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.
As a bonafide horror supergeek, 2016 was a phenomenal year. Aside from a collection of great films, horror has dominated TV and pop culture as well, with hit shows like The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Scream Queens and Black Mirror. While horror fans are usually passionate about their genre, sometimes to a fault, a shocking thing happened this year. More than a few mainstream horror films received critical acclaim. Plus, between the countless streaming services out there, horror films are now more readily accessible than ever before. I was also privileged to attend two horror film festivals in New York, FEARnyc and the New York City Horror Film Festival, where I took in countless new independent feature-length and short horror films.
So, without further ado, I present my list of the Top 10 Horror Movies of 2016 (and some honorable mentions) below.
It’s that time once again folks, as we have officially come to the close of the summer movie season and get ready for Oscar season and the winter holiday films. I’ve been looking over my list of new movies I have seen this year — and yes this includes older movies as well, but also movies that I have seen for the first time – to pick my favorites so far. So the easiest step of my process for this post is to first go through and get rid of the older movies and then get into the nitty gritty of compiling my top ten movies of 2016…so far.
The Shallows Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
Written by Anthony Jaswinski
Starring Blake Lively
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Rated PG-13 | 86 Minutes
Release Date: June 24th, 2016
If you’ve seen the previews for The Shallows, then you know what the movie is about; a surfer is attacked by a Great White Shark at a “secret” beach in Mexico, and left stranded on a rocky reef a mere 200 yards from shore. The tide is coming and soon it’ll be her vs. the biggest apex predator on earth, on its home turf. “Shark movies” have become cliche in recent years thanks in part to two main sources; the popularity of Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, and the ridiculous success of SyFy’s shark movies: Mega-Shark vs. Giant Octopus, Sharktopus, the Sharknado series, etc. 41 years ago, Steven Spielberg created a monster with Jaws, the first summer blockbuster and my favorite movie of all time. Since then, moviemakers have been trying to recapture that lightning. Usually, the movies are comical in their attempts. Who doesn’t remember Samuel L. Jackson and LL Cool J battling makos in Deep Blue Sea. However, once in awhile they actually get it right.
A trailer has been released by Sony Pictures Entertainment for a shark survival thriller titled The Shallows.
The movie stars Blake Lively as a surfer who is attacked by a shark and stranded on a rock fairly close to shore but not close enough. You can watch the trailer and read more about the movie below.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press