sailboat horror movie

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The 20 Best Horror Movies On Ships Or Subs

The deep blue sea is the last unchartered component of the Earth. The inky blackness of the Marianna Trench and the aqua majesty of the Caribbean beaches hide secrets in their mysterious and beautiful waters. The allure of a sailboat out on the open water with nothing but fish below and blue skies above is the stuff of legends. In the middle of the ocean, surrounded by nature is one of the most vulnerable places. That’s why space and sea are perfect settings for horror movies. Whether it is ghosts, creatures, or psychopaths with grudges there are plenty of truly scary movies set on boats. Here are the 20 Best Horror Movies Set On Ships or Subs. Many of these you can get for free on Tubi. Click here for the Best Horror On Tubi Right Now .

The crew of a trawler fights for survival against a parasite after they become marooned at sea.

This stunning Irish film is as beautiful as it is fun. Part fantasy, part science fiction, and part straight-up horror movie this is a film anyone would like. Even those not into horror movies will appreciate the interesting take on the sea and the secrets she holds. We were lucky enough to catch it at Fantastic Fest this past fall and it was easily one of the buzziest films to come out of the fest. The performances are all believable and the creature is incredible. For fans of the idea that the ocean calls to some of us like a siren waiting to slaughter us, Sea Fever is the real deal. It is an excellent example of eco-horror. Read our full review here and prepare for some time well spent.

In a remote region of the Bering Sea, a boat salvage crew discovers the eerie remains of a grand passenger liner thought lost for more than 40 years. But once onboard the eerie, cavernous ship, the crew of the Arctic Warrior discovers that the decaying vessel is anything but deserted. It’s home to something more deadly and horrific than anything they’ve encountered in all their years at sea.

The opening scene of Ghost Ship solidifies it as one of the 20 Best Horror Movies On Ships. If you haven’t seen this gem you will be blown away. If you have seen it, you know exactly what I am talking about. Many of the scenes were shot on the Queen Mary which has its own real history of creepy stuff happening which adds another element of fun to this horror at sea classic. If you liked director Stephen Beck’s other horror great Thir13en Ghosts you will like this one. They have a similar vibe.

Rae Ingram (Nicole Kidman) and her husband, John (Sam Neill), struggle to overcome the sudden death of their young son. In an attempt to move past their loss, the couple take their yacht out for an extended vacation trip. While far out at sea, they come across a sinking schooner and rescue the ship’s sole survivor, Hughie Warriner (Billy Zane). Hughie claims the crew of the ship died from food poisoning. Though Rae is empathetic towards Hughie, John is suspicious of his story.

Wow, Billy Zane and Sam Neill together in the same movie. My middle-aged horror heart is all aflutter. This suspenseful great is easily one of the best feminist thrillers of our time. Nicole Kidman who was only 20 years old, delivers a star-making performance. Director Phillip Noyce lets the superb minimalist cast and setting shine and the film is better for it. Everyone loves a good yuppie in peril film and this one is better than most. Plus, the payoff at the end is fun.

Yacht passengers encounter mysterious weather conditions that force them to jump onto another ship, only to have the odd havoc increase.

This is one of my favorite mind benders out there. There is gore, tension, and a whole lot of head-scratching. Melissa George is very good and the twist when revealed is excellent. George brings a slick mix of vulnerability and strength that makes her protagonist role that much more intriguing. This is a smart movie that is as scary as it is intelligent. There are symbols everywhere so make sure you are paying attention because this is the kind of movie where every moment matters. It took writer Christopher Smith two years to write the script as a result of all the complexity. There are a lot of moving pieces that all need to fall into place by the end. The fact that they do is nothing short of miraculous. This is a quality film, nuff said!

When a young woman is killed by a shark while skinny-dipping near the New England tourist town of Amity Island, police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) wants to close the beaches, but mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) overrules him, fearing that the loss of tourist revenue will cripple the town. Ichthyologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and grizzled ship captain Quint (Robert Shaw) offer to help Brody capture the killer beast, and the trio engage in an epic battle of man vs. nature.

The classic ocean movie from the novel by Peter Benchley is still good. Yes, the shark doesn’t hold up in every scene but the acting and the score are beyond reproach. It is impeccably paced and continues to make people question their safety while swimming in the ocean. No matter how many times you have seen it, there’s always time for one more watch.

Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are formerly married petroleum engineers who still have some issues to work out. They are drafted to assist a gung-ho Navy SEAL (Michael Biehn) with a top-secret recovery operation: a nuclear sub has been ambushed and sunk, under mysterious circumstances, in some of the deepest waters on Earth.

The Ed Harris vehicle is technically not on a ship but it’s so darn good I’m willing to fight for it. The aliens are gorgeous at least below water and the liquid oxygen scene is so cool it’s worth watching for that alone. Director James Cameron was willing to do just about anything to make this movie including abuse his actors if the rumors are true . I certainly don’t condone mistreating the talent but the end result is amazing.

When attorney Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) knowingly withholds evidence that would acquit violent sex offender Max Cady (Robert De Niro) of rape charges, Max spends 14 years in prison. But after Max’s release, knowing about Sam’s deceit, he devotes his life to stalking and destroying the Bowden family. When practical attempts to stop Max fail, Sam realizes that he must act outside the law to protect his wife and daughter in Martin Scorsese’s remake of the classic 1962 thriller.

One of the rare exceptions to the remake rule, the 1991 mulligan is an Oscar winner’s delight. So many performances worth mentioning from top to bottom come together to make one terrifying movie. De Niro is one of the most iconic psychopathic killers of all time. He manages to be both subtle and over the top at the same time which is all but impossible but he manages somehow. He and Juliet Lewis entirely ad-libbed the scene in the high school showcasing their collective talent. Light on gore it is heavy on scares.

Deep Rising

A newly unveiled ocean liner, the Argonautica sets out on its first cruise, only to encounter dangers both on board and in the ocean depths. While the beautiful thief Trillian (Famke Janssen) attempts to steal riches from the boat’s wealthy passengers, the ship encounters major problems, most notably a giant murderous sea creature with tentacles. Eventually, a boat captained by John Finnegan (Treat Williams) comes across the Argonautica, and everyone struggles to survive the monster.

It’s a guilty pleasure to be sure, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve a place on the 20 Best Horror Movies On Ships list. The monster effects took over a year to complete but the end result is worth it. This is one of those rare films where there aren’t really any good guys as the humans are all thieves and the creature is, of course, a bloodthirsty monster. Deep Rising is silly fun, but it is tons of that!

Donkey Punch

Seven people meet in a night club in Spain and decide to continue the party on a luxury yacht. However, when one of them dies in an accident, the others contemplate how to explain the death, and soon they all find themselves in danger.

Donkey Punch is exactly what you think it will be brutal and disturbing. The dudes in question are massive dicks and everything wrong with toxic masculinity. There are a few pacing issues that make the film drag towards the middle. It’s about ten minutes too long. Aside from that, the tension is high, the behavior ugly, and the setting gorgeous.

Hired by Martin (Meg Foster), the head of a major corporation, a crew including geologist Steven Beck (Peter Weller) descends to the ocean’s depths for a mining project. When the undersea explorers find a sunken ship and investigate, they inadvertently bring a malevolent life form on board their vessel. The creature kills some crew members and causes them to mutate, resulting in a battle for survival against an unknown force far below the surface of the ocean.

There was a glut of these underwater horror movies released in 1989 and they all shared similar plots. With the exception of The Abyss, none of them were box office hits but most of them are worth a watch. This one is no exception. The chimera creature is a cool mix of recognizable and totally not, physiology which makes it more successful than some underwater beasts. The final product is a massive needle toothed monster who is capable of borrowing parts of his victims for his own anatomy. Kind of like The Thing, gross…

DeepStar Six

A group of U.S. Navy engineers, led by Capt. Laidlaw (Taurean Blacque), are building an underwater base when they inadvertently disturb the lair of a gigantic creature. The monster attacks, and the crew, including lovers Collins (Nancy Everhard) and McBride (Greg Evigan), tries to evacuate, but the facility is badly damaged. After the exterior is breached, the increasingly desperate people become separated from one another, and the creature begins to pick them off one by one.

This is another one not technically on a ship but whatever. Another of the 1989 ocean movies, this one was the first to be released. It’s much better than the critic ratings indicate and next to The Abyss, is the best of the time frame. Kane Hodder who all horror fans know as Jason Vorhees in the Friday the Thirteen franchise was the stunt coordinator for this underwater exploration gone very wrong film. DeepStar Six is a very underrated film with quality performances by a largely small budget cast.

A “National Geographic” film crew is taken hostage by an insane hunter, who forces them along on his quest to capture the world’s largest – and deadliest – snake.

Jon Voigt is fantastically creepy in this big snake film. The ship in question this time is floating down the Amazon river but that doesn’t make it any less terrifying. The only thing scarier than the insanely large snake is the uber villainous Voigt who plays megalomaniac better than anyone. The cast is great in addition to Voigt with JLo, Owen Wilson, Ice Cube, Eric Stoltz, and Kari Wuhrer all pulling their weight. It meanders a bit and there is no real sense of urgency towards the end but it remains the best big ass snake movie out there.

A family sailing in isolated waters discovers the ship they bought holds terrifying secrets.

Star Gary Oldman deserves a look if nothing else. This haunted ship story is not the scariest of the group but it is something that you could show to the whole family. Mary is a slow burn Bermuda Triangle style film that takes full advantage of the claustrophobic setting. You could find far worse movies to watch.

The submarine U.S.S. Manta had a perfect record until the mysterious death of its captain. The next-in-command, Lt. Richard Brice (Bruce Greenwood) is determined to steer his disheartened crew back to safety. But after three battle survivors board the sub, bizarre and frightening things begin to happen. As the tale unfolds, and crew members begin to disappear, Ensign Douglas O’Dell (Matthew Davis) must piece together the puzzles of the submarine’s past before it is too late to resurface alive.

