From The Meg To Jaws, 16 Crazy Shark Movies Ranked By Insanity

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With The Meg swimming into theaters, it's important to remember the long history of sharks on film. Granted, most of that long history isn't very good, but it certainly is memorable.
As long as sharks have been the subject of movies, they've been involved in plots and scenes that make so little sense that it's hard not to wonder who agreed to pay for it in the first place. Whether it's the time a shark went on a rampage at SeaWorld or when a tornado whipped up a series of sharks to throw at a city and a franchise was born, there really is no limit for the situations sharks find themselves in on the big screen. In fact, one movie even turned a shark into something of a psychopathic stalker.
GameSpot dug back through the history of sharks on film to find 16 that deserve another look due to just how crazy they can be, and The Meg is absolutely included. So when you head to theaters this weekend to check it out, make sure you track down these other films as well.
And make sure to check out GameSpot's The Meg review in case you're wondering just how ridiculous this movie is going to be.


16. Shark Tale


This might seem like a strange entry on a list of crazy shark movies, but Shark Tale is a super bizarre film to watch. In it, great white sharks are actually a mafia and the shark expected to take over leading the family is a vegetarian with a heart of gold that happens to be voiced by Jack Black. That's pretty strange.


15. The Shallows


What makes The Shallows such a scary and thrilling film is the realism. So many shark movies go about 20 steps too far in portraying the shark as a killer, and that's usually what makes them so great. This film, though, is simply one woman vs. a shark that wants to eat her. In terms of sheer insanity, though, it's pretty tame. That's not a knock against it, The Shallows is just very grounded.


14. Great White


What's so strange about this particular film is that it was pulled from theaters in the United States after a month because it's believed to plagiarize Jaws. Truthfully, Universal Pictures does have a point. It follows a group of men who go hunt a dangerous shark while the local government refuses to believe there's a problem. Sounds pretty familiar.


12. The Reef


The Reef is the kind of movie that should keep you off of a boat until the end of time. While there's nothing overtly bizarre about this movie, the terror it creates from what started as a simple vacation will leave an impression.



Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, Jaws 2 is here to prove it's not. To be clear, this is nowhere near as exciting and inventive as the original Jaws. Still, between the shark eating a water skier, a boat exploding, and the heroes winning by electrocuting the shark, this movie is intense.


11. Mako: The Jaws of Death


In the aftermath of Jaws, there were many pretenders to the throne. However, Mako: The Jaws of Death puts an interesting spin on the shark tale. In it, the real victims are the sharks being exploited. Meanwhile, it's the stupid humans that are the real villains that are ultimately defeated.


10. USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage


What's so crazy about this 2015 movie that completely bombed at the box office? First and foremost, it's based on a true story of a World War II ship that is sunk in shark-infested waters, leading to all kinds of maulings. What's more, this movie stars Nicolas Cage. It is, sadly, the only shark movie Cage has made for some reason.


9. Open Water


Yes, this is an incredibly low-budget movie and it shows. For a shark movie, there's surprisingly little shark to be seen. However, that's where Open Water truly embraces how terrifying it can be. It's simply two people stranded in the ocean alone as a shark is on the hunt. By keeping the scale so small, Open Water is frighteningly realistic.


8. Jaws 3


Is Jaws 3 a better movie than Jaws 2? Absolutely not. The last of the original cast is gone and Amity Island has been left behind. However, this time the shark attacks SeaWorld. That's not a typo. The entire premise of Jaws 3 is that a shark sneaks into SeaWorld and stalks prey via an underground system of pipes. It's so utterly ridiculous, it deserves to be remembered for how insane it is. What's more, this movie was shot in 3D, the only entry in the franchise to get that treatment. And no, it was not good 3D.



This movie stars LL Cool J. That's really enough of a qualifier to be on this list. The rapper even included two songs on the movie's soundtrack, including one where he raps, "my hat is like a shark's fin." How does that make sense?
What makes Deep Blue Sea so insane though is that it's about genetically modified sharks. If there's anything science needed to do, it's to make sharks more efficient killers.7. Deep Blue Sea


6. Jaws: The Revenge


The fourth Jaws movie makes no sense whatsoever. It takes its subtitle "The Revenge" very seriously as the shark hunts the wife of the recently deceased Sheriff Brody. The shark kills her son and follows her to the Bahamas, which is something a shark absolutely would not do. How did this movie get made, we'll never know. Thankfully, we can just sit back and bask in how weird Jaws got by the end.


5. 47 Meters Down


This is what Open Water would be like with a better budget and cast. This time it's Mandy Moore and Claire Holt stranded in the water with sharks ready to attack. What 47 Meters Down does to put its own twist on things, though, is these women are stuck in a shark cage on the ocean floor, with their oxygen running out. This movie is like a ready-made panic attack.


4. Shark Night 3D


While Jaws 3 might have been the first 3D shark movie, thank goodness for Shark Night 3D. It put modern 3D technology to use in a very creepy movie filled with vicious shark kills. What's so over-the-top about this film, though, is it's not set in an ocean. Instead, someone has filled a lake with sharks. It seems incredibly unlikely, but just go with it.


3. The Meg


The newest shark movie is also one of the craziest. The Meg goes prehistoric by putting a megalodon at the center of the insanity. These massive beasts are as scary as they come and delight in chomping through anything in sight, whether it's a massive ship or a beach filled with people who don't know any better.


2. Sharknado


What's scarier than a shark or an army of sharks or a shark seeking revenge or a shark mobster? A tornado filled with sharks, of course. Yes, Sharknado is a TV movie, but it was impossible to leave it off of this list. It's Sharknado! The crazy movie that spawned a crazy franchise is filled with moments that will be hard to forget. They throw bombs into the sharknado, for crying out loud.


1. Jaws


The one that so many ripped off is still the best. Jaws is a fantastic movie and watching it in 2018, as opposed to when it was released in 1974, doesn't change that. What's so crazy about this particular film, though, is the restraint it shows. You don't actually see the shark in this film until 80 minutes in, though that doesn't keep you safe from the carnage it spreads.
While the films that followed may have taken the idea of a shark movie to new extremes, with megalodons, tornadoes, LL Cool J, and more, none of them will ever compare to Jaws--not even the sequels to Jaws. What's more, it's likely they wouldn't even exist without this film.





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