Just when you thought it was safe to go back online! If you love shark movies, there are tons that you may stream online, but many of them aren’t even worth the time it takes to click on them.
How can you tell which shark movies will deliver thrills and chills worth making a bucket of popcorn for? Simple: by checking out my carefully-curated list of the best shark movies you’re able to currently stream online!
1975
Runtime
2 hours, 10 minutes
To this day,Jawsremains the ultimate shark movie. Legendary director Steven Spielberg created the summer blockbuster with this tale of a small New England town whose residents are getting snacked on by a great white shark. A police chief played by the legendary Roy Scheider tries to warn everybody what is happening, but the local mayor (with tourism dollars dancing in his eyes) denies all requests to close the beach. That leaves the chief to mount up with some unexpected allies (including a character played by Richard Dreyfus in his most iconic role) and try to take care of this threat before it kills him and everyone else on Amity Island.
The shark is barely seen except in key moments, heightening the horrific impact of its onscreen appearances. Those appearances cement him as a lurking menace, one that could pop out of the water and devour our beloved characters at a moment’s notice. The terror of this movie monster is heightened by an impossibly tight script and Spielberg’s natural eye for perfect shots. And the success of this film launched his career as a film director, after which Hollywood would never be the same.
2024
1 hour, 41 minutes
If you really love shark movies, you need to have a genuine fondness for some improbably shlocky storylines. AndUnder Parisdelivers the kind of good shlock that leaves you on the edge of your seat despite the crazy premise. You see, this film is all about a killer shark suddenly appearing in the Seine. The only thing that can keep the residents of Paris from becoming sharky snacks is a plucky marine biologist who is still haunted by demons from her past.
Everything about this movie is unpredictable, and that’s a good thing. You see, the essential problem with the shark film genre is that it generates countless films all following the same stale blueprint. Under Paris, however, starts with a crazier-than-usual plot and ends with a climax that no viewer would ever be able to predict. And it was successful enough to warrant a sequel, which is more than you can say about most of the killer shark films floating around in Hollywood.
Netflix
Mon dieu! There are sharks swimming in the Seine in this Netflix film!
2017
1 hour, 29 minutes
You’ve probably seen several shark documentaries where adventurous people descend into the ocean depths inside a cage meant to protect them from angry sharks. That means you’ve probably asked the obvious question: what would happen if you were stuck at the bottom of the sea with only a fragile prison protecting you from Mother Nature’s fiercest water warriors. Well,47 Meters Downanswers that question with a plot of two sisters whose Mexican cage-diving trip goes awry, stranding them in the water with a limited air supply and a growing number of hungry sharks.
Compared to many shark movies out there,47 Meters Downhas a very solid cast. Mandy Moore and Matthew Modine give particularly solid performances, and they help to sell the essential urgency of this movie’s plot. That urgency feels all too real throughout this movie’s compact runtime, and the horror feels especially visceral to those of us who worry about getting eaten by sharks. Such a fate would be preferable to watching this movie’s sequel; as always, I recommend you stick with the original.
Two Mexican divers get stuck in a shark cage in shark-infested waters.
2022
Compared to some of the wilder films on this list,Maneateris a more by-the-numbers shark film. It has a straightforward plot about a great white shark terrorizing the residents of a small town. As such, we get scene after scene of hapless victims getting eaten. But there’s a lot less of a running plot in this than in the average shark movie. Of course, that’s not necessarily a bad thing if you mostly enjoy watching these movies for gory kill scenes.
That leads to a very important point. Compared to most sharky cinema,Maneateris filmed more like a traditional horror movie. That means less of a cohesive narrative than gold-standard films such asJaws. Instead, the shark is more akin to a slasher villain, popping up at unexpected times and brutally dispatching his prey. And if you’re in the right mood, there’s nothing quite as scary as a shark with the attitude of Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers rolled into one.
2010
44 minutes
When you watch sharks killing victims in movies or just hear a real-life case about an aquatic encounter gone wrong, you can’t help but ask yourself the obvious question: “Would I have been able to survive if it happened to me?” To discover the answer, or maybe just better prepare yourself for future trips into the ocean, you need to watch theShark Attack Survival Guide. In it, a host with Special Forces (Terry Schappert) experience demonstrates ways that you can survive sharks in different kinds of encounters.