Darren Aronofsky of the super bleak Requiem For A Dream, Mother!, and Black Swan co-wrote this film and was slated to direct but chose Requiem instead. The USS Silversides was towed out into the middle of Lake Michigan for many of the scenes which lent a real sense of authenticity to the film that drives the tension throughout. Below is a super slick historic horror film that largely flew under the radar. It’s a shame because it is a fantastic movie that deserves a spot on the 20 Best Horror Movies On Ships list.

Caught in a typhoon, a tugboat commanded by Robert Everton (Donald Sutherland) comes across a mysterious near-deserted ship. Excited to find a vessel that could be sold for as much as $30 million, Everton and his crew board and prepare to move the craft, despite the warnings of sole survivor Nadia Vinogradiya (Joanna Pacula). When a malevolent alien presence begins killing off the crew, navigator Kit Foster (Jamie Lee Curtis) tries to convince the rest of them to leave before it’s too late.

The original Scream Queen herself Jamie Curtis stars alongside legendary Donald Sutherland. That alone should warrant a watch. It’s sci-fi horror cheesiest at its best. A successful mix of Alien and the X-Files this film doesn’t take itself to seriously, without completely forgetting its scary movie roots. There are Russians and robots and bone-chilling cold. What more could you want?

When psychologist Norman Goodman (Dustin Hoffman) wrote a report for the government on how to deal with extraterrestrial life forces, he didn’t expect his recommendations to be used. Now that a secret government agency is investigating what may be an alien spaceship that has been discovered partially buried on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, Norman finds that the plan he outlined is being put into effect and that the team he named in his report has been assembled.

Sphere isn’t a boat or a sub but it is one of the all-time best underwater sci-fi horror movies ever. Psychological horror mixed with incredible science fiction concepts make this one a must-see. Michael Chrichton writes novels that are as thought-provoking in their humanity as they are in futuristic concepts. Sphere is one of his best and when combined with acting talent like Samuel L. Jackson, Dustin Hoffman, Liev Schreiber, and Sharon Stone those characters spring off the screen. It is an incredible film that is intriguing no matter how many years have passed.

Paul Marsh (Ezra Godden) is yachting on the Spanish coast with three companions when a freak storm causes their boat to founder on the rocks. Paul goes to a nearby village to get assistance, as two of his friends have been trapped in the boat’s wreckage. He notices that the locals seem odd, and their behavior grows increasingly strange. When Paul begins seeing a mermaid (Macarena Gomez) who has appeared in his nightmares, he realizes that the fearful world of his dreams is now a reality.

Lovecraftian beasts are a personal favorite. Dagon is based on the novel The Shadow Over Innsmouth. The otherworldly nature of cosmic horror speaks to the great unknown in a way that will forever scare us. This was one of those direct to video films that got lost in the sea(pun intended) of questionable horror. It is unexpectedly good with really slick creature work. Watch it and then go to landlocked Lovecraftian horror with the beautiful Color Out Of Space .

A crew of aquatic researchers work to get to safety after an earthquake devastates their subterranean laboratory. But the crew has more than the ocean seabed to fear.

A huge budget film with stellar performances and awesome creature work converge to make one hell of a good time. Kristen Stewart delivers a very Ellen Ripley underwater sort of performance that is fun to watch. This is another film with a Lovecraft influence. Director William Eubank has confirmed the creature was designed with Cthulhu the quintessential Lovecraftian monster in mind. Read our full review here .

A group of scientists exploring the Marianas Trench encounter the largest marine predator that has ever existed – the Megalodon.

The book by Steve Alton is arguably better source material than the Jason Statham led film but don’t let that deter you. This is one massive shark and the effects support the terror of that however remote possibility. It is high action, big stunts, and lots of claustrophobic tension. In fact, Statham did all his own swimming stunts as IRL he’s an expert swimmer. He represented England in the 1990 Commonwealth Games in diving. Pretty and talented, what more could you ask for?

As the Managing Editor for Signal Horizon, I love watching and writing about genre entertainment. I grew up with old-school slashers, but my real passion is television and all things weird and ambiguous. My work can be found here and Travel Weird, where I am the Editor in Chief.

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The 13 Best (and Worst) ‘Dracula on a Boat’-Type Horror Movies, Ranked

Vampires and werewolves and aliens — on vehicles — oh my!

The new horror film “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” was dubbed “Dracula on a Boat” by social media users, and the twist on the chapter from Bram Stoker’s iconic horror novel definitely did deliver on the premise of the age-old vampire feasting on the crew of an unlucky ship.

Introducing a monster of any kind — alien, werewolf, zombies — to a vehicle that can’t stop and can’t let anyone off is a tried-and-true horror formula. Here are some of the movies where the combo of “creature” + “claustrophobic form of transportation” worked and some where it ran aground.

13. Snakes on a Plane

The ultimate in high-concept movies had a mad-as-hell Samuel L. Jackson battling, that’s right, snakes on a plane. The venomous reptiles are unleashed on a Hawaiian flight to keep a witness from testifying at a murder trial. And to have Jackson deliver this immortal line : “I have had it with these motherf—king snakes on this motherf—king plane!” Naturally, every obvious piece of anatomy gets bitten.

Stream “Snakes on a Plane” on Max.

12. Anaconda

Giant snake on a boat! In this delightfully cheesy ’90s offering, oddly accented snake hunter Jon Voight leads a crew of documentarians — including Ice Cube, Jennifer Lopez and Eric Stoltz — down the waters of the Amazon as they seek out a legendarily outsized anaconda. Of course, there’s no need to look for it as it finds them. Not all of the killer snake action is limited to their ship, but that line from “Apocalypse Now,” “Never get out of the boat,” is still good advice.

Stream “Anaconda” on Starz and DirecTV.

11. Dracula 2000

Dracula on a plane! This Dimension horror film updated the “Dracula on a boat” premise from Stoker’s book to a private plane where fortune hunters have the extremely bad luck to be traveling with the Count’s sealed coffin. One character unwisely opens the metal casket looking for treasure but finds the slumbering vamp, who just needs a snack or two to revive himself. In a nod to the original novel, where the dead captain of the Demeter is found lashed to the wheel, the body of the plane’s pilot is mysteriously strapped to his seat with metal bonds.

Stream “Dracula 2000” on Max.

10. Blood Red Sky

Vampire on a plane! A woman (Peri Baumeister) who is secretly one of the undead must battle ruthless hijackers, while protecting her non-vamp son, in this underrated German Netflix movie.

Stream “Blood Red Sky” on Netflix.

9. The Last Voyage of the Demeter

Dracula on a boat! While this is the first movie based on Bram Stoker’s immortal novel to exclusively focus on the voyage of the doomed ship that brings the vamp to England, most Dracula adaptations have included at least a passing reference to the sequence. The movie from André Øvredal, the director of “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” draws from the captain’s log portion of the book in which an unseen monster picks off the crew one by one and turns it into a full-blown creature feature.

Watch it exclusively in theaters.

Werewolves on a train! An evening commute through an isolated forest is, ahem, derailed, when a pack of lycanthropes attack in this British film. Directed by Paul Hyett, who brings his make-up skills from “The Descent” to the creepy creature effects.

Stream “Howl” on Fubo.

7. Deep Rising

Sea monsters on a boat! Hijackers board a luxury liner only to find that nearly everyone’s dead, thanks to a bunch of vicious, tentacled sea creatures. While nowhere near the perfection of “The Mummy” movies, this Stephen Sommers film should satisfy your “horror on the high seas” needs.

Stream “Deep Rising” on Hoopla.

6. Twilight Zone: The Movie

Gremlin on a plane! John Lithgow stars as a nervous flyer who’s the only one to see a mysterious creature ripping up the wing of the aircraft outside his window. Of course, no one believes him and he must resort to extreme measures to save the flight. It’s a remake of one of the most famous “Twilight Zone” episodes, 1963’s “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” which starred a pre-“Star Trek” William Shatner as the increasingly unhinged passenger.

Stream “Twilight Zone: The Movie” on Kanopy.

5. Lifeforce

Vampires on a spaceship! Steve Railsback stars as the only crew member to survive after his craft takes three human-looking aliens in glass coffins on board. (When will humans ever learn not to pick up souvenirs?) Back on Earth, he’s the only one who can stop the beautiful space vamp (Mathilda May) thanks to a Vulcan-like mind meld. Tobe Hooper of “Poltergeist” directs a terrific cast that includes Patrick Stewart.

Stream “Lifeforce” on Fubo, MGM+, Tubi or Pluto.

4. World War Z

Zombies on a plane! Towards the end of the film, Brad Pitt’s character narrowly escapes the fall of Jerusalem to the undead horde by grabbing a plane to safety. Except… as a small chihuahua alerts us, the infected are also on board. The speed with which people turn into zombies, and the fact that there’s absolutely nowhere to go on a plane, make this one of the movie’s best sequences.

Stream “World War Z” on Pluto TV.

3. Horror Express

Alien on a train! Horror icons Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing star in this tale that’s based on “Who Goes There?,” the same novel that inspired John Carpenter’s classic “The Thing.” In this version, Lee’s scientist brings a frozen specimen on board that he hopes will be the “missing link” in human evolution. It’s actually a space parasite that can leap from body to body. Add in Telly Savalas as a Cossack captain and this is a ride you don’t want to miss.

Stream “Horror Express” on Kanopy, Tubi or The Roku Channel.

2. Train to Busan

Zombies on a train! A father tries to save his young daughter when everyone on board begins turning into ravenous zombies in this thrilling, fast-paced movie that became one of South Korea’s highest-grossing horror films. It’s tense, it’s incredibly moving and it’s terrific.

