10 Underrated Shark Movies That Are Actually Great

Shark films throughout the years have become popular for their use of tense atmospheres, shocking moments, and the pure primal fear they evoke in audiences. Despite the best shark films like Jaws, which can dominate a genre, there are many lesser-known films about sharks that are equally engaging, unique, and frightening. The films employ varying techniques to convey the imminent danger that shark attacks present and make the audience identify with the characters involved. Making the moments presented come to life in a more realistic way.

Rather than being held back by classics like Jaws and The Meg, these films have found a way to inject new imagination into the Shark genre, combining innovative stories with scary, heart-pounding moments. Whether it’s an attack during a planned mission, such as in Under Paris, or a romantic folk tale about shark fishing in Mexico, like Tiburoneros, films about sharks have a way of captivating the audience. These films may not have smashed the box office, but they are all amazing thriller movies, that are the perfect watch for anybody looking to heighten their thalassophobia.

10 Tintorera (1977)

Starring Susan George And Hugo Stiglitz

Set on the gorgeous coasts of Mexico, Tintorera follows two men on holiday who find themselves embroiled in a mix of love and disaster when a man-eating tiger shark begins to terrorize the local area. Part action, part suspense, part romance, the men pursue the shark as they deal with their own interpersonal dramas amid the chaos that is unfolding. The lush locations provide a striking contrast to the threat lurking in the water, with such potential for violence waiting below the stunning tropical waters.

Related How Big The Shark In Jaws Was (& Comparison To The Largest Great White Sharks Ever)

Bruce, the terrifying shark from Jaws, was built to be massive. Unfortunately, his size may be what separates him from real Great White Sharks.

What sets Tintorera apart is how it combines the elements of tropical adventure and peril with character-driven storytelling. Though less obsessed with the heroics of the characters than some other shark-related films, it has many fear-inducing sequences, and it is an evocative combination of the dynamics of a friendship and primal watery dread, making it a solid film in the genre’s filmography.

9 The Last Shark (1981)

Starring James Franciscus And Vic Morrow

In this Italian cult classic, a small seaside town is thrown into chaos when a great white shark begins to attack its beaches. The town’s mayor is determined to keep the beaches open to tourists, and it’s up to an intrepid local writer and a shark hunter to bring down the swarming beast. Its dramatic storyline is similar in premise to the iconic Jaws, but with an Italian twist, which helped, along with the scary, practical effects and a thick atmosphere of terror, helped cement it as a quality shark attack film.

The Last Shark, directed by Enzo G. Castellari, has well-timed and executed shark attacks throughout the 87-minute runtime. Tension builds steadily throughout, and it tips its cap to Jaws, a film released six years prior, on several occasions, but in many other respects, this is a much bleaker and more nuanced film – especially when it comes to the cast of characters and their relationships. For fans of old-school shark horror, The Last Shark is a little-loved film that’s definitely worth revisiting.

8 Sharknado (2013)

Starring Tara Reid And Ian Ziering

A ridiculous mash-up of disaster film and killer shark movie, Sharknado rocketed itself into the zeitgeist as a proudly preposterous pop-culture comedy. When a freak hurricane is swept up by a typhoon, the giant waves flood Los Angeles with ocean water, with the sharks in the sea somehow sucked into the storm, swirling up into tornadoes that hurl thousands of live sharks onto the city. A former surfer turned bar owner (Ian Ziering) has to assemble a ragtag band of unlikely heroes to fight their way through floodwaters filled with sharks – and tornadoes packed with sharks – in order to survive.

Films In The Sharknado Franchise:	Release Year:
Sharknado	2013
Sharknado 2: The Second One	2014
Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!	2015
Sharknado 4: The Fourth Awakens	2016
Sharknado 5: Global Swarming	2017
The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time	2018

What makes Sharknado stand out is its unapologetic embrace of ‘so bad it’s good’ cinema. This is a movie that never pretends to be anything other than what it is, a spectacle that leans all the way into its crazy premise and its own absurdity. The low-budget, made-for-TV special effects – CGI sharks whirling through tornadoes and smashing through helicopters and skyscrapers, are genuinely entertaining. It’s a movie that owns its cheesiness, serving up a ridiculous thrill ride that is funny, action-packed, and completely unpredictable. Sharknado has become a legitimate cult classic over the past 10 years.

