Shark Summer: Man-eater Cinema of the Last 15 Years

 

Killer fish movies, especially those featuring undersea apex predators, have proliferated ever since Spielberg made millions of people around the world think twice before going into the water, any body of water. Having written articles here about the greatness of JAWS (1975) and its superlative sequel JAWS 2 (1978), few shark movies have come close to matching either of those two films in the areas of characterization, intensity, terror, a John Williams-level musical score, and just all-around entertainment value.

 

The following is a 15-year sampling—2010-2025—of shark flicks big and small, 15 of the best and or most interesting, and 5 of the worst, and ranked by year. You’ll find actors like Richard Dreyfuss, Dolph Lundgren and Nicholas Cage among the titles covered. There are also many other titles mentioned in some of the selections that may be worth your time, if not outright worthless.

1. THE REEF (2010)

 

Five friends plan to sail from Australia to Indonesia to deliver a yacht to a buyer there. Shortly into their trip, the boat hits a coral reef and capsizes. A current is pulling them further out to sea so the decision is made to try and swim to Turtle Island, which is 12 miles away. One of the group refuses to get into the water so four attempt the arduous trek to the nearest shore. What they learn to late is, a Great White has been following them since they entered the water.

 

The one consistently terrifying man-eater movie on the list comes from Andrew Traucki, the director of the killer crocodile pictures, BLACK WATER (2007) and BLACK WATER: ABYSS (2020). Additionally, THE REEF is based on a true shark attack story that occurred in Australia in July of 1983 wherein a shrimp trawler capsized, sending its three occupants into the water 60 miles from shore. It isn't long before they discover, to their horror, they're being followed by a Tiger Shark. Only one of the three managed to survive. THE REEF is also the only film on this list that comes the closest to capturing, and maintaining, the horror Spielberg wrangled for the iconic JAWS (1975). So if you’re looking for a similar harrowing experience, you'll find it in THE REEF. What sets it apart from so many others is in how the filmmakers mix real Great White footage with the characters to create the most visceral audience reaction possible. For example, the shark's slow glide into frame from a distance mirrors the same effect John Carpenter incorporated for Michael Myers in HALLOWEEN (1978).

Another true story involving a seafaring mishap came from the Discovery Channel during their 2019 season of SHARK WEEK. Titled, CAPSIZED: BLOOD IN THE WATER (2019), the film was an account of a horrifying ordeal in 1982 when a yacht originally sailing from Maryland to Florida, overturned and the five survivors traversed the open sea in a small lifeboat without food or water for five days. Two were killed and eaten by sharks; one died from blood poisoning and was nearly eaten by the remaining two survivors till they decided to feed the corpse to the flesh-hungry fish surrounding them. They were eventually rescued by a Russian ship after a week out in the ocean.

A much anticipated sequel to THE REEF broke the surface in 2022 called THE REEF: STALKED. Once again directed by Traucki, the second time around isn’t as good even though it's essentially the same movie again. What made the first REEF worthwhile is largely missing—replacing certain scenes of real sharks with computer generated ones that move ridiculously fast. It’s a comparatively disappointing sequel about friends on a kayaking trip who are besieged by a relentless shark as they try to make it back to shore alive. It does have some tense moments spread throughout the movie, just don’t expect STALKED to maintain the fear-generating momentum of THE REEF.

2. SHARK NIGHT 3D (2011)

College students enjoying a lakeside weekend vacation discover SHARK WEEK lovin' local lunatics have dumped a variety of man-eating sharks in the Louisiana saltwater lake they’re swimming and skiing in.

This PG-13 killer fish flick is better and trashier than you’d think; although it could’ve done with a snappier title. SHARK NIGHT feels like a 70s Drive-in movie with a bigger budget behind it. Made by stuntman turned director David R. Ellis (2003s FINAL DESTINATION 2), this was his last feature film as a director before his mysterious death in 2013 while preparing his next movie in South Africa. There’s animatronic sharks, too, which is always a plus. Director Ellis also helmed the Drive-in genre mash-up SNAKES ON A PLANE (2006). SHARK NIGHT with its mix of crazed hillbillies and man-eating sharks operates within the same parameters.

