Sharks are inextricably linked with the history and culture of mankind as one of the most frightening creatures on the planet. Any opus of fiction with their participation is immediately attributed to the horror genre, each film dedicated to them, a priori, has the highest rating among horrors.
Sharks swim in the cinema
Nevertheless, filmmakers of all formations continue to make films about sharks. The list of films is annually updated with new works. Famous critics do not get tired of scolding modern filmmakers for their excessive craving for cruelty and an abundance of blood, secretly reviewing "Jaws". It so happened that sharks, being almost the highest link in the food chain, are taller than humans. This explains their image in feature films - a predator that causes horror, panic, tears and hatred. Cash tapes about sharks (the list of films is presented below) are most often presented in the horror genre, although if you look at the fact of a predator’s attack purely from the point of view of natural biological processes, then this is a real action movie. Predator (shark) - hunting, prey (human) - trying to escape at all costs.
Big budget movies
When reviewing films about sharks, it’s easy to determine the list of the best, just pay attention to the budget and rating of the picture. The significant budget of the tape promises viewers the maximum realism of events taking place on the screen, including fast chases, gorgeous underwater shooting and stunning special effects. At the moment, the highest grossing films are three films about sharks. The list of films opens the project of joint production of Singapore and Australia "Tsunami 3D" (budget $ 30 million). Director Kimble Randall managed to shoot a project that has superiority to other 3D films that have recently cluttered the movie screen. On the court of the viewer are presented episodes with an atypical attack of sharks, with the participation of familiar masters of the scene. According to the plot, a group of people because of the disaster was cut off from the outside world in a practically flooded and dilapidated supermarket. Prisoners of the elements were embodied on the screen by Julian McMahon ("Parts of the body", "Charmed"), Sharney Vinson ("Step forward 3D"), Zaver Samuel and Phoebe Tonkin ("Secret Circle").
A little cheaper, but no worse
If you try to list expensive new films about sharks, the list will replenish with two more projects: “Shark Caster” and “Jaws 3D”. The budget of these paintings is the same - $ 25,000,000. The first film directed by John Stockwell is characterized in that the sharks are represented by quite adequate underwater inhabitants, they are not pumped up with all kinds of drugs and do not mutate after the experiments. What does not turn “The Caster” into a crazy trash, on the contrary, the film with Holly Berry is rather a drama with elements of a thriller. The title of the second film makes the viewer nostalgic for the beautiful in the horror genre. This is where the similarities with the 1979 cinema end, directed by David R. Ellis, who ate a dog in the near horror movies, and this time demonstrated his style: the plot is banal, the inconsistency of the characters' actions is amazing, the production itself is disgusting. The only advantage of the film “Jaws 3D” can be considered the presented species diversity of predators and their habitat - a salt lake.
Other shark movies
The list of the best pictures about underwater predators will be continued by the films Deep Blue Sea (1999), Open Sea: New Victims (2010), Red Water (2003), Open Sea (2003).
The plot of the film "Deep Blue Sea" from the director Rennie Harlin takes place mainly under water, in the special laboratory "Aquatica". Scientists are conducting experiments on the mako brain - a subspecies of large sharks. The experimental specimens become not only more intelligent, but also aggressive, manage to break free and dream of leaving the station. The idea underlying the script is exploited by many films about sharks (horror). Their list is endless.
The director and co-author of the script, Andrew Trauki, did not become wise in the project “The Open Sea: New Victims”. According to the story, the main characters - traditionally a group of young people - choose to relax, enjoy the sea, the island and the scenery of the seabed. Romance ends at the moment when the yacht turns over and a terrible bloody massacre begins. Despite the banality of the plot, the picture has a high rating and is included in the TOP list of films about killer sharks.
Non-kids movie
It is not surprising that all scary movies about sharks are rated MPAA. A list of them would be flawed without pictures: "A flock of sharks (2008)," Sharks "(1999)," Shark Hunter "(2001). An interesting project in this category is the film South Africa “12 days of fear” (2005) directed by Jack Sholder, based on real events. Throughout the history of shark watching, there have been cases when, for unknown reasons, crowds of predators went straight to the beach and tried to have a rest with a bite. Of the famous movie actors in the project, only John Rhys-Davis (Indiana Jones, The Lord of the Rings) appeared on the project.
Classics of the genre
In the entire history of the film industry, an infinite number of films about sharks have been shot. A list of films telling about the tricks of these underwater creatures deserves to lead the 1975 Jaws project. The producers David Brown and Richard D. Zanuk decided to entrust the then-young, but already famous director Steven Spielberg, with an impressive budget of $ 7,000,000 for that time and did not fail. The success of the movie exceeded even the most daring forecasts. Spielberg succeeded from ordinary reading by Peter Benchley created the most intense and frightening movie about sharks. The breathtaking atmosphere of the story, seasoned with unprecedented entertainment and unique special effects, has borne fruit. Spielberg inventively instilled a sense of anxiety and horror, using all sorts of tricks and means: from shock and shock (unexpected effects on the psyche of the beholder) to arousing the nervous situation of perception. This was facilitated by the musical accompaniment of John Williams, and purely authoring directorial finds that reinforced a depressing impression, and a professionally verified installation of Verna Fields. Then, in 1978, 1983 and 1987, three more episodes appeared about a terrible cannibal shark: “Jaws 2, 3, 4”, but they could not get closer to the level of the original film, which generated an archetypal, mythological fear in those who watched.
Low rated movies
Among the variety of paintings about sharks there are frankly second-rate films that instead of colossal profits brought huge losses or failed miserably at the box office, crushed by caustic remarks of critics. Among the not very successful paintings: “Super Shark” (2011), “Shark” (2010), “Jurassic Shark” (2003), “Sharks of Malibu” (2009), “Shark in Venice” (2008). Sometimes the cause of failure is the indefatigable imagination of the creators, which generates completely mythical creatures, as in the tape “Attack of a two-headed shark” (2012). There are paintings in which the authors pit two predators (sometimes mythical), for example, “Mega-shark against a giant octopus” (2009). There are films about sharks and crocodiles. The list of such fantastic movie searches is headed by Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus (2010).
The crisis of the genre
Recently a depressing trend is gaining momentum - films about sharks are no longer shooting. The reason for this is the relentless verdicts of environmentalists who accuse filmmakers of creating a bloodthirsty image of a shark hostile to humanity. The manic fear of these inhabitants of the depths caused a wave of killings of these creatures around the world. Films have become more popular, telling about the difficult fate of sharks and calling for an end to the bloody massacre. Now it’s fashionable to protect sharks. And cinema continues to develop, leaving a significant mark not only in the culture of mankind, but also in the perception of these predators, previously slandered by man. For the inhabitants of the Earth, a new milestone sets in - an era of overcoming fear and exploiting sharks.