Stream “Train to Busan” on Prime Video, Peacock, AMC+, Shudder, Hoopla, Tubi and Kanopy.

Alien on a spaceship! Ridley Scott’s slow-building sci-fi horror film spawned a whole franchise and a series of not-great cinematic copies, but you can’t beat the original for deep space dread. There are so many places an alien can hide in the intricate architecture of the Nostromo and one of the greatest set pieces is when the captain (Tom Skerritt) tries to corner the creature in a narrow tunnel as his horrified crew watches the two dots get closer and closer, knowing there’s nothing they can do to save him. It’s up to quick-thinking Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) to save the day, as she does again in James Cameron’s arguably even better “Aliens.”

Stream “Alien” on Hulu.

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The 31 Scariest Ocean Horror Movies That'll Keep You On Dry Land

The open sea can be scary in and of itself, but when a deadly force enters the picture, it becomes downright terrifying. Sometimes an ocean horror movie features some bloodthirsty sea creature looking for their next meal, but other times the water itself is the entity to fear. Our ranked list of the scariest ocean movies has been voted on by over 1,000 horror fans, making it a fantastic crowdsourced poll that takes many opinions into account.

What films will you find on this list of the best water horror movies? A man-eating shark disrupts a sleepy resort town in the 1975 classic Jaws , directed by Steven Spielberg. The suspenseful plot - along with the movie's timeless score - added to the frightening viewing experience. It's easily one of the best underwater monsters movies ever created, and is a must-watch for the horror genre in general. As the title suggests, Ghost Ship finds a haunted vessel tormenting fellow sailors - and has a truly killer opening sequence. If you want to trigger your thalassophobia and watch a good underwater horror movie, films like Deep Blue Sea and Underwater are great places to start.

These deep sea horror movies are ranked by the number of votes received from horror fans like you, and can actively change as more people come in and vote things up or down.

Underwater begins as a type of natural disaster movie, with an underwater drilling station taking on water after a terrible earthquake. From there it only gets more claustrophobic and stressful, when the crew realize the escape pods are gone, and their only option for escape is to traverse the deep sea floor of the Mariana Trench . The inability to communicate with those above water, and a lack of oxygen are not all the crew has to worry about, when mysterious, violent creatures begin picking them off.

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Leviathan taps into the fears we all have of the ocean, that there can be anything in its mysterious and dangerous depths. Add in the horror of experimenting on human test subjects, and a government conspiracy, and there are more than enough anxieties to keep audiences up at night.

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Deep Blue Sea

Bringing to mind the conundrum of Jurassic Park , Deep Blue Sea proves you cannot play God, and you really shouldn't even try. In increasing the shark's brain size to help the scientists better harvest a protein complex they believed could help in healing Alzheimer's disease, they accidentally turned the sharks into killing machines, more deadly and intelligent than ever.

The effective use of that premise, coupled with memorable death scenes, make it easy to understand why Deep Blue Sea was hailed as “the greatest non- Jaws shark movie of all time," by an editor for Wired.

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The Shallows

Like most shark films, The Shallows begins with our protagonist trying to find some peace on vacation after a traumatic event, but finding the opposite. This film also comes with an important life lesson - do not surf alone. Coming in at around 80 minutes, The Shallows is chock full of tension, suspense, and a Great White shark that wants to remind you that it may have been many years since Jaws , but that does not mean you should feel safe going back into deep waters.

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The Abyss is a claustrophobic thriller with a strong cast of characters, played by Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Chris Elliott. Non-Terrestrial Intelligence, mysterious creatures, nuclear weapons, extreme cold, a submarine with leaks, and diminishing oxygen supply are just a few of the terrors within James Cameron's Academy Award-winning sci-fi thriller.

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Lake Placid

If you're looking for a film like Jaws , but with a new twist, Lake Placid sees its protagonists stalked and ripped apart by a giant crocodile. Part dark comedy, Lake Placid still manages to bring the gore with beheadings, vicious attacks, and more than one apex predator on the loose. Bonus? Lake Placid features Betty White in a supporting role that Rotten Tomatoes reviewers said is “worth the price of admission alone.”

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# 1 of 19 on 19 Underrated Movies Where Animals Are The Villain

Ghost Ship has one of the most memorable opening scenes in horror. In a matter of five minutes, a lively Sixties-era dance party aboard the MS Antonia Graza turns into a bloodbath, a massacre of almost the entire ship that leaves behind a pile of body parts and one horrified child.

The supernatural elements get a little muddy as as the movie goes on, but it still earns a spot on this list for the opening alone.

# 96 of 392 on The Best Horror Movies Of All Time
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# 1 of 14 on Terrible Horror Movies With One Really Good Scene

A 2009 study found that Great White sharks have a lot in common with human serial killers , because they don't like to attack at random. They stalk and hunt their prey, as you can see in The Reef . The reassurance in a creature feature is often that the humans are more intelligent than the beast, and can therefore outsmart it. That is unfortunately not the case with Great Whites, as the characters of The Reef find out the hard way, when they are stalked, and picked apart, one by one.

# 30 of 56 on The Best Vacation Horror Movies, Ranked By Fans
# 14 of 44 on The 40+ Best Lost At Sea Movies
# 25 of 45 on The Best Horror Movies About Deserted Islands

47 Meters Down

Johannes Roberts' 47 Meters Down is an 85-minute anxiety nightmare in which a sweet, sister getaway turns into a brutal fight for survival. Murphy's law is an adage that means anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and characters Lisa and Kate learn that the hard way. The idea of being trapped 47 meters down and running out of oxygen is terrifying enough, without the addition of bloodthirsty sharks, and an inability to communicate with help above water.

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# 3 of 15 on Movies You Shouldn’t Watch If You Have Thalassophobia

Open Water is the kind of movie that stays with you - and makes you want to rethink that vacation scuba diving excursion. It's a harrowing tale of how a tiny error (miscounting tourists on a group boat excursion) can turn into a massive nightmare. Open Water is a story powered by dread, isolation, and hopelessness. With a 71 percent fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, it seems this low-budget thriller has left its mark on many.

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Just when you thought it was safe again to enjoy the water, another Great White sets its sights on the residents of Amity Island. The stakes are raised when Captain Brody's son Mike, and his 10-year-old younger brother, Sean, disobey their father's orders to go sailing, not realizing they've landed themselves right in shark territory. Electrocution, an embolism, mauling, and explosions are just some of the horrors that make up this sequel.

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Deep Rising

Deep Rising may not be the best film on this list, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 32 percent. However, for those that like creature features, there's plenty of slaughter to satiate. That's not all, however, as the character Finnegan is known for exasperatedly asking " Now what? " The crew also has to deal with mercenaries, sabotage, explosions, and a bloody feeding ground. There's tons of carnage to go around.

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# 39 of 44 on The 40+ Best Lost At Sea Movies

The Mariana Trench is the deepest oceanic trench in the world. It's so deep that it still holds many mysteries despite all of the scientific research. It stands to reason one could find some horrible, terrifying things that far below the water - something like a giant extinct monster shark called a Megalodon, or Meg. It may be a B-movie, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of wild kills and gory attacks to satiate horror fans.

There are many horrors at play in Dead Calm , grief, isolation, a storm on the water, and an untrustworthy stranger. Rae and John Ingram learn the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished, when they offer aid to what appears to be a stranded sailor, but ends up being a violent and unhinged killer. The impressive acting by Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill, and Billy Zane make the audience all the more invested, and the terror even more palpable.

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The lead actors and director all learned how to scuba dive for The Deep , so that they could film seventy-five feet underwater on real shipwreck, The R.M.S. Rhone . The realism of being underwater for so much of the film adds to the anxiety and terror, as does the double threat of giant monsters like a moray eel, as well as a violent drug kingpin.

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Sphere is adapted from the book of the same name by the mastermind behind Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton. Sphere has something for everyone - aliens, time travel, an underwater environment, black holes in outer space, extreme weather, giant sea monsters, explosions, and violent humans. Talk about an intense 134 minutes.

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Triangle taps into some primal fears, using the horror of a storm on the water, the idea of being trapped in the middle of nowhere, and the notion that you cannot trust anyone to make a confusing, but well-acted horror story. The film has an 80 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The spookiness of an abandoned ship combined with an enigmatic assassin in a creepy mask make Triangle a film that lingers in your mind after the credits roll.

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Like Deep Blue Sea , some of the fear of Orca comes from the animal's intelligence. This is not a mindless creature defending its habitat, but a man-eating monster with the capability of holding a grudge, and seeking out violent revenge.

And seek revenge it does, plowing through a whole cast of people, with cool, underwater camera work and fine special effects.

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DeepStar Six

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Piranha 3D, which has a certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, sees prehistoric, man-eating fish being unleashed on a lake town right as they are inundated with tourists celebrating spring break.

The campy Piranha 3D takes the basic idea of Jaws, and runs with it, introducing wilder monsters and gorier deaths.

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47 Meters Down: Uncaged

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Shark Night

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The Burning Sea

A submarine operator descends to the ocean floor to save the man she loves from a sunken oil rig.

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‘The Boat’ Review: A Must-See Fight for Survival Against Extraordinary Odds

Remember the twenty-five minutes in the middle of Dead Calm (1989) where Sam Neill struggles to escape a sinking ship? The Boat is the suspense and tension of that sequence maintained for feature length, but with a taste of the supernatural. Or 2013’s All Is Lost which stars Robert Redford alone against a similar predicament? The Boat mirrors the drama and isolation of that film, but with a splash of the unnatural. While it reminds favorably of those two fantastic films, though, The Boat is wholly its own creation marrying survival against the odds with horror of the unknown in sequences that ultimately terrify, captivate, energize, and stress the the hell out of viewers.