3. BAIT 3D (2012)

A criminal, a cop, and a variety  of other people become trapped inside an Australian grocery store after a tsunami destroys their seaside town, leaving much of it underwater. Getting out alive is compounded when it’s learned the flood has brought two Great White Sharks into the submerged store with them. Some are trapped inside their cars while those in the flooded grocery store must stay atop the shelves to avoid finding themselves inside the shark's jaws.

BAIT, an Australia-Singapore co-production, is a vastly underrated Shark movie that originally featured Tiger Sharks that were exchanged for the usual toothy threats, those being Carcharodon Carcharias, alias Great Whites. BAIT's preference towards practical effects is refreshing when most of these films are happy to be swimming around in CG Shark infested waters. There are computer generated sharks in the film, but BAIT doesn't take the lazy way out with an over-reliance on them. If there was one hidden gem on this list, it's BAIT. You can read our review HERE.

 

4. THE SHALLOWS (2016)

After her mother dies from cancer, a medical student takes a vacation in Mexico. While surfing, she’s bitten by a Great White and ends up trapped on a rock a few hundred feet from shore. Anyone else that goes into the water to try and help ends up eaten by the stalking apex predator. With the tide coming in soon, she must use her wits to escape the jaws of the shark.

THE SHALLOWS is possibly the most influential shark movie of the last ten years. It continues to influence considering a Chinese remake came out this year. The premise is as simplistic as it gets with a single protagonist trapped on a rock with a shark circling her for 90 minutes. The script finds a lot to do in that time. It wasn't long before a feeding frenzy of shark flicks with the same setup surfaced; some of which are on this list.

 

SHALLOWS single-setting set-up was likely inspired--as THE REEF was--by the still frightening OPEN WATER (2003). Based on a true story, it's about a couple who are on a scuba diving trip and end up left behind and lost at sea miles away from shore. Sharks make their presence known and dinner is served. Much like the true story, their bodies were never found. OPEN WATER didn't use any computer rendered nor animatronic sharks, but real ones in scenes that are still intense to watch. It falls outside of our 15-year time-frame, but its influence on the genre, and the ingenious and dangerous way it was shot, cannot be denied.

5. USS INDIANAPOLIS: MEN OF COURAGE (2016)

On July 16th, 1945 the USS Indianapolis, led by commander Charles McVay, sets out for Tinian on a highly classified mission to deliver components for one of the atomic bombs. With no escorts and the nature of the mission unknown to its crew, the Indiapolis delivers its cargo but is sunk by a Japanese submarine on its journey home. There were 1,195 sailors aboard. Approximately 300 went down with the ship. Approximately 900 went into the water. Only 316 survived five days of terror at sea in shark infested waters.

Actor Mario Van Peebles directed this $40 million independently financed disaster movie about the doomed heavy cruiser sank by the Japanese during the closing months of WWII. The story became famous by Robert Shaw's terrifying recounting of the tragedy in JAWS (1975). A film about this historical occurrence was in development for many years, beginning as early as 2011. A competing film from Warner Brothers was also in the works but never made. When Peebles’ movie was finally made, its box office chances sank quickly. INDIANAPOLIS was an ambitious production that included the Navy's involvement and accounts from some of the remaining survivors. Sadly, $40 million simply isn’t enough for a production of this size. Special effects run the gamut of good, to average to stunningly poor. Even so, the dramatics are occasionally strong with a handful of poignant and powerful moments—particularly the final, powerful sequence between commander McVay and commander Hashimoto.

As for its shark content, the finned terrors make their first appearances 49 minutes into the 130 minute movie and finish up at the 94 minute mark. Considering this is an account of the biggest naval disaster in history, the majority of the shark sequences are surprisingly effective; those being the animatronic kind. As for its cast, Nicholas Cage stars with support from Tom Sizemore, James Remar and Thomas Jane. During the end credits, you’ll see brief testimony by two of the survivors followed by real footage of the 1945 rescue. The budget isn’t big enough to carry the weight of such a story, but the effort behind it to make a respectable tribute is admirable just the same.

 

6. OPEN WATER 3: CAGE DIVE (2017)

Three friends from California travel to Australia to do a cage dive with sharks in the hopes of getting on an extreme reality TV program. While submerged inside the cage, a freak wave capsizes their boat stranding everyone in the water. Some are rescued later but the three Americans are separated from the group and become lost at sea as hungry Great Whites circle around them.