7 Bait (2012)

Starring Xavier Samuel And Sharni Vinson

After a tsunami hits the Australian coastal town of Coolangatta, a small group of survivors is trapped inside a flooded supermarket with two hungry great white sharks lurking in the water. With the threat of the sharks and also the threat of becoming electrocuted by exposed live wires near the water, the movie provides continuous suspense. Bait combines disaster and horror, with the chills coming from both the elements and sharks swimming below. It’s a novel mashup where the sharks provide a constant sense of dread as the characters try to plan through the madness and find their way out.

Bait
was also released as a 3D cinema experience (
Bait 3D
) to heighten the fear and tension of the shark attacks.

Led by Australian director Kimble Rendall, the confined setting and unrelenting pace were unique to Bait in this genre, and the film manages to incorporate elements of survival, disaster, and shark action into a concise narrative containing a number of tense action sequences. The special effects are impressively done, considering the budget, as are the performances throughout the cast during the action scenes. For those seeking a fresh new take on the original shark movie trope, Bait is not to be missed.

6 47 Meters Down (2017)

Starring Claire Holt And Mandy Moore

Mandy Moore and Claire Holt star as two sisters in this 2017 survival horror film, where they are trapped in a shark cage on the ocean floor with dwindling oxygen and great whites circling overhead. As they try to make it to the surface, the suspense grows and the situation continues to get more perilous. The threat of the deep ocean, plus the stark confines of the cage and the sharks circling outside, leads to a terrifying and claustrophobic experience.

The 10 Best Underrated Shark Films On This List:	IMDb Rating:
Tintorera (1977)	4.1/10
The Last Shark (1981)	4.3/10
Sharknado (2013)	3.3/10
Bait (2012)	5.2/10
47 Meters Down (2017)	5.6/10
Under Paris (2024)	5.2/10
The Reef (2010)	5.8/10
The Shallows (2016)	6.3/10
Tiburoneros (1963)	7.4/10
Kon-Tiki (2012)	7.1/10

Spawning a sequel two years later, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged, 47 Meters Down is a strong example of how a restricted setting can be used to create tension throughout a film. The underwater shots are shot and executed beautifully, accentuating how quiet, dark, and unforgiving the ocean depths can be. It’s a movie that relies on suspense and the slow accumulation of danger. It is a gripping narrative that plays out perfectly, right up until the twist ending that shocked and horrified viewers. Its shark behavior is realistic, which adds to the gritty realism of the film overall.

5 Under Paris (2024)

Starring Bérénice Bejo And Nassim Lyes

French action-horror film Under Paris sees marine researcher Sophia Assalas (Bérénice Bejo) and her team chase a notorious shortfin mako shark, known as Lillith, in the center of Paris in the days preceding a major triathlon. Set against the eerie and terrifying backdrop of the Paris Catacombs, the team begins their deadly hunt, with many lives being lost in the water and a horrifying discovery that Lillith and her offspring have mutated and can reproduce through parthenogenesis. The team is ordered to find and kill the sharks before they multiply and take over the water in every major city.

The tension is palpable throughout, both with the creeping dread and steadily escalating threat to Sophia’s team as they face both a rapidly mutating predator and an ignorant public.

What makes Under Paris unique in this genre is its transposition into an urban – and utterly unexpected – context. The paranormal canals of Paris, with their own dark secrets, provide the contrast to the familiar, romantic city of love. The tension is palpable throughout, both with the creeping dread and steadily escalating threat to Sophia’s team, as they face both a rapidly mutating predator and an ignorant public. It’s a slick, tense blend of science fiction and real-world terror, and while horror is the main theme of many shark films before, Under Paris takes it in a refreshing direction.