An unnamed fisherman ( Joe Azzopardi ) in Malta heads out to sea in his small boat in pursuit of the day’s catch, but a lone and unmoored sailboat catches his eye. He ties up to it and calls out to see if anyone is in need of help, but with no response he climbs aboard to investigate. The boat is seemingly abandoned, but as he goes room to room it’s clear someone was recently there — a smear of fresh blood suggests it may not have ended well for them. Returning to the deck he discovers that his own boat is gone — did his rope simply come untethered or was it released intentionally? As a John Carpenter-worthy fog rolls across the water he moves quickly into survival mode, but with the engine not working, the radio capturing only silence, and the suspicion that he’s not alone weighing behind his eyes, survival may not even be an option.

Films featuring a single character aren’t common, and rarer still are the great ones, but The Boat sails quickly towards the top of the list. Azzopardi’s fisherman has no back story or baggage here and instead quite literally wakes up and motors directly into a nightmare. Rather than panic or start talking to himself — a clunky tool typically used to connect with audiences — he proceeds to assess the situation and find a way out of it. He captivates through his calm and confidence, and on the strictly survival side of things his knowledge and know-how work to inspire viewers towards even the smallest of cheer-worthy victories.

Seriously, there are at least a dozen obstacles here that would have left me for dead in my ignorance.

It’s refreshing to see such a capable character undaunted by his increasing challenges, and while his frustrations grow they don’t turn him away from the task at hand. Tension rises, though as his bad luck reveals itself as something far more ominous than mere chance. Something or someone is actively working against him, and as doors lock behind him and the boat steers towards additional dangers the question of who or what is at the helm takes second place behind the one regarding how he’s going to escape its grip.

At 100 minutes a film like this could easily risk losing steam, but the script by Azzopardi and director/co-writer/brother(?) Winston Azzopardi keeps things moving forward with a taut efficiency. There’s never a dull moment as there’s never really a down moment. The fisherman moves from one challenge to the next, each following a progression both natural and unnatural, and his composure only wavers in the most extreme situations — of which there are more than a few. The possible sound of footsteps on the deck above or of a rope being sawed catch his imagination and ratchet up the tension en route to an absolute gem of an ending. Genre films have a spotty track record in that department as filmmakers aren’t always confident in their exit strategy, but the payoff here is incredibly satisfying and almost suggests a begrudging appreciation of sorts in its denouement.

The score by Lachlan Anderson finds its own beauty and rhythm as it matches the sea’s balance between the calm and aggressive, and it kicks into propulsive overdrive during the film’s more immediate thrills. Cinematographer Marek Traskowski , meanwhile, has the daunting task of working equally well on the vastness of the open ocean and the tight confines of the sailboat. He succeeds in capturing both the isolation in vastness and the more claustrophobic interiors.

The Boat is a work of pure mastery as it blends a tale of survival at sea with a growing sense of dread and mystery, and the resulting experience is a taut and thrilling adventure into the unknown. It ranks easily among the year’s best horror films, best adventure films, and best films period. Welcome aboard indeed.

Related Topics: Fantastic Fest , Film Festivals , Horror

The Boat (2019)

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A lone fisherman on his daily run finds himself lost in a thick fog which proves impossible to navigate. The worst is yet to come when his encounter with a seemingly abandoned sailboat becomes a fight for survival against an enemy unknown.

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The boat videos, the boat photos.

A lone sailor is locked inside the head of a sailboat that is underway -- and on autopilot.

Genre: Drama, Mystery & thriller

Original Language: English (United Kingdom)

Director: Winston Azzopardi

Producer: Winston Azzopardi , Joe Azzopardi , Roy Boulter

Writer: Winston Azzopardi , Joe Azzopardi

Release Date (Streaming): Oct 21, 2019

Runtime: 1h 40m

Production Co: Latina Pictures, Hurricane Films

Cast & Crew

Joe Azzopardi

Winston Azzopardi

Roy Boulter

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Clunky, dull haunted-sailboat movie has bloody scenes.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Movie tries to say things about nature of evil but

Sarah appears to be a fairly strong woman, but she

Young girl smashes a glass into another character'

Teens kiss. Tattoo of a woman with bare breasts. T

Intermittent language: "f--k," "s--t," "bulls--t,"

Adults drink during a party/celebration. Reference

Positive Messages

Movie tries to say things about nature of evil but doesn't ever hit on anything terribly profound (or even consistent). Main takeaway: Never buy a boat without letting your wife know about it first.

Positive Role Models

Sarah appears to be a fairly strong woman, but she has a checkered past. One of the secondary characters is of Latinx heritage. But on the whole, nothing here worth emulating.

Violence & Scariness

Young girl smashes a glass into another character's face. Bloody wound carved in flesh. Characters die. Blood splatters. Characters attack with knives. Character hit with crossbow. Hitting, fighting, struggling. Scary face, scary hands with claws. Characters in noose, tied up. Character thrown in water. Screaming. Nightmare sequences. Explosions. Guns drawn. Reference to a character hanging himself. Mildly disturbing drawings shown during closing credits.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Teens kiss. Tattoo of a woman with bare breasts. Teen girl in skimpy bikini. Spoken reference to marital infidelity.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Intermittent language: "f--k," "s--t," "bulls--t," "a--hole," "dammit," "goddamn," "hell," "stupid," and "poop," plus "Jesus" (as exclamation) and "God knows."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Adults drink during a party/celebration. Reference to someone being hung over.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Mary is a horror movie about a family on a haunted sailboat. It's quite violent, with blood splatters, bloody wounds, and death. Characters fight and attack other characters with knives or crossbows, and characters are tied up or thrown overboard. There's also some scary stuff and nightmare sequences, plus guns and an explosion. Teens kiss, a teen girl wears a skimpy bikini, and there's a spoken reference to marital infidelity. Language includes infrequent uses of "f--k," "s--t," "a--hole," and more. Adults drink during a scene of celebration, and there's a reference to someone being hung over. Despite the talented cast (including Gary Oldman and Emily Mortimer ), the movie is poorly made, clunky, and dull. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

In MARY, David ( Gary Oldman ) works for a local businessman running fishing boats for tourists. While attending an auction, David is drawn to an old sailboat, which was found floating, empty, on the high seas. He buys it, much to the chagrin of his wife, Sarah ( Emily Mortimer ), and starts fixing it up, excited by the prospect of being his own captain. Once the boat is christened, they head out for a test run with their daughters, teen Lindsey (Stefanie Scott) and little Mary (Chloe Perrin), who's thrilled that the boat is also called "Mary." But before long, something evil that's been lurking on the boat begins to make itself known.

Is It Any Good?

Despite the acting talent involved, this waterlogged haunted-boat horror movie feels like a bunch of odd, used pieces strung together. Cinematographer/director Michael Goi, who's mainly a veteran of television ( Scream Queens , American Horror Story ), either seems to have lost control of Mary , or else the screenplay by Anthony Jaswinski ( The Shallows , Satanic ) never had much in it to begin with. Certainly the idea of a haunted boat movie is appealing, because, as one character says, there's nowhere to run. But this is just clunky and dull.

The haunted ship idea isn't used for more than silly "nightmare" sequences or to supply characters who are seemingly possessed and acting weird. There's nothing imaginative here and certainly nothing very scary. Worse, the characters are pencil-sketch thin, with very little indication as to what makes them tick. It's difficult to care about them. Perhaps most shocking is that Mary manages to make Oldman -- a Best Actor Oscar winner for Darkest Hour -- look bad. His line readings are wooden and hesitant, as if he's either bored, confused, or both. In that, he's certainly not alone.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Mary 's violence . How graphic is it? What's shown and not shown? How did it affect you? How did the filmmakers achieve that effect?

Is the movie scary ? What's the appeal of scary movies?

The movie argues that evil has to have a body to live in. Do you think this is true? Are good and evil real? Can one exist without the other?

Movie Details

In theaters : October 11, 2019
On DVD or streaming : November 26, 2019
Cast : Gary Oldman , Emily Mortimer , Stefanie Scott
Director : Michael Goi
Inclusion Information : Asian directors, Female actors
Studio : RLJE Films
Genre : Horror
Topics : Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
Run time : 84 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : some terror, violence, and language
Last updated : December 28, 2023

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Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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20 Best Sailing Movies of all Time

Last Updated by

Daniel Wade

June 15, 2022

If you have been looking forward to curling up on the couch, grabbing a bowl of popcorn, and watching some captivating movies, this can be a good time. A good sailing movie can be perfect given that you'll hear a few lines that you're already familiar with when on the dock or setting sail.

This can be a perfect time to binge-watch some of the best sailing movies.

So in no particular order, we'll highlight 20 of the best sailing movies of all time. From the brutal and dramatic tales of man vs. sea to inspirational explorations and expeditions, we've covered it all. Keep reading and you'll be inspired while waiting to get off dry land when it's safe to do so.

Table of contents

All is Lost (2013)

For lone sailors, All is Lost is probably the best movie to give you a glimpse of what might go wrong for you if you decide to sail the big blue ocean alone. With a near-mute performance as an old man who loves sailing alone, Robert Redford puts in an almost quasi-silent performance by portraying the ordeal of what a lone sailor can undergo when the sea turns on you.

Directed by JC Chandor, there's only one person on the screen throughout the film. He's all alone in the vast sea with his damaged boat. He has to become tough, resourceful, and calm even when things turn against him. Single-character movies are a rarity even today but this is a great survival film that perfectly depicts what could happen even to the hardest lone sailors out there.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

Directed by the talented Peter Weir, this critically-acclaimed movie was nominated for 10 Oscars and won for best cinematography and sound editing. Depicting the return of the high-seas adventure, this movie is skillfully and meticulously adapted from the historical novel by Patrick O'Brian set during the Napoleonic Wars and starring Russell Crowe.

Crowe plays an arrogant captain who pushes his ship crew to the limits while trying to capture a French warship. This movie offers action-packed battle scenes that will keep you on the edge of your seat. This movie gives you an insight of what sailors undergo in their struggles to make it through the high-seas alive.

