The 7 best shark movies to thrill your summer and where to watch them-Rebecca Sayce-Entertainment – Metro

Caption: Best shark movies to thrill your summer and where to watch them
credit: REX

Razor-sharp teeth, pointed fins, and a powerful, muscular body – sharks are predators not to be trifled with.

Their unique appearance and dominance of the ocean have led to them becoming the subject of numerous films, often blood-soaked horrors and heart-racing thrillers.

Following its release on Netflix, one such film, Under Paris, has garnered a strong 65% Rotten Tomatoes rating and been dubbed ‘unbelievably good.’

As the synopsis for the Xavier Gens-directed flick teases: ‘In order to save Paris from an international bloodbath, a grieving scientist is forced to face her tragic past when a giant shark appears in the Seine.’

From Bruce the Shark to The Meg, popular culture has embraced the elasmobranch with cinema immortalising their troubled relationship with humans over the decades – and possibly being the root cause of it.

Perfect for the summer months as we head to the beach, these shark flicks will have you running from the waters.

Deep Blue Sea

Who thought experimenting on genetically modified sharks was a good idea? (Picture: Warner Bros/Village Roadshow/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

After witnessing a horrific shark attack, Duncan Kennedy created Deep Blue Sea released in 1999.

Starring Saffron Burrows, Thomas Jane, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Rapaport, and LL Cool J, it tells the story of Dr Susan McAlester (Burrows) while she harvests the brain tissue of DNA-altered sharks in a big to cure Alzheimer’s disease.

When the facility’s backers send executive Russell Franklin for a routine check on the experiments, a procedure goes awry and a shark begins attacking its human captors.

It’s hardly Oscar bait, but it’s perfect for B movie lovers who want to see a shark tear through the ocean – and humans – in typical vicious fashion, as are its two straight-to-video sequels.

Where to watch: Available to rent on Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, Sky Store, Microsoft, YouTube, and Rakuten TV

47 Meters Down

For many, it is a dream to swim with sharks in their natural habitat and witness the powerful sea creatures up close.

But for two sisters, it becomes an absolute nightmare in Johannes Roberts’ horror film 47 Meters Down.

Kate (Claire Holt) and Lisa (Mandy Moore) and travel to Mexico for a vacation, where they decide to go diving in shark-infested waters. Their thrill-seeking trip soon goes awry when their cage breaks away from their boat and plummets to the ocean floor.

Upon its release in 2017, the film was a commercial hit grossing $62.6 million worldwide against a budget of about $5 million, leading to a sequel being released in 2019.

Where to watch: Available to rent on Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, Sky Store, Microsoft, YouTube, and Rakuten TV

Shark Tale

Boasting a star-studded cast and one of the most dramatic narratives, this needs to be on tour watchlist (Picture: Dreamworks/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

What if Jaws met Goodfellas? That seems to be the bizarre question posed by the 2004 animated film Shark Tale.

Set under the sea, the film tells the story of an underachieving fish Oscar (Will Smith) who has grand aspirations. He is propelled to stardom among his fellow ocean dwellers when he claims to have killed mob-connected great white shark Frankie (Michael Imperioli).

He concocts the tale alongside Frankie’s peace-loving brother Lenny (Jack Black), but the ‘sharkslayer’ and his friend soon find themselves in deep water when Frankie’s father, mob boss Don Lino (Robert De Niro), sends his henchmen to track down Frankie’s killer.

The film really has everything – horror, action, crime, romance with Angelina Jolie as a seductive fish – and it was even nominated at the 77th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature.

Where to watch: Available to rent on Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, Sky Store, Microsoft, YouTube, and Rakuten TV

Mako

Getting trapped under the sea is a recurring theme, it seems (Picture: Mako/Netflix)

One of the most feared sharks in the ocean is the shortfin mako shark, thanks in part to its terrifying teeth and its status as the world’s fastest shark.

And Egyptian action horror Mako focuses on the deep sea predator, directed by Mohamed Hisham Al Rashidi.

Based on true events, the film sees eight divers trapped beneath the surface of the Red Sea surrounded by ravenous sharks after visiting a sunken passenger ship to make a documentary.

Mako is less about the sharks and more about the personal drama between the divers that threatens their survival – but that’s not to say there’s not plenty of shark footage that shows why the film comes with a gore warning.

Where to watch: Netflix

Sharknado

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a shoal of sharks traveling across America via tornado (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)

Yes, you are looking at that image correctly. That is hundreds of sharks being hurtled through the air via a tornado.

And we never would have had such beautiful images burned into our brains if it wasn’t for the release of Sharknado in 2013.

How did a sharknado come to being? When shark fin smuggler Captain Carlos Santiago (Israel Sáez de Miguel) is caught in a hurricane during a deal and his sharks are swept up in the madness before a group of friends are tasked to stop the chaos in Santa Monica. Of course.

The film is so bad, it’s actually great. So much so there are six Sharknado films now with Kate Garraway even making a cameo appearance in number five.

Where to watch: ITVX

The Meg

Once upon a time, there was a prehistoric creature called a megalodon – essentially a gigantic shark thought to be around 15 to 18 metres in length.

If they were alive today, they would surely dominate the ocean. Especially if the events of The Meg are anything to go by.

Starring Jason Statham, Ruby Rose, and Li Bingbing, The scientists in the film must stop a crazed megalodon from attacking people on the beach – preferably without getting eaten by it themselves.

Grossing over $530 million worldwide, a sequel, Meg 2: The Trench, was released in 2023.

Where to watch: Available to rent on Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, Sky Store, Microsoft, YouTube, and Rakuten TV

Jaws

Bruce the shark is the poster-sea creature for shark films (Picture: Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)

When you think of shark films, Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster Jaws is sure to be the first you think of.

His Oscar-winning thriller, which served as his mainstream breakthrough, tells the story of a man-eating great white shark that attacks a US seaside town, which prompted a rise in sports fishing across America.

Jaws starred Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss, boasted an iconic theme from composer John Williams and also delivered stone-cold classic movie one-liners like ‘We’re gonna need a bigger boat’.

The film revolutionises the notion of the summer blockbuster, winning numerous awards and quickly becoming the highest-grossing film of all time spawning three sequels.

In 2001, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Where to watch: Netflix, NOW TV, and Sky

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