The first, and so far only, ‘Found Footage’  killer shark movie. It’s BLAIR WITCH with dorsal fins... and a final shot straight out of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. Originally, director Gerald Rascionato's film was an independent picture titled CAGE DIVE. When Lionsgate picked it up, they changed it to OPEN WATER 3: CAGE DIVE. Under either title, it's a welcome change from the glut of schlock shark horror where mediocre to bloody awful CGI kills any chance at generating terror in the viewer. OW3 has more than a few intense moments and is certainly better made than many others in this sub-genre. It’s as good as the first OPEN WATER (2003) and well above the Shark-less travesty that is OPEN WATER 2:ADRIFT (2006).

 

7. 47 METERS DOWN (2017)

Two sisters go cage diving in Mexico. Their vacation turns to horror when the wince holding the cage breaks, sending them over 150 feet to the bottom of the sea. They try to leave the cage but nearly become lost in the darkened depths or narrowly escape being eaten by Great White Sharks that prevent them from getting too far away from their underwater prison. After two failed rescue attempts, it becomes clear to the trapped divers they may indeed die 47 METERS DOWN. 

 

Director Johannes Roberts has a good eye for shark horror. In both his 47 METERS movies he displays a professional grasp of the jump scare. He does this very well in the first film. Even when nothing remotely horrifying is happening, the look of the underwater shots is like being inside a sunken haunted house. One scene may have been inspired by Ben Gardner's corpse giving Richard Dreyfuss the shock of his life when one of the girls encounters a half-eaten body. This is effective PG-13 horror that doesn't need a lot of gore to keep viewers riveted.

2019s 47 METERS DOWN: UNCAGED descended into theaters and was a scarier, and superior sequel… that is till the final ten minutes when the film goes insanely off the rails and, to use a popular phrase, “jumps the shark”. The plot is about a group of school friends that get together for a boat tour to see Great White Sharks. They later decide to go scuba diving at a secret location to swim through an underwater Mayan city. By the time they discover blind Great Whites with even greater heightened senses roaming among the ruins, their time quickly runs out. Prior to losing the raw horror it spent 90 minutes building up, UNCAGED is one of the most genuinely scary shark pictures of the last decade. The haunted house ambiance returns but is even more palpable since the doomed divers are lost inside a darkened, cavernous ancient city.

THE CHUM BUCKET:  5 SHARK MOVIES THAT STINK

1. SOMETHING IN THE WATER (2024)

Five women go on a boating trip in the Caribbean where they all plan to attend a friends wedding the following day. One of them is bitten by a shark and upon speeding off to hurriedly get her to a hospital, they hit a reef. The boat quickly takes on water and sinks, leaving the women adrift at sea with only a single life jacket between them. It isn't long before the shark senses more food in the water, pursuing the girls as they attempt to swim to safety miles away.

There is definitely SOMETHING terrible IN THE WATER, the most relentlessly in-your-face, box-ticking feminist shark movie ever made. You'd think a mixture of OPEN WATER (2003), THE REEF (2010) and THE SHALLOWS (2016) would yield some thrilling moments, but instead, you'll find your attention drifting away along with your patience. There are a few attempts at suspense, but the filmmakers sink those in favor of absurd behavior. On two occasions, the women literally laugh at the shark attacking them. And when the full CG shark is finally seen in the last ten minutes, it moves faster than a torpedo. The movie, on the other hand, sinks fast like it’s been hit by one.

2. MANEATER (2022)

Another group of friends on another vacation are attacked by another Great White Shark. An old man of the sea is hellbent on killing the beast after his daughter was eaten by it.

Sometimes with these films, you’ll find a diamond in the rough; MANEATER isn't a diamond, it's just rough. The attack scenes are vicious but the computer generated shark perpetrating them is atrociously rendered. Apparently most of the budget for this home computer-made motion picture went to stars Trace Adkins and Jeff Fahey. Unless you’re a completist, you can steer clear of this Carcharadon Carelessness.

3. THE REQUIN (2022)

 

A couple on vacation in Vietnam try to stabilize their relationship by spending time on a small bungalow on the water. A tropical storm hits and rips the tiny home from its foundation, sending them out to sea and into the waiting jaws of a Great White Shark.