Captain Ron (1992)

With little sailing experience but with an inherited yacht moored on an offshore island Martin Short hires charismatic Captain Ron to take them back to Florida. The voyage isn't as easy as they expected as they have to face pirates, breakdowns, and other obstacles. They all get more than what they bargained for.

Portrayed by Kurt Russell, Captain Ron depicts the misadventures of a nominal sailing character that is hired by an upper-middle-class father to guide a yacht through the Caribbean. From the marine accidents, pirates, guerilla carnivals to malfunctioning equipment, and Russell's croaked absurdities, this movie is just full of double humor and worthy performance.

Wind (1992)

As one of the biggest races in competitive sailing, America's Cup is often associated with rich people competing in weird-looking boats. But this movie changes this as it takes viewers through the eyes of tanned and rugged Will Parker as played by Matthew Modine. He's hired by a self-made millionaire (Cliff Robertson) to lead his crew in the competition.

Together with his girlfriend Kate who is an equally skilled sailor, Parker intends to win America's Cup but Kate is thrown off the crew leaving Parker angry. When the crew loses America's Cup to the Australians, Parker decides to form his own syndicate to win back the cup.

White Squall (1996)

This movie follows a young man's adventure movie that follows a group of high school students who boards the brigantine ship called Albatross for their senior year at sea. They sail to the tip of South America and back. They get to accept responsibility, learn how to be sailors, and grow up.

The skipper of the ship, Christopher Sheldon together with the 13 teenage boys set sail for an eight-month voyage. The boys soon discover Sheldon's psyche gradations, rattling tension, and freak storms that sink the ship. As a sailor, you'll be disturbed by the fact that four students and two crew members drown, leaving skipper Sheldon facing a fierce tribunal, tortured conscience, and grieving parents and students.

Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)

As one of the greatest epic movies of the 1960s, English Captain Bligh is on a sea voyage to transport breadfruit from England to Jamaica. He is so abusive that he gets on the nerves of his crew members, especially 1st Lieutenant, Fletcher Christian.

Tension eases when they reach Jamaica and the crew indulges in the island's lifestyle but the captain claps some members of his crew in irons as they try to desert. Further abuses lead Fletcher to inspire a mutiny against the Captain. Fletcher and his men set the Captain and his loyal members afloat in a rowboat. This movie offers a realistic depiction of a larger-than-life character that most sailors are known for.

Dead Calm (1989)

Starring Billy Zane, Nicole Kidman, Sam Neil, and a gorgeous 60 ft. ketch, Dead Calm revolves around a mass-murderer who kidnaps and seduces a young beautiful woman after leaving a husband to die on a vessel whose crew he has just murdered.

This movie was filmed in the Whitsundays Islands of Australia, which is one of the best sailing destinations in the world. Bringing forth an epic combination of deadly sailing conditions , complete isolation from the rest of the world, and a skillful villain aboard the vessel, this movie is thrilling and will leave you looking behind your back whenever you're out there on the sea.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

This adventure-comedy follows the high journeys of Steve Zissou, a character adaptation of French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. It follows his ocean expedition when tracking the ‘jaguar shark' that apparently ate his partner, Esteban.

Esteban had been working with Zissou on a documentary about mysterious circumstances by a shark. This is a sharp film with lots of fun and adventure on the sea.

Kon-Tiki (2012)

Legendary Norwegian explorer and ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl believes that the South Sea Islands were originally colonized by South Americans. Thor, who fears water and doesn't know how to swim, partakes on a voyage in 1947 to prove his belief. Together with five crew members, set sail from Peru on a balsa-wood ancient raft.

Even though their only modern equipment is a radio, they have to navigate through the ocean while relying on stars and ocean currents and they achieve the impossible after exhausting three months at the sea. This is a very spirited adventure that depicts what's possible when we believe in our dreams.

Maidentrip (2013)

A 14-year-old sailor by the name Laura Dekker sets sail on a two-year voyage in pursuit of her dream to become the world's youngest sailor. Laura sets out from Holland and sails throughout the world. Apart from the occasional foul language that Laura uses now and then on the documentary, this is an excellent film that shows what one can achieve when he/she lives her dream and works hard towards achieving it.

The documentary, however, doesn't suggest that Laura is alarmingly young to sail across the unforgiving Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Instead, she's depicted as an independent outsider who is looking for paradise in a never-ending sea.

Adrift (2018)

In most cases, sailors seem to never anticipate that they may sail directly into a catastrophic hurricane and this is exactly what Richard Sharp and Tami Oldham do when they sail directly in one of the worst hurricanes ever recorded in history.

Tami awakes in the aftermath of the hurricane to find their boat in ruins and Richard is badly injured. And because they do not have any hope that they would ever get help or get rescued, Tami is left with two options: sit there and perish or find strength and determination to save herself as well as the only man she's ever loved.

Turning Tide (En Solitaire) (2013)

In this daring tale, this movie portrays how a fearless sailor known as Yann Kermadec finds a lot of obstacles in his biggest race as a two-hander named Turning Tide falls flat. In a nail-biting tension, the story begins when Kermadec replaces the main skipper in the Vendee Globe on short notice.

After some smooth sailing, things go eerily wrong for the sailor as his ship is damaged and he's forced to anchor off the Canary Islands to repair it. When he gets back on his journey, he soon discovers that a Mauritanian teenage boy has sneaked inside the boat and he has no option but to sail with him at least until they cross the Atlantic Ocean.

The Old Man and the Sea (1958)

An old Cuban angler known as Spencer Tracy is so unlucky that he hasn't caught any fish in 84 days. And despite the commitment of a young boy to bring him food, the angler fears that he's forever lucky but catches a small fish on his 85th day, so he decides to keep fishing.

When one of his many fishing lines hooks a large marlin, he decides not to go back to the shore until he reels it in. For almost two days and nights, he has no choice but to sit there and do everything he can to redeem himself from what seems like a perpetual failure.

Morning Light (2008)

By entering the TRANSPAC, which is one of the world's best open-ocean competitions, 15 young men and women prepare for a sailing adventure of their lives. With world-class teachers, these sailors begin intense training in Hawaii but only reach a climax in an elimination process that comes in the form of who-stays-and-who-goes process.

This documentary follows these sailors for six months as they embark on a 2,300-mile sailing ordeal, which starts in Los Angeles and ends in Honolulu.

The Perfect Storm (2000)

Created by Wolfgang Petersen, The Perfect Storm is a blockbuster that's big on visuals and depicts an action-packed escapade on the water as Captain Billy Tyne and his crew set on a fishing expedition aboard a ship known as Andrea Gail.

They're soon caught up in a catastrophic destructive storm when they decide to risk the storm and have to deal with a very powerful hurricane. At the height of their fishing expedition, their ice machine breaks down and the only way to ensure that their catch doesn't go stale is by hurrying back to the shore to sell their catch. This is exactly why they decide to risk their lives and it doesn't turn out as they expected.

Captain Phillips (2013)

When Captain Richard Phillips takes command of an unarmed container ship known as MV Maersk Alabama from the port of Salalah in Oman, they anticipate that they'll be attacked by Somali Pirates on their way to Mombasa, Kenya.

They attack the ship and Captain Phillips has to use his wits and diplomacy to negotiate with the pirates and save his crew.

Maiden (2018)

As the saying goes; what a man can do a woman can do even better. This is exactly what's depicted by this sailing movie that follows the life of Tracy Edwards as she leads the first all-female crew when competing in the Whitbread Round the World Race.

Covering 33,000 miles and lasting for nine months, this is a truly grueling race that depicts the corrosive sexism that still exists in the sailing world as well as the ocean terrors that sailors have to deal with during voyages or competitions.

Chasing Bubbles (2016)

This is a captivating documentary that follows the journey of Alex Rust who is a free spirit who gives the normal life to sail around the world. Alex is brought up as a farm boy but becomes a stock trader in Indiana. At the age of 25, he decides to abandon his life in Chicago, buys a modest sailboat known as Bubbles and embarks on a very unique free-spirited voyage. It takes him three years to sail around the world and to quench his insatiable curiosity while meeting great people and fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming a free soul.

This is a breathtaking travelogue that depicts the sailing life of a truly absorbing character.

180° South (2010)

Directed by Chris Malloy, this is a sailing documentary that covers the journey of Jeff Johnson as he travels from Ventura, California to Patagonia in Chile. He does this to retrace the same trip covered by Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins in 1968.

While the two initial explorers made the journey on the land, Johnson travels by sea using a small boat.

Deep Water (2006)

This movie follows the true-life story of Donald Crowhurst, an inexperienced British sailor who enters the Golden Globe, which is the first nonstop boat race in the world. Donald puts up his home as collateral to gain financial backing to compete in the race but soon finds himself on the wrong end of things as he enters the race under-prepared.

I've personally had thousands of questions about sailing and sailboats over the years. As I learn and experience sailing, and the community, I share the answers that work and make sense to me, here on Life of Sailing.

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Best Horror Movies of 2024 Ranked – New Scary Movies to Watch

Welcome to the best horror movies of 2024, ranking every dark and dreary delight coming out this year by Tomatometer! We start the list with Certified Fresh films (these movies have maintained a high Tomatometer score after enough critics reviews), followed by the pulp-pounding Fresh movies (these are rated at least 60%), and then concluding with the morbidly Rotten.

March additions: Larry Fessenden’s back with his werewolf-take Blackout . Night Shift . Imaginary (see Blumhouse horror productions ranked ). Indian Hindi-language Shaitaan. Late Night with the Devil .

In February , terror reared its head in the stop-motion animation medium (don’t forget about Phil Tippett’s Mad God in 2021) with the literal titled Stopmotion .

