Filmsane

You’ve probably seen the trailer for The Meg. Yup. Jason Statham is back with another action flick, and this one involves a giant ancient shark called The Meg.

The Meg is based on the 1997 science fiction book Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten and it also stars Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, and Cliff Curtis. Directed by Jon Turteltaub, The Meg will be released by Warner Bros. in Real D 3D and IMAX 3D on August 10, 2018, but of now you’re stuck with the first official trailer.

The movie sounds silly and possibly fun (for a Jason Statham movie) but as I was doing my little research… I reminded myself that most of the movies involving killer sharks are silly, scary and mindlessly fun. Well… Most of them… As in… Not all of them. There are the pretty fun ones like Deep Blue Sea, there are the scary ones like The Reef and there are the scary good ones like Jaws.

But while we wait for The Meg to hit the theaters, let’s take a brief look at some of the 5 awesome killer shark movies that are actually worth watching. If you haven’t watched them yet, that is…

Jaws (1975)

Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss…
Fun fact about the movie: Director Steven Spielberg named the shark “Bruce” after his lawyer.

Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Director: Renny Harlin
Stars: Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows, Samuel L. Jackson…
Fun fact about the movie: Samuel L. Jackson happily signed on for the film, as he had enjoyed his experience working with Renny Harlin on The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996).

Open Water (2003)

Director: Chris Kentis
Stars: Blanchard Ryan, Daniel Travis, Saul Stein…
Fun fact about the movie: This movie was financed by director Chris Kentis and his wife, producer Laura Lau, both avid scuba divers. The movie cost $130,000 to make and was later bought by Lion’s Gate for $2.5 million after its screening at Sundance.

The Shallows (2016)

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Stars: Blake Lively, Óscar Jaenada, Angelo Josue Lozano Corzo…
Fun fact about the movie: Blake Lively was pregnant with her second child during filming.

The Reef (2010)

Director: Andrew Traucki
Stars: Damian Walshe-Howling, Gyton Grantley…
Fun fact about the movie: The movie is based on the true story of Ray Boundy. In 1983, the fishing boat where he was traveling in, along with his friend Dennis “Smurf” Murphy, 24, and his girlfriend Linda Ann Horton, 21, the boat’s cook. The New Venture, capsized, sending the trio into the shark infested waters near Townsville, Australia. They had surfboards to stay afloat and swim to Lodestone Reef, where they hoped to be rescued. But before reaching their destination they realized they were being hunted by a 15 foot long Tiger shark. The shark attacked Murphy first, taking his leg, in an act of sheer courage and gut wrenching valor he swam while bleeding profusely from his wounds to lure the shark away from his friends, he succeeded, the shark went after him and killed him. Two hours later the killer shark came back and took Linda, who died while holding Boundy’s hand before being dragged underwater. Boundy was able to finally reach shore, but not before being stalked and attacked by the shark, although he was lucky that rescuers were able to save him just in time before becoming victim No.3 in this tragedy. He was the lone survivor.