Alicia Silverstone, previously of three Aerosmith videos and Batgirl in BATMAN AND ROBIN (1997), takes the lead role in what could've been an intriguing killer shark movie. Vietnamese director Le-Van Kiet seems less interested in making a horror movie than he is a dramatic thriller that uses a shark motif as a backdrop instead of building his movie around it. It's an hour before the shark attacks and only around 5 minutes total of that; and even then it's via the lowest quality desktop special effects. A total chum-fest. 

4. SHARK LAKE (2015)

A black marketeer dealing in exotic animals sets a Bull Shark loose in Lake Tahoe. He’s arrested but gets out on parole five years later.  What’s unknown at the time is the Bull Shark was pregnant and bodies keep piling up. The ex-con returns to the scene of the crime and teams up with the local police chief to rid the lake of its shark problem.

Another horrible CGI shark movie, this one starring and produced by Dolph Lundgren, who meanders from one scene to the next looking like he lost a bet. Bull Sharks can indeed survive suitable freshwater conditions and have been spotted in rivers and lakes all around the world. As for this movie, an opportunity to pit one of action cinemas greatest stars against a killer shark was unbelievably wasted.

5. SHARKTOPUS (2010)

A scientific experiment involving the DNA of a shark spliced with an octopus goes wrong, escapes into the sea and heads for Mexico. The creatures creators are then hired to track it down and capture it if possible.

SHARKTOPUS, which plays like a comedy, was a big success for producer Roger Corman and the SyFy Channel, leading to two sequels, SHARKTOPUS VS PTERACUDA (2014) and SHARKTOPUS VS WHALE WOLF (2015). As bad as these desktop disasters are, they're endearing to many horror fans.

 

SchlockTOPUS either started a new wave of shitty shark movies, or reinvigorated it with an abundance of Crap Generated Imagery--namely the sextet of the wildly popular SHARKNADO pictures that began in 2013. SHARKTOPUS must've been popular in China too since a remake was made there in 2023. The Sharktopus itself had to have been inspired by the part shark-part octopus monstrosity of Lamberto Bava's pedestrian oceanic horror MONSTER SHARK (1984), released in America as DEVIL FISH. The poster art was the best thing about that sea monster misfire. You can read our review HERE.

 

The success of these cheaper films on cable and video have influenced many more of them. As long as they attract big numbers on the small screen and sell DVDs online and in department stores, the flurry of DIY special effects shark flicks will continue. Thankfully, there are enough good ones that leave a lasting impression, instead of the quick buck CG feeding frenzy that dollar sign-seeking producers are all too quick to churn out. After DEEP BLUE SEA (1999), it took nearly 20 years before the next major studio shark movie swam into theaters.

 

8. THE MEG (2018) 

 

A deep-sea mission to explore the Mariana Trench six miles below the surface loses contact with the underwater research facility that launched the submersible. A rescue mission is mounted headed by Jonas Taylor. Deep into the Trench, a Megalodon is discovered among the many forms of sea life. Thought to be extinct, the giant fish stealthily follows them through the thermocline barrier, and into the open sea. Jonas and the rest of the team manage to kill the Meg but a short time later, an even bigger Megalodon appears and heads for a well stocked Chinese beach resort for dinner.

After decades of languishing in development hell, Steve Alten’s novel finally came to the screen. It was a surprise summer hit as well as a surprisingly enjoyable action horror movie with a bit of humor. One of the keys to the film’s success is Jason Statham playing a red-blooded, 80s style action hero. This, blended with wacky monster movie cliches, was a welcome breath of fresh air. The wild finale where the Megalodon attacks and eats hundreds of beachgoers at Sanya Bay is like Godzilla stomping Tokyo with thousands of people trampled beneath his footfalls. The way the monster shark is killed is as creative as it is outrageous. THE MEG is enormous fun for monster movie fans.

Five years later, the Carcharadon Megalodon surfaced a second time in MEG 2: THE TRENCH (2023). It was a much bigger movie with a slightly smaller budget. In spite of this, the film crams everything in it—martial arts action and more monsters. There’s three Megalodon’s, a giant octopus, and packs of voracious, amphibian carnivores; in addition to other dangers found deep in the Trench during a lengthy and thrilling sequence that shamelessly rips off 2020s UNDERWATER, a sea monster movie that sank in theaters but is worthy of discovery if you haven't seen it. 

