10 Creature-Feature Films That Make You Think Twice About Getting Into The Water

No one can hear you scream in space, but horror fans know that real fear lies deep in the planet, which is made up of 71 percent water. *Cue Jaws theme*

Aquaphobia is the fear of water, but thalassophobia is the fear of large, deep water bodies, ranging from the ocean, seas and lakes, and that fear has been the subject of Hollywood’s obsession with sea monsters, from the days of 1954’s Creature from the Black Lagoon, to the more recent Meg 2: The Trench, which centres around a monster terrorising mankind. If you thought the Great White Shark in Jaws was scary, the megalodon offers a small glimpse into the different kinds of danger that lurk below the surface.

Filmmakers have milked that fright and created countless creature-features starring monsters that terrorise the deep, from sharks, piranhas, alligators, and more. Here are 10 of them that will make you think twice if what brushed against your leg was actually just seaweed. 

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1) Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Director: Renny Harlin (Exorcist: The Beginning, 12 Rounds)

Stars: Samuel L. Jackson (Secret Invasion, Avengers), Saffron Burrows (You, Troy), and Thomas Jane (The Mist, Boogie Nights)

What is worse than being hunted by sharks? Being hunted by sharks genetically enhanced to be larger, brighter, and more aggressive than their natural counterparts. They also have one less natural weakness: they are able to swim backward. 

Deep Blue Sea veers away from the traditional depiction of sharks in creature features, with the Mako sharks displaying cunning and strategic behaviours instead of being simple mindless killing machines. Not even a secured underwater laboratory is safe enough, as the sharks are able to disable communication devices, sabotage escape routes, and exploit weaknesses in the vessel’s structure.

Talk about terrifying. 

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2) Lake Placid (1999)

Director: Steve Miner (House, Warlock)

Stars: Bridget Fonda (A Simple Plan, Single White Female), Bill Pullman (The Equalizer 2, Independence Day), and Oliver Platt (Chicago Med, 2012)

If you thought freshwater was safe, Lake Placid makes you think twice about taking a dip. 

Those that did in Black Lake learned that the hard way when a giant 9.1 metre-long crocodile (average crocodiles are around 4.5 metres) begins attacking and devouring locals, prompting a team of experts to embark on a dangerous hunt to capture and neutralise the elusive and deadly creature, uncovering surprising secrets along the way.

It wouldn’t do good to dismiss the misadventures as fiction, either. Somewhere in Central Africa, a 6.1-metre predator, Gustave, is rumoured to lie in wait, with about 200 to 300 kills under its belt – some done out of sport rather than hunger.

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3) Anaconda (1997)

Director: Luis Llosa (Sniper, The Specialist)

Stars: Jon Voight (Zoolander, Pearl Harbour), Jennifer Lopez (Maid in Manhattan, Hustlers), and Eric Stoltz (Pulp Fiction, The Butterfly Effect)

Being trapped on a boat with a 12-metre-long snake – average anacondas clock in at 4.5 meters in length – that can swim is a situation that no one wants to find themselves in. Anaconda follows a documentary film crew’s journey deep into the Amazon rainforest, which soon turns into a nightmare when they encounter a massive anaconda, pushing them to fight for survival against the relentless and powerful predator.

The underwater scenes in the movie have audiences clawing at their armrests as the reptile moves almost undetectable below the surface. Those unfortunate enough to find themselves in the water will find themselves locked on to both their tail and head, and it’s unclear which is scarier here: to look down, or to not do so. 

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4) Piranha (1978)

Director: Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling)

Stars: Bradford Dillman (The Enforcer, Compulsion), Heather Menzies-Urich (The Sound of Music, Logan’s Run), and Kevin McCarthy (UHF, Invasion of the Body Snatchers)

Sometimes size isn’t everything when it comes to creature-feature films. Piranha embodies the phrase, ‘Strength in numbers’, as a military experiment gone awry unleashes a ravenous swarm of killer piranhas into a popular summer resort, leading to a chaotic and blood-soaked battle for survival.

Despite being the film’s monsters, the mutated piranhas rarely make an appearance, with their kills involving much flailing in blood-red waters. This adds to the suspense of their presence, playing on the audience’s fear of what they can’t see in the water.

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5) Rogue (2007)

Director: Greg McLean (Jungle, Wolf Creek)

Stars: Michael Vartan (Colombiana, Alias), Radha Mitchell (Silent Hill, Man on Fire), and Sam Worthington (Avatar: The Way of Water, Terminator Salvation)

Inspired by a real saltwater crocodile, Sweetheart, Rogue follows a group of tourists who get shipwrecked by a mysterious creature on a small island. It doesn’t sound too bad till it is revealed that the tide will soon submerge the island, and they are in the heart of a giant crocodile’s territory.

