Four years before Jaws turned the great white into the world’s most feared predator, documentarian Peter Gimbel and his team of fearless divers and photographers set out to film the first footage of the species in its natural habitat. The crew—which included shark experts Ron and Valerie Taylor, who would go on to shoot much of the underwater footage for Jaws—spent nine months at sea, traveling from South Africa to South Australia, where they finally managed to capture their target. Their time on the water had clearly emboldened them. The divers risk their lives as the film progresses, at one point shooting footage of a feeding frenzy without the benefit (and/or protection) of a cage. In another scene, photographer Peter Lake keeps his camera steady while his cage is attacked—and it’s that moment that inspired Peter Benchley to write Jaws. Blue Water, White Death is everything a great shark movie should be: entertaining, frightening, suspenseful, and scientifically sound.
Open Water (2004)
Open Water‘s greatest success just may be the fact that—unlike so many other movies of this ilk—it wasn’t trying to be Jaws. More of a psychological drama than a straight-up shark movie, it tells the story of an American couple who get left behind on a scuba diving expedition in the Caribbean and must wait out a rescue in shark-infested waters. Shot on a budget of just $500,000, the movie’s handheld digital style and frequent use of submerged POV shots help to achieve an unusually visceral effect. That the film is loosely based on the true story of Tom and Eileen Lonergan—an American couple who were stranded on the Great Barrier Reef in 1998—and produced and directed by a husband and wife team (Chris Kentis and Laura Lau, who are both veteran scuba divers) also adds an authenticity to the relationship aspect of this on-the-water drama.
Sharkwater (2006)
Underwater photographer-turned-filmmaker Rob Stewart goes rogue for much of this documentary, which seeks to expose the inhumane practices utilized in the shark-hunting industry. Tracing the shark’s evolution from predator to prey, Stewart teams up with Paul Watson, a conservationist from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, to reveal the true (and not-so-scary) nature of these wrongfully maligned animals and how easily their population could be extinguished by shark poachers. The undercover nature of their mission makes this one action-packed documentary, too. (Which isn’t an adjective that is frequently applied to the genre.)
The Reef (2010)
Yes, The Reef is pretty similar to Open Water, right down to the movie poster. But somehow writer-director Andrew Traucki makes it work. In the case of this Australian production, a group of friends turn a yacht delivery to Indonesia into an open water party … until said yacht capsizes. Oops! Their best chance for survival, according to their friend/captain, is to make a 12-mile swim to a nearby island—which seems like a great plan to the great white shark that’s intent on eating them. Tensions run high as the group attempts its journey onward, and only time will tell how many—if any—of them survive to tell the tale.
How to watch it: Netflix
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
Don’t get us wrong: We’re not saying that Renny Harlin’s improbable tale of super-smart sharks run amok was snubbed by the Academy. But as far as entertainment for entertainment’s sake goes, Deep Blue Sea more than delivers. The movie makes the most of its ridiculous plotline—a team of scientists genetically modify a couple of Mako sharks in the search for a cure for Alzheimer’s—and has a large enough budget ($78 million) to serve up some impressive special effects and decent talent, including Stellan Skarsgård, Thomas Jane, LL Cool J, and Saffron Burrows, who spends a seemingly inordinate amount of time in a half-zipped wetsuit or less. Best of all, Deep Blue Sea plays like a pre-Snakes on a Plane dry run for Samuel L. Jackson to chew up as much scenery as the bloodthirsty fish.
Sharks 3D (2004)
Not to be confused with Shark Night 3D, Sharks 3D makes the most of the stereoscopic experience by going underwater with explorer/filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the legendary Jacques Cousteau. The film is the culmination of nine months of shooting and 500 dive hours in shark-infested waters around the world including Guadalupe Island, the Red Sea, Sodwana Bay, and Rangiroa Atoll, where the filmmakers’ Imax cameras capture a variety of shark species—from great whites to hammerheads—up-close and interacting on their home turfs.
How to watch it: Blu-ray/DVD
Bait (2012)
If one were to read the box synopsis alone—a grocery store robbery is interrupted by a freak tsunami which waterlogs the store and traps a hungry great white shark in there with the survivors—he or she would likely move on to the next movie in the pile. And understandably so. But Bait manages to rise above its schlocky-sounding premise with a series of subplots that keep the story moving along and (fortunately) not solely focused on the 12-foot maneater that’s lurking beneath the surface. The film did well enough at the box office to warrant a sequel, Deep Water, which was officially put on hold in March due to what were described as “uncomfortable similarities” to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis (1991)
Any Jaws aficionado will remember the scene in which Quint reveals himself as a survivor of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Navy ship that was torpedoed in 1945 after delivering pieces of the first atomic bomb to a U.S. air base in Tinian. This made-for-television movie—starring Stacy Keach and David Caruso—recounts the actual events (sorry, Quint!) of one of the Navy’s greatest tragedies, in which only 317 of the ship’s 1,196 crewmen survived. Being that it was made for television, the gore factor is low (which can be a pro or con, depending on your horror threshold). But it packs a lot of history into its 100-minute running time, and is impressively directed by Robert Iscove, who—fun fact—would go on to direct She’s All That and From Justin to Kelly.
How to watch it: Netflix
Blood in the Water (2009)
If you can get past the cheesy reenactments, this made-for-television documentary, which kicked off Shark Week in 2009, is rather fascinating from an informational perspective. It tells the story of a series of shark attacks that took place over 12 days on the Jersey Shore in 1916 and put a nation of water-dwellers on high alert. Namely because the latter attacks were perpetrated on children playing in a shallow creek, located roughly 75 miles from where the initial attack (in Beach Haven) occurred.
How to watch it: Vudu
Shark! (1969)
Weren’t aware that Samuel Fuller directed Burt Reynolds in a movie about treasure hunters diving into shark-infested waters in the Red Sea? That’s exactly the way the legendary action director wanted it. Originally titled Caine, the film’s title—and main marketing tactic—changed when one of the movie’s stuntmen was actually killed by a shark during filming, all of which was caught on camera, then subsequently exploited by the studio in order to drum up interest in the film with a new title (Shark!) and tagline (“Will rip you apart”). Fuller was not on board and pleaded with the powers-that-be to remove his name from the project. They refused. And while the final film is far from a cinematic masterpiece, its behind-the-scenes controversy make it worth a watch.
How to watch it: DVD
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