In 2023 , horror kicked off in a big way with M3GAN . There wasn’t a breakout hit in January 2024, with the major genre releases being the COVID-shot Paleolithic thriller Out of Darkness , and the Diablo Cody-penned Lisa Frankenstein , set in the same world as her cult comedy Jennifer’s Body .

New horror movies for 2024 on the horizon include They Follow (sequel to It Follows , with Maika Monroe and writer/director David Robert Mitchell returning), MaXXXine (Ti West’s closing his trilogy after X and Pearl ), Terrifier 3 (Art the Clown expands his spree into Christmas ), Nosferatu (from director Robert Eggers), Alien: Romulus (due in August), A Quiet Place: Day One (June), Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (September), Return to Silent Hill (original director Christophe Gans returns as well), The Conjuring: Last Rites (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprise their Warren roles).

Late Night with the Devil (2023) 96%

Stopmotion (2023) 89%

Out of Darkness (2022) 85%

T-Blockers (2023) 100%

Double Blind (2023) 100%

Summoners (2022) 100%

Midnight Peepshow (2022) 100%

Somewhere Quiet (2023) 91%

I Saw the TV Glow (2024) 90%

Lovely, Dark, and Deep (2023) 89%

Here for Blood (2022) 88%

Blackout (2023) 80%

Cuckoo (2024) 76%

Immaculate (2024) 73%

Departing Seniors (2023) 61%

The Seeding (2023) 55%

Lisa Frankenstein (2024) 51%

Founders Day (2023) 47%

Shaitaan (2024) 43%

The Prank (2022) 40%

Amelia's Children (2023) 42%

Night Shift (2023) 29%

Imaginary (2024) 25%

Night Swim (2024) 22%

Camp Pleasant Lake (2024) 13%

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10 Great Horror Movies Recommended By Stephen King

Stephen King is a fan of horror movies and has publicly expressed his admiration for classics like The Exorcist and Psycho.
King also appreciates newer horror films like Barbarian and No One Will Save You, recommending them as unique and scary experiences.
The author has a wide range of favorite horror movies, from supernatural classics like Suspiria to atmospheric mysteries like The Autopsy of Jane Doe and The Changeling.

Famed horror novelist Stephen King has long been known for being as much a fan of the genre as he is one of its foremost creators. From posting X (formerly Twitter) to sharing his approval for his favorite new horror releases, to Dense Macabre, his non-fiction exploration of the history of horror fiction, King has often publicly expressed his adoration for a variety of classic and modern flicks, some of which belong to the list of best horror movies of all time .

Many of King's own works have been adapted, to varying successes, by iconic filmmakers, such as Stanley Kubrick and Frank Darabont, with many more Stephen King movie adaptations on the way. King made his own, and only, attempt at venturing into filmmaking with the critically panned 1980s film Maximum Overdrive, which earned him a Razzie nomination for Worst Director, and whose troubled production surely enhanced his appreciation for what it takes to make a great film. Some of Stephen King's favorite horror movies were mentioned by the author on social media and in interviews over the years, as well as in his 1981 book.

The Exorcist

Directed by the great William Friedkin, this story of a demonically possessed young girl, her desperate mother, and the Catholic priests who attempt to perform an exorcism on her was the first of only six horror films ever nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The film mixes an emotionally riveting story of a grieving mother with a terrifying depiction of the supernatural. In response to the death of The Exorcist 's late director, King praised the film on X and called its director "a deeply talented filmmaker".

Related: Every Stephen King Movie Ranked, From Worst To Best

Zach Cregger of comedy troupe Whitest Kids U'Know ventured into horror, and his first feature as solo director, with 2022's Barbarian , starring Georgina Campbell, Justin Long, and modern genre favorite Bill Skarsgård. In Barbarian, a woman arrives at her rental home to find it has been double-booked, with her being expected to share the home with the man who is also staying there. She soon comes to learn of the house's many secrets in this super original and incredibly unpredictable mixture of horror and shock comedy. Responding to a tweet from a fan asking if he had seen Barbarian , King responded "Yeah, that movie blew me away. It was crazy! Crazy GOOD!"

Like many horror creators and fans, King is indebted to the iconic works of Alfred Hitchcock. Psycho follows a woman on the run from the law after stealing a large sum of money who comes across a motel inhabited by its polite but odd proprietor Norman and his mother. In an article for Entertainment Weekly , King wrote of a drug-addled paranoid experience he had watching one of the director's most revered films, Psycho, in which a college-aged King became convinced that the ominously creepy mother of the film was "sitting directly behind me and would soon reach out to stroke the back of my neck."

No One Will Save You

King recently expressed his approval for Hulu's newest horror, No One Will Save You , on his X account. The science fiction horror film starring Kaitlyn Dever follows a lonely woman whose house is intruded by aliens. The movie is unique for its near-total lack of speaking, with No One Will Save You having only one line of dialogue . King recommended the film, calling it "brilliant, daring, involving, scary" and "truly unique" , while favorably comparing it to an episode of The Twilight Zone .

One of the most influential horror films of all time is the original Suspiria, directed by famous Italian filmmaker Dario Argento. The movie follows an American ballerina at a prestigious German dance school and a series of brutal murders that lead her to a shocking discovery. It's a brilliant example of the Italian giallo horror genre which mixes mystery and terror and is a predecessor to modern slasher films. The film was effectively remade in 2018, but nothing beats the original. King briefly mentioned his adoration for this supernatural horror in his 1981 non-fiction book Dense Macabre.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe

Brian Cox, of Succession fame, and Emile Hirsch play father-and-son coroners who spend all night performing an autopsy and uncovering unexplainable things in The Autopsy of Jane Doe. King took to X to commend the atmospheric, foreboding mystery, calling it a "visceral horror to rival ALIEN and early Cronenberg." His comparison of The Autopsy of Jane Doe to the classic horror flick Alien and the work of legendary body-horror director David Cronenberg is high praise for this low-budget film.

The Hitcher

A mix of suspense, action, and true terror, The Hitcher follows a young man on a cross-country delivery when he picks up a homicidal hitchhiker. King personally selected this for a 2017 film series "King on Screen" with the British Film Institute. He also wrote about it in an updated edition of Dense Macabre, saying that Rutger Hauer as the film's maniac killer "will never be topped."

The Changeling

King has often referenced haunted house horror The Changeling when mentioning his favorite films. In his talk during the "King on Screen" series, the author commended the film for its effective slow-burn terror, saying that even though "there are no monsters" it was "enough to scare the daylights" out of the author. He also mentioned the film Dense Macabre , describing the intersection of a subplot about a powerful politician attempting to hide his dark secrets with the ghost story of the film as "a weird mix of ghosts and Watergate".

It's no shock that King is a fan of one of modern horror's biggest directors, Robert Eggers, whose mix of arthouse and commercial sensibilities have won him a loyal fanbase since his debut The Witch. King praised Egger's period horror debut, specifically for its combination of drama and terror, tweeting that it is "a real movie, tense and thought-provoking". The Witch is heavily inspired by the Salem Witch Trials and other true stories. The movie about an isolated Puritan family whose youngest son suddenly vanishes, which King also mentioned "scared the hell out of me," stars Anya-Taylor Joy in her breakout role.

In several interviews, as well as in his book, Stephen King named Steven Spielberg's smash-hit Jaws as one of his favorite movies of all time. Jaws earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture and its massive summer success coined the term 'Summer Blockbuster'. With its brilliant slow-building tension, its weighty dramatic stakes, and of course its terrifying underwater antagonist, it's easy to see why the author is such a fan of this classic film.

10 Great Horror Movies Recommended By Stephen King

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The Best Horror Films set at Sea / Underwater / Lakes

List of a few horror films set at sea or underwater or on lakes, etc. Not sure why I made the list, I just felt like it! Only adding films that are even remotely worth watching = Super Spider-Shark and 3-Headed Octopus-Woman won't be on this list! NOTE: There needs to be more ghost ship films made, there's only a few and most are crap.

Movies or TV
IMDb Rating
In Theaters
Release Year

1. Jaws (1975)

PG | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Thriller

When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Roy Scheider , Robert Shaw , Richard Dreyfuss , Lorraine Gary

Votes: 656,473 | Gross: $260.00M

Killer shark. All time classic. Everyone knows it.

2. The Lighthouse (I) (2019)

R | 109 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.

Director: Robert Eggers | Stars: Robert Pattinson , Willem Dafoe , Valeriia Karaman , Logan Hawkes

Votes: 252,786 | Gross: $0.43M

Psychological horror. Exceptionally creepy and unsettling film about 2 guys going mad when stranded at a lighthouse. Lovecraftian overtones.

3. The Abyss (1989)

PG-13 | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery

A civilian diving team is enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and faces danger while encountering an alien aquatic species.

Director: James Cameron | Stars: Ed Harris , Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio , Michael Biehn , Leo Burmester

Votes: 191,750 | Gross: $54.46M

Deep sea sci-fi mystery. Not "true" horror, but definitely close enough for this list. A brilliant film.

4. The Fog (1980)

R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller

An unearthly fog rolls into a small coastal town exactly 100 years after a ship mysteriously sank in its waters.

Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Adrienne Barbeau , Jamie Lee Curtis , Janet Leigh , John Houseman

Votes: 82,601 | Gross: $21.38M

Ghost pirates. Set in a seaside town with some of the horror taking place at sea. Classic horror!

5. Dead Calm (1989)

R | 96 min | Horror, Thriller

After a tragedy, John Ingram and his wife Rae are spending some time isolated at sea, when they come across a stranger who has abandoned a sinking ship.

Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Nicole Kidman , Sam Neill , Billy Zane , Rod Mullinar

Votes: 43,529 | Gross: $7.83M

Tense thriller set on a boat. Legendary thriller that has earned its reputation. Everyone needs to see this film at least once!

6. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

G | 79 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

A strange prehistoric beast lurks in the depths of the Amazonian jungle. A group of scientists try to capture the animal and bring it back to civilization for study.

Director: Jack Arnold | Stars: Richard Carlson , Julie Adams , Richard Denning , Antonio Moreno

Votes: 34,079 | Gross: $1.30M

Monster in a lagoon ... of all things. All time classic, still a good film today.

7. Triangle (2009)

R | 99 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi

Five friends set sail and their yacht is overturned by a strange and sudden storm. A mysterious ship arrives to rescue them, and what happens next cannot be explained.

Director: Christopher Smith | Stars: Melissa George , Joshua McIvor , Jack Taylor , Michael Dorman

Votes: 129,021

Mystery on an abandoned boat. An awesome mystery-thriller that will shock and surprise. Great film.

8. Deep Rising (1998)

R | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Horror

A group of heavily armed hijackers board a luxury ocean liner in the South Pacific Ocean to loot it, only to do battle with a series of large-sized, tentacled, man-eating sea creatures who had already invaded the ship.

Director: Stephen Sommers | Stars: Treat Williams , Famke Janssen , Anthony Heald , Kevin J. O'Connor

Votes: 40,636 | Gross: $11.20M

Monster movie set on a cruise liner. A dumb & fun horror film that's very entertaining to watch. Pure popcorn fodder.

9. Sphere (1998)

PG-13 | 134 min | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi

A spaceship is discovered under three hundred years' worth of coral growth at the bottom of the ocean.

Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Dustin Hoffman , Sharon Stone , Samuel L. Jackson , Peter Coyote

Votes: 112,201 | Gross: $37.02M

Deep sea sci-fi. Much maligned by critics at the time of its release, it's gained a cult following since then. I rate it quite highly.

10. Below (2002)

R | 105 min | Action, Horror, Mystery

Strange happenings occur on a WW II submarine.

Director: David Twohy | Stars: Bruce Greenwood , David Crow , Matthew Davis , Holt McCallany

Votes: 24,049 | Gross: $0.61M

Submarine horror. Cool little horror/thriller. Definitely scratches that nautical horror itch.

11. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

Approved | 80 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

A ferocious dinosaur awakened by an Arctic atomic test terrorizes the North Atlantic and, ultimately, New York City.

Director: Eugène Lourié | Stars: Paul Hubschmid , Paula Raymond , Cecil Kellaway , Kenneth Tobey

Votes: 8,689 | Gross: $5.00M

Deep sea monster. Awesome old creature feature, and one of the few that hasn't aged too badly. Good fun.

12. Harpoon (2019)

Not Rated | 83 min | Comedy, Horror, Thriller

Rivalries, dark secrets, and sexual tension emerge when three best friends find themselves stranded on a yacht in the middle of the ocean desperate for survival.

Director: Rob Grant | Stars: Munro Chambers , Chris Gray , Emily Tyra , Brett Gelman

Votes: 6,183

People stranded on a boat. Funny and nasty with a great twist ending, too.

13. The Vanishing (II) (2018)

R | 107 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Three lighthouse keepers on the remote Flannan Isles find a hidden trunk of gold, leading to their mysterious disappearance.

Director: Kristoffer Nyholm | Stars: Peter Mullan , Gerard Butler , Emma King , Gary Lewis

Votes: 20,497

Lighthouse thriller. Good thriller/horror about 3 guys stationed at a lighthouse and things go very wrong.

14. Crawl (I) (2019)

R | 87 min | Action, Adventure, Horror

A young woman, while attempting to save her father during a category 5 hurricane, finds herself trapped in a flooding house and must fight for her life against alligators.

Director: Alexandre Aja | Stars: Kaya Scodelario , Barry Pepper , Morfydd Clark , Ross Anderson

Votes: 93,551 | Gross: $39.01M

Killer alligator. Very enjoyable alligator attack film. Fast and fun with great production quality.

15. Ghostboat (2006 TV Movie)

180 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

A British Sub goes missing at the end of WWII, leaving only one survivor. Everyone believes it lost to the bottom of the Baltic Sea, then 40 years later it reappears without a crew. The ... See full summary »

Director: Stuart Orme | Stars: David Jason , Ian Puleston-Davies , Tony Haygarth , Julian Wadham

Shipwreck mystery.

16. Alligator (1980)

R | 91 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

A pet baby alligator is flushed down a toilet and survives in the city sewers. Twelve years later, it grows to an enormous size thanks to a diet of discarded laboratory dogs injected with growth hormones. Now, humans have entered the menu.

Director: Lewis Teague | Stars: Robert Forster , Robin Riker , Michael V. Gazzo , Dean Jagger

Votes: 15,740

Killer alligator. You'd think a Gator movie from 1980 would be shlocky crap, but this is actually a pretty good film.

17. Underwater (2020)

PG-13 | 95 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi

A crew of oceanic researchers working for a deep sea drilling company try to get to safety after a mysterious earthquake devastates their deepwater research and drilling facility located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Director: William Eubank | Stars: Kristen Stewart , Vincent Cassel , Mamoudou Athie , T.J. Miller

Votes: 96,533 | Gross: $17.29M

Deep sea monster movie. Plays out like 'Alien' at the bottom of the ocean. Great sets and CGI.

18. Dagon (2001)

R | 98 min | Fantasy, Horror, Mystery

A boating accident runs a young man and woman ashore in a decrepit Spanish fishing town which they discover is in the grips of an ancient sea god and its monstrous half human offspring.

Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Ezra Godden , Francisco Rabal , Raquel Meroño , Macarena Gómez

Votes: 20,892

HP Lovecraft adaption. Slightly uneven film with some truly amazing parts, but with some flaws, too. A must-see if you like Lovecraft tho.

19. The Ghost Ship (1943)

Passed | 69 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Third Officer Tom Merriam accuses Captain Will Stone of being a homicidal maniac, but no one believes him.

Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Richard Dix , Russell Wade , Edith Barrett , Ben Bard

Votes: 3,776

Murder on a boat.

20. The Shallows (2016)

PG-13 | 86 min | Action, Drama, Horror

A mere 200 yards from shore, surfer Nancy is attacked by a great white shark, with her short journey to safety becoming the ultimate contest of wills.

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra | Stars: Blake Lively , Óscar Jaenada , Angelo Josue Lozano Corzo , Joseph Salas

Votes: 142,872 | Gross: $55.12M

Shark attack. Yet another shark-attack movie, but this one is actually pretty good - one of the best, in fact.

21. It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)

Not Rated | 79 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

A giant, radioactive octopus rises from the Philippine Trench to terrorize the North American Pacific Coast.

Director: Robert Gordon | Stars: Kenneth Tobey , Faith Domergue , Donald Curtis , Ian Keith

Votes: 6,301

Monster at sea. Very fun creature feature!

22. Open Water (2003)

R | 79 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror

Based on the true story of two scuba divers accidentally stranded in shark infested waters after their tour boat has left.

Director: Chris Kentis | Stars: Blanchard Ryan , Daniel Travis , Saul Stein , Michael E. Williamson

Votes: 56,329 | Gross: $30.61M

Shark attack.

23. The Deep (1977)

PG | 123 min | Adventure, Mystery, Thriller

In Bermuda, two amateur treasure-hunting divers have a run-in with local criminals when they inadvertently discover the secret cargo of a World War II shipwreck.

Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Jacqueline Bisset , Nick Nolte , Dick Anthony Williams , Robert Shaw

Votes: 13,694 | Gross: $6.84M

Mystery thriller.

24. Phantom (I) (2013)

R | 98 min | Drama, History, Thriller

The haunted Captain of a Soviet submarine holds the fate of the world in his hands. Forced to leave his family behind, he is charged with leading a covert mission cloaked in mystery.

Director: Todd Robinson | Stars: Ed Harris , Julian Adams , David Duchovny , William Fichtner

Votes: 15,133 | Gross: $0.49M

Thriller on a submarine. Not really a true "horror" film, but a very tense thriller that's not half bad!

25. Pressure (II) (2015)

R | 91 min | Drama, Thriller

A group of men are trapped in a small pod on the sea bed, after diving down to fix an oil pipeline and becoming separated from their ship.

Director: Ron Scalpello | Stars: Danny Huston , Matthew Goode , Joe Cole , Alan McKenna

Votes: 6,043

Trapped at the bottom of the ocean. Some really tense moments make this worth a look - very claustrophobic.

26. Rogue (2007)

R | 99 min | Action, Drama, Horror

An American journalist on assignment in the Australian outback encounters a man-eating crocodile while trapped on a rapidly flooding mud island.

Director: Greg McLean | Stars: Michael Vartan , Radha Mitchell , Sam Worthington , Caroline Brazier

Votes: 33,287 | Gross: $0.01M

Killer Croc Good killer croc film from Australia.

27. Leviathan (1989)

R | 98 min | Adventure, Horror, Mystery

Perched on the hull of a wrecked Soviet freighter, a team of deep-sea miners led by head oceanographer Steven Beck comes face to face with a mutant creature that's the product of a failed genetic experiment.

Director: George P. Cosmatos | Stars: Peter Weller , Richard Crenna , Amanda Pays , Daniel Stern

Votes: 23,538 | Gross: $15.70M

Deep sea horror sci-fi. Very similar to 'The Abyss' so worth a look if you liked that film.

28. Cold Skin (2017)

TV-14 | 108 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror

A young man arrives at a remote island to take a post of weather observer only to find himself defending the watchtower from deadly creatures which live in the island shores.

Director: Xavier Gens | Stars: Ray Stevenson , David Oakes , Aura Garrido , Winslow M. Iwaki

Votes: 17,953

Monsters attack a lighthouse. Very entertaining nautical monster film set at a lighthouse!

29. Piranha 3D (2010)

R | 88 min | Comedy, Horror

After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area's new razor-toothed residents.

