Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, we’ve compiled a list of the best and worst shark movies ever made…

With Meg 2: The Trench (2023) currently chomping its way through the box office, now is the perfect time to look at some of the best and worst shark movies from decades past.

Hollywood is no stranger to shark movies. In fact, there are probably more entries in this genre than there are sharks left in the ocean! But we aren’t prepared to go fishing for every such film that has ever been made. Instead, we’ve hand-picked 10 special shark movies.

But while we consider all 10 films on our list to be “special”, that doesn’t mean we think they’re all good. Five of them are the best shark movies, and the other five, well, not so much. So here are the five best, and the five worst, shark movies ever made.

The 5 Worst Shark Movies

5. Sharknado

Are you really surprised to find Sharknado (2013) right at the bottom of the barrel as one of the worst shark movies ever made? In fact, we’re going to take some liberties and lump all six Sharknado movies into this single entry, because we’re not convinced anyone would even be able to rank them from worst to best — they’re all completely abysmal.

What’s different about the Sharknado movies compared to other bad shark movies, though, is that they’re deliberately bad. But even if you find some appeal in watching tornadoes carry sharks onto the mainland, these straight-to-TV flicks are still terrible. Unless you’re incredibly drunk and have alarmingly low standards when it comes to movies, of course.

The subtitles for the sequels alone tell you all you need to know: Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014), Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (2015), Sharknado: The 4th Awakens (2016), Sharknado 5: Global Swarming (2017), and The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time (2018). On the other hand, they’re pretty hilarious.

4. Jaws: The Revenge

Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) is a bona fide classic. The fourth entry in the series, on the other hand, Jaws: The Revenge (1987), not so much. After Jaws 3-D (1983) underwhelmed cinemagoers in 1983 (though it was a commercial success), Universal Pictures went back to basics (and then some) by ditching the 3-D specs for a 2-D fin-fest.

But Jaws: The Revenge makes Jaws 3-D look almost as good as the original 1975 film. Have you ever wondered what would happen if a Great White Shark decided to visit the Bahamas to get revenge on the wife of the now-dead-guy who killed a seemingly unrelated shark 12 years prior in the murky waters of Maine in New England? Nope, didn’t think so.

But that’s exactly what Jaws: The Revenge is about. Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gary), now a widower and grieving mother, decides to move to the Bahamas with her only son, Michael Brody (Lance Guest), where she soon learns that “this time it’s personal” or something, because the titular man-eating beast of the deep has actually followed her. This is not a joke.

Related: All ‘Jurassic Park’ Movies Ranked Worst to Best

3. 47 Meters Down

47 Meters Down (2017) has all the right ingredients for a half-decent shark movie. Cage-diving in the shark-infested waters of Africa, the tether breaking and sending said-cage plummeting towards the ocean floor, where its two inhabitants must use their wits and resources to make it back to the surface before they become a shark’s smorgasbord.

On paper, 47 Meters Down is conceptually perfect. The dialogue on the other hand… Not trusted to work out what’s going on for ourselves, we’re subjected to a narration from Mandy Moore’s Lisa, who literally tells us everything that’s happening as it happens, because we’re stupid.

2. Jaws 3-D

You didn’t think Jaws 3-D would get away with a mere mention, did you? While hardly the worst movie of all time, it’s still one of the worst shark movies (mainstream shark movies, that is), which probably has a lot to do with the fact that it’s a Jaws movie (even after the underwhelming-ish first sequel, we expected better than this).

Before Avatar (2009) immersed cinemagoers into a world so three-dimensional they could almost touch it with their hands, there was Jaws 3-D. It’s not the worst retrospective tagline, if, of course, we’re making fun of the movie (which we are). But it’s not really the 3-D filter that’s the problem with this Jaws threequel — it’s the film itself.

The 3-D shots don’t help matters (Jaws’ jaws flying towards the screen during an underwater explosion is unforgivably cheesy, even by the ’80s’ standards), but it’s really the weird sea parks setting that’s the problem. There are some scary moments (the scene where Jaws bursts the aquarium, for example), but this 3-D flick is as two-dimensional as they get.