4 The Reef (2010)

Starring Damian Walshe-Howling And Zoe Naylor

Another survival thriller, set off the coast of Australia on the Great Barrier Reef, in which a group of friends finds themselves on an overturned yacht after colliding with a reef and then drifting out helplessly to sea. The only way to get back to shore (which is increasingly going from view) is to swim – but a great white shark begins to follow them at every turn. The film is based on real-life events, and the sense of being out in open water, stranded and alone, with the constant threat of a deadly shark just underneath the surface is expertly conveyed.

The Reef is a genuinely tense and realistic portrait of survival, with the story based on that of Ray Boundy. The danger and tension ramp up as the group faces the growing perils of either waiting on the upturned hull, hoping for rescue, or swimming for miles in shark-infested waters. The narrative is clear and straightforward yet still gripping and engaging as it unfolds. The shark attacks feel gruesomely realistic and stand out as the highlights of the film. The menacing mood, shot against the isolated background, makes it one of the more chilling shark movies ever made.

3 The Shallows (2016)

Starring Blake Lively

This film stars Blake Lively as senior medical student Nancy Adams, who surfs with locals on a secluded beach in Mexico. Finishing up after the locals have left, she is attacked and bitten by a great white shark on her final trip back and is forced onto a small rock formation not far from shore. While close to land, Nancy is far from safe, as the great white is circling the rock, and she must use her resourceful nature and medical training to find a way to survive her injuries and escape before the tide rises. The minimalist setting allows for a tense, intimate survival story.

Related 10 Best Shark Movies Like Under Paris

As the original, genre-defining movie, Jaws is decidedly not on this list, but there are many others that stand out among this floundering film genre.

The Shallows is a visually spectacular – and suspenseful – combination of the glittering blue ocean above and the deadly threat below that is in your face from the start of the movie. The film, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, features one of Lively’s captivating performances and her commitment to the role, which makes the stakes feel real and immediate. With its fast pace, straightforward narrative, and realistic action scenes, The Shallows is one of the very best of the modern shark thrillers.

2 Tiburoneros (1963)

Directed By Luis Alcoriza

This iconic Mexican film is the story of Aurelio, a shark fisherman in the Gulf of Tabasco, Mexico, and recounts the daily struggles he goes through in this difficult life. Aurelio lives a paradoxical life, working all hours to provide for his wife and children back in Mexico City while also enjoying a romance with a local woman. Tiburoneros is a combination of adventure, drama, and philosophy as it shows the efforts of fishermen who risk their lives to earn a living. The film is about suffering, tradition, and the bond between men and between man and nature.

The highest-rated film on IMDb in this article, with an average rating of 7.4/10 from more than 200 reviews.

Despite being anything but a traditional shark horror film – it is, in fact, quite the opposite, with the focus placed on human relationships to the sea and the lives of those who are involved in shark fishing. What sets Tiburoneros apart is the tension generated not by fear of the sharks but of the trade itself and showing a man torn between two lives. This makes it a refreshing and intriguing option for any shark film enthusiasts seeking to watch something a bit different from a classic shark attack horror movie.

1 Kon-Tiki (2012)

Starring Pål Sverre Hagen And Anders Baasmo

Kon-Tiki is the dramatized true story of the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl’s 1947 voyage on a balsa-wood raft across the Pacific Ocean. Heyerdahl had a theory that people from South America could have settled in Polynesia, rather than the prevailing theory that the first settlers originated in Asia. He and his team face off against sharks, storms, and the immensity of the open sea to prove it could have been done 1500 years ago. The entire journey is an incredible feat, and all the sequences are spectacularly filmed.

Related The Release Of Netflix’s New Shark Movie Could Not Have Been Timed Better

Under Paris, the new shark attack thriller on Netflix, and there’s one upcoming real-world event that proves it released at the perfect moment.

Although sharks don’t play a major part in Kon-Tiki, the film’s most exciting sequences involve real-life attacks on the small raft and its weary crew. Knowing it’s a real story with real stakes amplifies the tension and is a genuinely fascinating watch from start to finish. It is an adventure classic based on an incredible true story and filmed on location on an epic scale, and there’s something almost heroic about an early 20th-century expedition boldly tackling nature’s ultimate challenge. The grandiose nature and genuine realism of the film make it one of those most underrated shark films of all time.