For example, it’s very different surviving a shark attack in shallow water versus a shark attack during a deep ocean dive. Hopefully, you’ll never have to use the tips and tricks presented by this fascinating film, and all of these different scenarios amount to nothing more than macabre entertainment. Should things go south on your next swim, though, this is the only film on this list that might just save your life!
HBO Max
Know what to do if you ever find yourself face-to-face with a killer shark.
2018
1 hour, 53 minutes
The Megis based on the first novel in Steve Alten’s series of books about a killer megalodon, long thought to be completely extinct. The movie’s plot centers on an underwater research station that is besieged by the titular creature. The only thing that can keep everyone alive is Jason Statham’s character, a rescue diver with enough plot armor to help him survive just about any encounter with this prehistoric foe.
Unsurprisingly, Statham is the biggest reason to watch this film. Sure, we get great performances from other actors, including Ruby Rose andOfficeicon Rainn Wilson. But the movie was clearly written with Statham’s particular set of skills in mind, and the actor helps to transform even mundane scenes into ones that will get your heart pumping (a big part of why this is one ofmy favorite action movies in recent years). And this big-budget film did well enough at the box office to warrant a surprisingly solid sequel, one that did not (ahem) completely jump the shark.
2016
42 minutes
You can’t absentmindedly throw some chum in the cinematic waters without hitting a random shark documentary. But if you think you’ve seen them all, then it’s definitely time to streamSharkatraz. Sure, the name sounds like some kind of low-rent Syfy original, but this is actually a National Geographic documentary about the infamous Alcatraz prison. It was notoriously the most difficult prison to break out of for a number of reasons, including the fact that the waters outside the prison were allegedly infested by sharks.
At least, that’s what the guards told the prisoners. Is there any truth to this myth? Did any sharks feed on escaping prisoners, or did they just wander the waters, hungry and waiting? This bite-sized (so to speak) documentary answers all of these questions while adding to the mythology of the world’s most notorious prison. In this way, it appeals to both those who love true crime and those who simply want to get their shark on.
Disney+
Escaping from Alcatraz prison was hard enough without it being surrounded by shark-infested waters!
2021
What is the most dangerous shark in the world? Those who love our finned friends often debate that very question, but Jacques Cousteau was convinced he had the answer. According to him, the most dangerous breed in the water is actually the oceanic whitetip shark. But is there any truth to this claim? Exploring the answer to that is the subject of the National Geographic documentaryWorld’s Most Dangerous Shark?
The doc plays out like a lost episode ofMythbusters. The myth is whether the whitetip is really all that dangerous, and a bevy of researchers and scientists research whether that is true and what makes this guy more dangerous than, say, a great white shark. As such, there aren’t exactly many thrills and chills on display here. However, the documentary is great for anyone who wants to go down a few research rabbit holes, learning more about sharks and the ocean itself.
You’d think the Great White would be the top dog in the shark ocean, but you’d be wrong.
2013
1 hour, 26 minutes
Some of the best Syfy shlock comes from the network mixing two different kinds of films together to create something new. AndSharknadois arguably the network’s masterpiece: a killer shark movie and a runaway tornado movie, all rolled into one. To make things even more surreal, the cast is led by two stars ofmovies every ’90s kid should watch(American Pie’s Tara Reid and90210’s Ian Ziering) who arguably peaked in the ’90s. The result is a movie that is infinitely entertaining if (and only if) you can easily turn your brain off and just go with the flow.
That’s because the plot ofSharknadoinvolves tornadoes that keep inexplicably dropping sharks into the Los Angeles area. Instead of just flopping around and dying (what with the lack of water and all), these sharks inevitably manage to kill or maim people on their way down. And the only way to stop all this chaos is to bomb those tornadoes into submission.
Tubi
The delightfully bad film is a must-watch for all your tornado and shark needs!
There’s nothing quite as scary as a good shark movie. And these films offer enough frights to keep you hiding under the covers all night!
