JAWS is my favorite movie of all time and has instilled in me a lifelong affinity for sharks. It also spawned an entire sub genre of “shark movies.” Hollywood and both big- and small-budget filmmakers have been trying to replicate the success of Steven Spielberg’s classic ever since its debut in 1975. This summer is giving shark fans, and especially shark movie fans, a real treat. In late July, the Discovery Channel raked in the ratings with their annual Shark Week. This past Friday, giant shark movie, The Meg, opened in theaters everywhere, and later this month the Sharknado franchise comes to a close with The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time.

Since we’re talking about some upcoming shark movies, let’s take a look at some of the best shark films of all time, and of course I’m not counting JAWS because Spielberg’s classic is untouchable. I will also leave out the underrated JAWS 2 because of the familiar feel to its original. Without further ado, here are the Top 5 Shark Movies That Are NOT JAWS.

The Meg
Directed by Jon Turteltaub
Screenplay by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber
Starring Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, Cliff Curtis, Shuya Sophia Kai
Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date: August 10, 2018

The Meg was fine. It’s not awful in anyway. But it’s also not spectacular in any way. That is the real issue with the latest summer blockbuster shark movie. Any shark movie is going to inevitably compared to Jaws and that is not fair. Jaws was perfect, a classic of unparalleled status. Most of the immediate post-Jaws shark movies were rip-offs. Some have towed the line and were homages. Since Shark Week and the advent of cable TV, specifically the SYFY channel, shark movies essentially take two forms: thrillers that aim to provoke reactions of fear a la The Shallows (2016) and The Reef (2010), and the much more common go for absurdity and silliness like Deep Blue Sea (1999) or the any of the thousands of “shark movies” on cable such as the Sharknado franchise and Sharktopus. The Meg falls in the one place you don’t want to be… the middle.

47 Meters Down
Director: Johannes Roberts
Screenwriter: Johannes Roberts, Ernest Riera
Cast: Mandy Moore, Claire Holt, Matthew Modine, Chris J. Johnson, Yani Gellman, Santiago Segura
Distributor: Entertainment Studios
Rated PG-13 | 85 Minutes
Release Date: June 16, 2017

The late Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert once said, “No good movie is too long, just as no bad movie is short enough.” By that measure, 47 Meters Down was the longest 85 minutes of my life. It’s precious time that I’ll never get back. It’s time I would have gladly spent stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic or at the dentist’s office getting holes drilled into every tooth in my head.

Co-written and directed by Johannes Roberts (Storage 24, The Other Side of the Door), 47 Meters Down is a horror-thriller starring Mandy Moore (This Is Us) and Claire Holt (The Vampire Diaries) as sisters who go looking for adventure and find it in a shark-diving excursion that goes horribly wrong.

Hello Geeks and Ghouls, Famous Monster here. Well, it’s finally October and you know what that means? Breast Cancer Awareness 5Ks? Good guess. Pumpkin Spice Lattes? Delicious, but no. Halloween? YES. Horror movies? DOUBLE YES!

Welcome to 31 Days of Horror, where I’ll cover at least two noteworthy horror films a day for the entirety of the month. That’s 31 Days of Horror and 62+ scary movies perfect for a cold, dark October night. Be sure to visit Geeks of Doom every day this month for a double-shot of chills and thrills!

Today’s double-shot of creature features will turn even the most experienced sailor into a bellyachin’ landlubber. I present to you Jack Arnold‘s 1954 classic, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Steven Spielberg‘s 1975 blockbuster, Jaws.