The film’s well-balanced use of practical effects and CGI enhances the realism of the creature and adds to the realistic gore of its kills, making for an excellent creature-feature film. A little fun fact here: Sweetheart, while known for attacking boats in the 1970s, has never been reported responsible for attacking a human.

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6) The Shallows (2016)

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan, Unknown)

Stars: Blake Lively (Gossip Girl, The Age of Adaline), Óscar Jaenada (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Losers), and Angelo Josue Lozano Corzo (The Shallows)

Riddle us this: What would you do if you’re bleeding out from a shark bite while stranded on a rock, with said giant fish circling to make you its next meal? The Shallows is a more realistic take on a shark attack where skilled surfer Nancy (Blake Lively) is forced to rely on her athleticism and wits to return to shore without becoming shark food. 

Nancy’s strategic approach to her survival is a breath of fresh air from the usual over-the-top antics in other genre flicks, with the realism of her situation and actions adding to the fear that this is very much a scenario one could find themselves in during a simple swim out to sea.

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7) Underwater (2020)

Director: William Eubank (Love, The Signal)

Stars: Kristen Stewart (Charlie’s Angels, Twilight), Vincent Cassel (Westworld, Black Swan), and Mamoudou Athie (Jurassic World Dominion, Elemental)

If there’s something to be learned from Meg 2: The Trench, it’s that nothing good comes out of exploring the Mariana Trench. Underwater, taking a page out of H.P Lovecraft’s book, follows a group of researchers as they fight for their lives against mysterious and deadly creatures unleashed during an earthquake in the depths of the Mariana Trench.

The film incorporated Lovecraftian elements and cosmic horror, with Cthulhu as its main monster, contributing to a more unique and thought-provoking experience. The characters’ perils in the vast and dark expanse of the Mariana trench effectively created a sense of claustrophobia and tension that immersed the audience in the crew’s emotions.

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8) Cold Skin (2017)

Director: Xavier Gens (Cell, Hitman)

Stars: Ray Stevenson (Thor, The Three Musketeers), David Oakes (The Borgias, Queen Victoria), and Aura Garrido (The Body, Stockholm)

When are monsters not monsters? Cold Skin follows a weather observer (David Oakes) stationed on a remote island who discovers terrifying and hostile amphibious creatures, leading to a harrowing battle for survival and a confrontation with the darkness within humanity.

The film’s twists and turns focus on just how dark humans can become when left in isolation, leaving the audience with the thought of what would be worse – stranded on an island with humans or monsters?

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9) Deep Rising (1998)

Director: Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing)

Stars: Treat Williams (The Phantom, Hair), Famke Janssen (X-Men, House on Haunted Hill), and Anthony Heald (The Silence of the Lambs, Accepted)

Paying homage to one of the most classical monsters of the deep, Deep Rising is an excellent example of why crime doesn’t pay. 

After boarding the luxury cruise ship Argonautica, a group of mercenaries soon realise that they should have thought twice about boarding the already ravaged ship when a Kraken-like creature returns for seconds. The creature’s design builds up the suspense of the multi-prong attacks to reveal that the ship had not been under siege by a slew of individual creatures but rather a single giant monster.

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10) Jaws (1975)

Director: Steven Spielberg (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Lincoln)

Stars: Roy Scheider (Jaws 2, All That Jazz), Robert Shaw (From Russia with Love, The Sting), and Richard Dreyfuss (American Graffiti, The Goodbye Girl)

With the release of Meg 2: The Trench, it seems fair to return to the movie that started the current blockbuster trend, and the whole shark monster craze. Based on Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel by the same name, Jaws is often credited for giving Great White sharks the bad reputation they have to this day.

The film follows a small coastal town that a monstrous great white shark terrorises, and a trio of unlikely heroes must set aside their differences to confront the relentless predator and save their community. 

Alongside its iconic soundtrack, the Jaw’s effective use of practical effects, a beloved mechanical animatronic shark named Bruce managed to strike fear into the hearts of its audience for decades.

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While a megalodon turning swimmers into ‘sea-food’ is extremely unlikely, there has always been a sort of fascination that comes with pitting humans against powerful natural predators. Some movies pull it off better than others, but it doesn’t quite matter for the most part – after all, nobody goes into creature features expecting a great story. Just bust out the action, suspense, and thrills, and a fun time awaits. 

Meg 2: The Trench is currently screening in cinemas.