 

As for MEG 2, it’s a good time even if the monster rally at the end is messily edited while the film as a whole is wildly over the top. The tone rambles too, starting out with a pleasingly darker tone, but switches to a lighter, tongue in cheek one for the second hour. THE MEG 2 tries mightily to outdo its predecessor, and it does in terms of spectacle. But unlike the more focused first film, the sequel is in the tradition of a SyFy Channel shark flick with a $130 million budget.

 

9. DEEP BLUE SEA 3 (2020)

 

Oceanographers and marine life scientists study Great White Shark behavioral changes on the floating research facility Little Happy Island. The ex-boyfriend of one of the scientists unexpectedly shows up with a team of mercenaries who are tracking three escaped and genetically enhanced Bull Sharks who are highly intelligent. The newly arrived team have ulterior motives leaving the scientists of Little Happy to try and survive threats above and below the water.

The first DEEP BLUE SEA (1999) was a slickly made, $60 million dollar B movie. It's certainly an entertaining flick, even with the goofy dialog and even worse CGI sharks that are rendered even more fake-looking by how fast they move. The Tough Guy performance of Thomas Jane (THE PUNISHER; THE MIST) made up for some of its shortcomings. The animatronic sharks are incredible, and especially noticeable when put up against the remarkably awful CG Shortfin Mako Sharks. The Made For Cable and DTV Shark flicks erupted after DEEP BLUE's box office, resulting in a sea of terrible special effects. The plethora of substandard shark flicks on home video ensured the theatrical life for such films was likely dead. It took nearly 20 years before Renny Harlin's movie was sequelized, and those too were made for video.

Minus Thomas Jane, there was no such savior in DEEP BLUE SEA 2 (2018) with its lower budget and even lower grade CGI sharks. The inclusion of genetically enhanced baby sharks with a Piranha-style ferocity didn’t help this sequel rise to the corniness of its predecessor, either. 

For the third, remarkably plotless DEEP BLUE SEA movie, a level of the first film’s polish returns, along with a surprisingly efficient C movie entertainment value that blows past the previous entry. The first quarter is aggressively political with climate messaging that claims the sea levels are rising and they're making sharks meaner. The movie then tosses its political plot points overboard and settles on genetic experiments as the meanness and intelligence increase in three doctored up Bull sharks (giving the Great White the backseat as well as a protagonist role). Add in a villainous crew of musclebound malcontents, an out of left field Kung Fu fight, and sharks flying through the air to take a man’s head off and you’ve got what is possibly the first shark movie with multiple cinematic personalities. 

10. GREAT WHITE (2021)

A young couple who own a struggling charter plane service take their cook and another couple out to an isolated beach. Instead of rest and relaxation, they find a half eaten corpse and a capsized yacht. When their seaplane is attacked and sunk by a Shark, the five manage to stay afloat in an inflatable lifeboat. Miles away from shore, they try to paddle to safety while being pursued and attacked by two Great White Sharks.

GREAT WHITE is one of many movies derivative of THE SHALLOWS. A single and limited location where the writers must find ways to put the characters in peril. The film loses some steam during the ‘adrift at sea’ section of the movie, but does spring to life during the finale of this Australian production. A big plus is the inclusion of animatronic shark action that displays a level of realism you simply don’t get from the typical bargain bin desktop special effects so many of these films swim around in.

11. SHARK BAIT (2022)

 

A group of friends on vacation in Mexico steal two jet skis for a day. When careless behavior leaves them stranded miles out at sea, the party animals lose their enthusiasm after attracting hungry sharks that intend to devour them before they reach shore.

Don't let the generic title fool you, SHARK BAIT is better than the average summer shark shocker. A more appropriate title would've been 'Blood in the Water'' considering its used a few times in the narrative. The characters are the usual stock obnoxious versus resourceful types; regardless, the film succeeds due to the filmmakers finding ways to juice up the peril the victims put themselves in. 