Director: Alexandre Aja | Stars: Elisabeth Shue , Jerry O'Connell , Richard Dreyfuss , Ving Rhames

Votes: 96,373 | Gross: $25.00M

Killer piranha comedy / horror. This one is played purely for laughs, but the gore is quite gruesome as well! Not to be taken seriously at all.

30. 47 Meters Down (2017)

PG-13 | 89 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Two sisters vacationing in Mexico are trapped in a shark cage at the bottom of the ocean. With less than an hour of oxygen left and great white sharks circling nearby, they must fight to survive.

Director: Johannes Roberts | Stars: Mandy Moore , Claire Holt , Matthew Modine , Chris Johnson

Votes: 60,704 | Gross: $44.31M

Deep sea shark attack. Decent underwater flick with some tense, claustrophobic moments.

31. The Reef (2010)

R | 94 min | Adventure, Horror, Thriller

A great white shark hunts the crew of a capsized sailboat along the Great Barrier Reef.

Director: Andrew Traucki | Stars: Damian Walshe-Howling , Gyton Grantley , Adrienne Pickering , Zoe Naylor

Votes: 20,863

32. Satan's Triangle (1975 TV Movie)

74 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

A US coast guard finds only a woman still alive aboard a shipwreck. She tells her rescuer what happened and soon, they find themselves trapped in a mysterious part of the ocean known as Satan's Triangle.

Director: Sutton Roley | Stars: Kim Novak , Doug McClure , Alejandro Rey , Ed Lauter

Votes: 1,420

Lost at sea mystery.

33. Ghost Ship (2002)

R | 91 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

A salvage crew discovers a long-lost 1962 passenger ship floating lifeless in a remote region of the Bering Sea, and soon notices that its long-dead inhabitants may still be on board.

Director: Steve Beck | Stars: Julianna Margulies , Gabriel Byrne , Ron Eldard , Desmond Harrington

Votes: 108,679 | Gross: $30.11M

...set on a ghost ship, obviously. Very, very cheesy film, but it's kinda fun. Don't expect too much from it and it'll pass the time.

34. Piranha (1978)

R | 94 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi

When flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.

Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Bradford Dillman , Heather Menzies-Urich , Kevin McCarthy , Keenan Wynn

Votes: 24,529 | Gross: $6.00M

Killer piranha. Classic horror film that's sadly a little bit dull to watch today.

35. Jaws 2 (1978)

PG | 116 min | Adventure, Horror, Thriller

Police chief Brody must protect the citizens of Amity after a second monstrous shark begins terrorizing the waters.

Director: Jeannot Szwarc | Stars: Roy Scheider , Lorraine Gary , Murray Hamilton , Joseph Mascolo

Votes: 84,217 | Gross: $102.92M

Killer shark. Decent follow-up to the classic original.

36. Shock Waves (1977)

PG | 85 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi

Visitors to a remote island discover that a reclusive Nazi commandant has been breeding a group of Zombie soldiers.

Director: Ken Wiederhorn | Stars: Clarence Thomas , Brooke Adams , Luke Halpin , John Carradine

Votes: 6,246

Undead sea Nazi's Low budget shlock about Nazi zombies that come out of the sea. It has its charms, but isn't a classic or anything.

37. The Beast (1996)

PG-13 | 176 min | Action, Adventure, Horror

Mysterious things happen at the coast of Graves Point: An empty boat lies at the shore, divers vanish. The sea biologist Dr. Talley thinks he knows the solution of the mystery: In the depth there is a gigantic squid.

Stars: William Petersen , Karen Sillas , Charles Martin Smith , Ronald Guttman

Votes: 2,902

Killer squid.

38. Deep Blue Sea (1999)

R | 105 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Searching for a cure to Alzheimer's disease, a group of scientists on an isolated research facility become the prey, as a trio of intelligent sharks fight back.

Director: Renny Harlin | Stars: Thomas Jane , Saffron Burrows , Samuel L. Jackson , Jacqueline McKenzie

Votes: 142,192 | Gross: $73.65M

Killer shark / sci-fi Cheesy fun I guess, not very scary.

39. Virus (1999)

R | 99 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi

After outrunning a typhoon at sea, a strong-willed tugboat navigator and her crew discover a high-tech alien life form that's taken control of a Russian research vessel and aims to destroy on a massive scale.

Director: John Bruno | Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis , Donald Sutherland , William Baldwin , Joanna Pacula

Votes: 29,828 | Gross: $14.01M

Sci-fi horror. Ultra-cheesy sci-fi flick set on a boat. Great fun if you're in the mood for that kind of thing.

41. Sea Fever (2019)

TV-14 | 95 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

The crew of a West of Ireland trawler, marooned at sea, struggle for their lives against a growing parasite in their water supply.

Director: Neasa Hardiman | Stars: Hermione Corfield , Dag Malmberg , Jack Hickey , Olwen Fouéré

Votes: 13,932

Stuck on a boat with a virus. Passible horror flick about people on a boat getting a parasitic virus from a sea creature.

42. Revenge of the Creature (1955)

Passed | 82 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

Men capture the Creature from the Black Lagoon and make him an aquarium attraction, from which he escapes.

Director: Jack Arnold | Stars: John Agar , Lori Nelson , John Bromfield , Nestor Paiva

Votes: 6,989

Aquatic monster. Average follow up to 'Creature from the Black Lagoon'

43. Open Water 2: Adrift (2006)

R | 94 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror

When a group of friends fail to lower the ladder of their boat, they find themselves stranded in the surrounding waters and struggle to survive.

Director: Hans Horn | Stars: Susan May Pratt , Richard Speight Jr. , Niklaus Lange , Ali Hillis

Votes: 19,881

Stranded at sea. This one is just average.

44. The Boat (2018)

88 min | Mystery, Thriller

A lone fisherman encounters a seemingly abandoned yacht in an eerie fog bank. Whilst trying to do the right thing the most inexplicable and terrifying nightmare begins.

Director: Winston Azzopardi | Stars: Joe Azzopardi , Anubis Mud

Votes: 4,854

Average mystery thriller with a couple of creepy moments.

45. Lake Placid (1999)

R | 82 min | Action, Comedy, Horror

Four people attempt to stop a gigantic crocodile, who is terrorizing residents in Black Lake, Maine.

Director: Steve Miner | Stars: Bridget Fonda , Bill Pullman , Oliver Platt , Brendan Gleeson

Votes: 65,333 | Gross: $31.77M

Killer alligator Very mediocre, just about warrants a look if you're after some nautical horror and have seen everything else.

46. Death Ship (1980)

R | 91 min | Adventure, Horror, Mystery

A mysterious ghostly freighter rams and sinks a modern day cruise ship whose survivors climb aboard the freighter and discover that it is a World War II Nazi torture vessel.

Director: Alvin Rakoff | Stars: George Kennedy , Richard Crenna , Nick Mancuso , Sally Ann Howes

Votes: 5,633

Ghost ship horror. This is not a "good" movie, but there's something about the grimy look to the film that made me like it more than I probably should have.

47. Bhoot: Part One - The Haunted Ship (2020)

Not Rated | 114 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

A bereaved shipping officer investigates the mystery behind a ghost ship that washes ashore in Mumbai.

Director: Bhanu Pratap Singh | Stars: Vicky Kaushal , Ashutosh Rana , Meher Vij , Akash Dhar

Votes: 5,877

Haunted ship. Passible Bollywood horror flick.

48. Phantom Ship (1935)

Approved | 62 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

During a horrific storm at sea, the crew realizes that there is a murderer among them who is killing them off one by one.

Director: Denison Clift | Stars: Bela Lugosi , Shirley Grey , Arthur Margetson , Edmund Willard

Votes: 1,035

Murder mystery at sea

49. 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019)

PG-13 | 90 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror

Two sisters diving in a ruined underwater city quickly learn they've entered the territory of the deadliest shark species in the claustrophobic labyrinth of submerged caves.

Director: Johannes Roberts | Stars: Sophie Nélisse , Corinne Foxx , Brianne Tju , Sistine Rose Stallone

Votes: 30,625 | Gross: $22.26M

50. DeepStar Six (1989)

A team of navy personnel stationed at a temporary base at the bottom of the ocean and tasked with setting up nuclear missiles discovers a huge underwater cavern which houses a giant prehistoric creature.

Director: Sean S. Cunningham | Stars: Greg Evigan , Nancy Everhard , Taurean Blacque , Miguel Ferrer

Votes: 13,144 | Gross: $8.14M

Deep sea sci-fi horror. Not a fan of this, but some folks find it acceptable.

51. Bait (III) (2012)

R | 93 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror

A freak tsunami traps shoppers at a coastal Australian supermarket inside the building - along with 12-foot Great White Sharks.

Director: Kimble Rendall | Stars: Xavier Samuel , Sharni Vinson , Adrian Pang , Yuwu Qi

Votes: 19,354

Killer sharks. It's just about watchable.

52. The Meg (2018)

PG-13 | 113 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi

A group of scientists exploring the Marianas Trench encounter the largest marine predator that has ever existed - the Megalodon.

Director: Jon Turteltaub | Stars: Jason Statham , Bingbing Li , Rainn Wilson , Cliff Curtis

Votes: 206,474 | Gross: $143.01M

Killer shark. A cringeworthy slice of pure cheese that's barely watchable.

53. Meg 2: The Trench (2023)

PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Horror

A research team encounters multiple threats while exploring the depths of the ocean, including a malevolent mining operation.

Director: Ben Wheatley | Stars: Jason Statham , Jing Wu , Shuya Sophia Cai , Cliff Curtis

Votes: 76,477 | Gross: $82.60M

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The 20 Best Horror Movies On Ships Or Subs

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The 13 Best (and Worst) ‘Dracula on a Boat’-Type Horror Movies, Ranked

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