A Look at Shark Movies

With The Shallows now playing in theaters and Shark Week underway at the Discovery Channel, here is a look at some notable shark movies.

Jaws (1975)
Dir. Steven Spielberg

The de facto shark movie. Based on the book by Peter Benchley, a large great white shark stalks the beaches of an east coast resort community. Jaws was director Steven Spielberg's first mega-hit and much has been made of the way this film created the summer blockbuster. But the box office analysis should not obfuscate that Jaws is one of the greatest films that Hollywood has ever produced.


Jaws 2 (1978)
Dir. Jeannot Szwarc

The Jaws sequels do not have a good reputation but Jaws 2 is a fine movie. The sequel revisits the locations and surviving characters of the first film as another large shark patrols the waters of Amity Island. Jaws 2 also gave us the often imitated tagline, "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water . . ."


Blue Water White Death (1971)
Dir. Peter Gimbel

Four years before Jaws, a group of adventurers and oceanographers set out to film great white sharks. This is the first time that live great whites were photographed in the wild and Blue Water, White Death contains some incredible footage.


Open Water (2004)
Dir. Chris Kentis

Two vacationers are stranded in the middle of shark infested waters when their tour boat accidentally leaves them behind. Shot in the ocean with the actors treading water among real sharks, Open Water has startling power as the couple's situation gets increasingly desperate. Like The Blair Witch Project, Open Water is an example of low budget filmmakers turning limited resources into a strength instead of a weakness.


Mako: The Jaws of Death (1976)
Dir. William Grefe

One of the more unusual titles in the shark genre, a man wears a magical shark tooth necklace that makes him "the shark whisperer." He protects the animals and directs sharks to kill his enemies and other people he doesn't like.


12 Days of Terror (2004)
Dir. Jack Sholder

Based on the non-fiction book by Richard Fernicola, 12 Days of Terror is a dramatization of the 1916 New Jersey attacks. In a period of twelve days, five people were attacked by sharks. This film advances Fernicola's argument that the attacks were the work of single shark. This event was an influence on Peter Benchley's Jaws.


Sharknado (2013)
Dir. Anthony C. Ferrante

There have been deliberate attempts to manufacture a cult hit (see: Snakes on a Plane and Repo! The Genetic Opera) but of course these things have to emerge organically. Sharknado and its sequels were the kind of cheeky schlock that audiences were looking for. Originally shown on the SyFy Channel, Sharknado had special midnight theatrical showings in 2013 that sold out.



Deep Blue Sea (1999)
Dir. Renny Harlin

Scientists in an undersea research facility genetically engineer mako sharks, increasing the animals' size and their intelligence. The sharks flood the lab and begin picking off the human beings. It's silly but a fun watch, especially counting all the nods to the Jaws films and movies like The Poseidon Adventure.


Shark Attack 3: Megalodon (2002) 
Dir. David Worth

The Shark Attack movies are terrible but the third installment is a special kind of terrible. It is so weird and so poorly acted and so over the top that it is actually fun if you are in the right state of mind for it.


The Shallows (2016)
Dir. Jaume Collet-Serra

Blake Lively plays a surfer who is attacked by a great white shark and stranded on an atoll 200 yards from shore. The Shallows is a slickly made story of survival with some effective jump scares.