Related: New Trailer Seemingly Fixes Major ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Problem

1. Meg 2: The Trench

Amid all the criticism for Meg 2: The Trench (2023), we seem to be forgetting that the first film, The Meg (2018), was never great. For starters, for a major blockbuster featuring a giant prehistoric shark, it’s frustratingly restrained — though this may have been a blessing in disguise considering The Hostel‘s Eli Roth was originally attached to direct.

Nevertheless, it’s great fun watching mega-star Jason Statham take on the gargantuan Jaws-eater, which is more than what we can say about the sequel. While far from a disaster like many critics will have you believe, Meg 2: The Trench is just too silly for its own good, almost as if the filmmakers watched Sharknado beforehand and said, “We’re going to need a bigger budget.”

The 5 Best Shark Movies

5. Jaws 2

Jaws 2 (1978) gets a pretty hard time from audiences. While Spielberg’s absence from the director’s chair is as obvious here as it is in Jurassic Park III (2001), there’s still a ton of fun to be had with the first sequel to “the first blockbuster.”

Jaws 2 has almost everything its predecessor has — shocks, tension, gnarly kills, and even a shark whose mechanical appearance makes it looks even more terrifying than the real thing. Unfortunately, it lacks the flair that makes the first one so special, and when Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) isn’t on the screen, we have to contend with a bunch of annoying teens whose collective stupidity guarantees the shark won’t ever go hungry.

Related: ‘Jurassic World’s Biggest Character Is Finally Killed Off In Brand-New Trailer

4. The Shallows

Just when we thought Hollywood had run dry of ideas for new shark movies, along came The Shallows (2016). During a solo visit to a remote idyllic beach her late mother used to visit, grieving surfer Nancy Adams (Blake Lively) finds herself marooned on a rock more than a stone’s throw from the beach after being attacked by a massive Great White Shark.

Using her wits and the very few resources available to her, Nancy must figure out a way to escape the shark’s feeding zone before she becomes its next meal. But time isn’t on her side — soon the tide will claim what little land she has left beneath her injured body.

The film’s water-dwelling beast is so big it gives Jaws a run for his money, and while it’s used sparingly for the first two acts, there’s some questionable CGI during the final showdown. But all in all, The Shallows is one of the most thrilling shark movies to date.

The only criticism we have is that there’s nothing particularly “shallow” about the waters Nancy’s stranded in, which leaves us wondering why the film isn’t called “The Deep.”

3. Deep Blue Sea

Have you ever wondered what Jurassic Park (1993) would be like underwater? Well, wonder no more, because Deep Blue Sea (1999) is exactly that.

We never said that it’s anywhere near as brilliant as Jurassic Park, though, but it does feature genetically-engineered sharks that are just as smart as raptors that wind up on the wrong side of the fences. It also stars Samuel L Jackson (who loses a lot more than an arm this time).

Deep Blue Sea is dripping with the ’90s — it even stars rapper LL Cool J, whose song for the film, “Deepest Bluest (Shark’s Fin)”, gives Will Smith’s “Men in Black” a run for its money. While the CG is surprisingly bad in some scenes, especially for a summer blockbuster, Deep Blue Sea is a thrilling shark flick that pays homage to Jaws at every turn.

It might not be one of the best movies ever made, but it’s still one of the best shark movies.

Related: Brand-New ‘Jurassic World’ Trailer Takes the Franchise Underwater

2. The Reef

The Reef (2010) isn’t just one of the best shark movies ever made — it’s easily the most terrifying. Inspired by a true story (though very loosely), the 2010 Australian film sees a group of friends forced to swim through the open ocean in an attempt to reach the nearest island after their yacht capsizes. But along the way they encounter a man-eating Great White Shark, which begins to pick them off one by one.

This is the stuff of nightmares, and the use of real shark footage, which is superimposed into the film instead of the use of CGI, makes The Reef even more frighteningly realistic.

1. Jaws

What can we say about Jaws that hasn’t been said already? The film is often hailed as “the first summer blockbuster”, and though it impressed both critically and financially upon its theatrical release, at the same time it terrified an entire generation of beachgoers, and has transformed the way many of us look at Great White Sharks ever since.

Even generations on, Spielberg’s terrifying masterpiece still has some of us looking at the murky surface of the deep ocean in a cold sweat.

Related: You Won’t Believe What This ‘Jaws’ Actor Is Doing Now

What’s your favorite shark movie? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!