 

The CG sharks are better than average and the kills are more elaborate and brutal than what you get in most of these pictures. Some of them recall both JAWS and JAWS 2. Probably the best example is a recreation of JAWS's estuary attack wherein a female is trying to get out of the water and we see the shark just below the surface as it bites her in half. The filmmakers had the time and ingenuity to do more than have victims splash around and get pulled down below the depths. SHARK BAIT is one of the best of this sub-genre you may not have seen.

12. NO WAY UP (2024)

 

A plane headed to Mexico crashes into the ocean after a flock of birds fly into one of the plane's engines. Many are killed in the crash while the remaining survivors become trapped in an air pocket as the plane sinks further into the sea. With both time and air running out, the passengers must try to survive hungry sharks that find a way inside the fuselage. 

It's AIRPORT '77 but with sharks. Unlike that disaster movie, the third entry in the 70s airplane action-drama quadrilogy, the UK-funded NO WAY UP doesn’t have a disaster movie budget or a big name cast. The script is too ambitious for the budget to fully realize; but the filmmakers do very well with what they have in what amounts to a medium level popcorn movie. One of the film's poster designs is a bit of creative genius in that it inverts the classic JAWS motif of a shark coming up from the depths to sink its teeth into a woman swimming on the surface of the water. Nearly all of these films use a modified version of the iconic JAWS poster painted by the late Roger Kastel.

 

This film's plot is about to tread water again in the upcoming US-Australia co-production DEEP WATER (2025), directed by Renny Harlin and produced by KISS guitarist Gene Simmons (along with half a dozen others). Intended to have been a sequel to BAIT (2012), the film was in production back in 2014 but was canceled due to the eerie disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 that same year. As of August 2025, the plane, nor any of its passengers, have been found. This is Harlin's return to shark cinema since 1999s DEEP BLUE SEA.

13. THE LAST BREATH (2024)

 

Divers find the sunken remains of the USS Charlotte, a WWII battleship, while scuba diving in the Caribbean. After assembling a team, the group explore the vessel. Venturing deeper into the ships corridors, the divers' guideline snaps, leaving them lost among the many darkened corridors. They quickly learn, albeit too late, they’re not alone inside the rusted ship; Great White Sharks stalk the darkened hallways for food. Their air tanks getting dangerously low, time is rapidly running out to escape both the ship and the sharks that intend to eat them.

Easily one of the best shark movies on this list, THE LAST BREATH has good performances balanced with anxiety-fueled sequences of peril the cast find themselves in. The title derives from the plot point of the divers' air running out. This was likely influenced by the 47 METERS DOWN films; only here, it carries a lot more significance as the dwindling cast must risk leaving one area of the sunken vessel with an air pocket for more dangerous ones while losing air, finding another tank, as well as gambling on trying to make an escape to the surface. Sadly, it ended up being the last film role for Julian Sands. He made a name for himself among genre fans starring in movies like BOXING HELENA (1993), WARLOCK (1989) and WARLOCK: THE ARMAGEDDON (1993). He died in January of 2023 when he went missing January 13th while hiking Mount Baldy in California. His remains were recovered five months later on June 24th. A month later, his cause of death was listed as undetermined due to the condition his body was in.

14. UNDER PARIS (2024)

A research team tracks a Mako shark they named Lilith only to discover she’s grown from 6 feet to 25 feet within two months time. Lilith kills the four-man team and Sophia, the scientist that has been studying her, is nearly killed in the attack. Three years later, Lilith has reappeared, spotted in France’s Seine River. After a freak accident below the city’s catacombs leaves over a dozen people dead, Sophia finds out that Lilith is no normal Mako shark but a new species that is asexual. Havoc erupts during a triathlon when dozens of people are killed when Lilith and other Mako Sharks attack, leaving Paris flooded.

UNDER PARIS is a French shark thriller directed by Xavier Gens (FRONTIER(S); THE CRUCIFIXION) that was picked up by Netflix. It’s an impressively polished motion picture that almost cripples itself with excessive eco-messaging; while the script opts to make Lilith the protagonist instead of the usual villain of all your finer human-gobbling, man-eater movies. This current trend of sympathetic sharks is hard to swallow considering if you’re in the water with them and they’re hungry, you will possibly be bitten, maybe even maimed by them if not eaten. It's not demonizing them, it’s what sharks do. As Matt Hooper pointed out in JAWS, “It swims, and eats, and it makes little sharks, and that’s all”.

Political messaging is becoming a prominent trend in this sub-genre, too. It used to be called social commentary but now filmmakers rub your face in what they believe instead of simply telling a story. Probably the most extreme example of this is 2023s THE BLACK DEMON directed by RAMBO: LAST BLOOD’s Adrian Grunberg. It revives the unused plot point of the broken down, dilapidated town of Amity as depicted in John Hancock’s vision for JAWS 2 that was thankfully scuppered in favor of a plot set in reality. DEMON’s story is about El Diamante, an oil rig that has somehow left the neighboring town of Baja, California bankrupt and in disrepair; not by the destructive policies of the state's politicians, but an oil rig. Meanwhile, a Megalodon has been wished into existence to swim through the oily, black waters to eat the man responsible for building the oil rig who is on vacation there. That its well shot doesn’t take away how gigantically idiotic the storyline is. So far, BLACK DEMON is the only anti-oil and gas killer shark movie till the proposed sequel surfaces. 

As for UNDER PARIS, the script is almost as relentless although it’s based in reality in regards to oceanic trash dumps like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. You’ll be hard pressed not to notice that women are in every position of power; even the sharks are all asexual females and don't need males to procreate. The opening sequence is impressive if outrageously staged whereby the lead character is dragged by Lilith, moving like a bullet train, for what seems like miles below the ocean, and yet she manages to survive. The film works best when it’s paying homage to JAWS (1975), and this is most apparent during the wild finale. In a refreshing change, the filmmakers avoided using words like BLOOD, or DEEP, or even SHARK in the film’s title. It was a quick hit for the streaming service, and a sequel is already in development, so the gamble on a major cliffhanger ending paid off.

15. INTO THE DEEP (2025)

A young woman tries to cope with her fear of sharks as a child after witnessing her father being eaten by one by going deep sea diving for sunken treasure with her husband in Thailand. They, along with another couple, cross paths with drug smugglers who lost containers of cocaine at the bottom of the sea. They send their captives into the water at gunpoint to retrieve the drugs whereby they must get passed the Great White Sharks hunting in the area.

Richard Dreyfuss features in his first shark movie in 50 years. His scenes amount to maybe 15 minutes. But his participation feels more like a messenger for Shark conservation than an actual character in the film. His scenes are mostly flashbacks teaching his granddaughter in an Obi Wan Kenobi tone to "conquer her fears"  to the point she becomes something of a Shark Whisperer at the finale. During the end credits, Dreyfuss discusses sharks being killed for their fins in Asia. Shark fin soup is a delicacy there (you used to be able to order it at some Chinese restaurants). 

 

The only Zen Shark movie yet made, it's not very good with its SyFy Channel level CGI. What makes it watchable is the nasty turn by Jon Seda as the main villain; and the filmmakers keeping Scout Taylor-Compton and Lorena Sarria in their thong bikinis the entire time. Some of the film’s promotion rips off the same poster design from 2024s superior THE LAST BREATH. Amazingly, Saban Films has another shark film out with the exact same plot called FEAR BELOW (2025); only that one is set in 1946 Australia and features a Bull Shark in a lake. Similar to the superior shark pictures from Altitude Films, Saban Films has a growing roster of them, even if these are mediocre at best.

 

Crazily enough, there’s another shark movie mixing drug traffickers and man-eating sharks called DEEP FEAR that came out in 2023. The plot is near identical with a brother and sister pair of drug dealers stranded at sea who are rescued by a woman running a yacht charter service. They force her to retrieve their sunken stash of cocaine and their partner who is stuck in an air pocket aboard their sunken boat. DEEP FEAR is a far better movie than INTO THE DEEP. And not just because of the camera lingering on the stunning form of leading actress, Romanian model Madalina Ghenea, but the shark action is far superior and with CG to match. The only reason it's not the lead title for this selection is due to the JAWS connection of Richard Dreyfuss.

It's been 50 years since Steven Spielberg made moviegoers second-guess going into the water; made us think about what exactly is below us that we can't see. That element of fear is hard to capture. Some of the films listed are more successful at it than others. With no end in sight, the cinema of saltwater terror and other man-eating denizens of the briny deep continue to entertain audiences at home and in theaters. For 50 years, the sub-genre continues to show us it still has teeth.