Shark movies and summer go hand-in-hand. We’ve had a few this year already. Ouija Shark 2 and The Reef: Stalked are coming out soon and recently Shark Bait was a mediocre surprise. However, there have been some real — depending on your point-of-view — stinkers in the past. At least according to Letterboxd.
Letterboxd is a great tool if you’re planning on avoiding the heat and staying in for some oceanic predator thrillers. Of course, there’s the apex box-office masterpiece Jaws and the modern impressively shot The Shallows. But what about the cinematic flotsam and jetsom, the ones that are so ridiculous their publicity agents probably cringed at the thought of trying to market these Best Value copies?
We have taken the lowest-rated shark films on Letterboxd to compile this list. From that list, we filtered out 10 shark movies from lowest rated to highest.
The “Worst” Shark Movies Is a Matter of Opinion
We discovered that Asylum, a gloriously schlocky studio, isn’t the only company that’s afraid to take the great out of a Great White shark film. That’s not a criticism, it’s a celebration of B-grade CGI moviemaking and great green screen acting. The 10 movies below are ordered from worst to best. We’ve included the trailers just in case you need more convincing to invest your precious summertime viewing schedule into some hilariously diminishing returns.
10. Jurassic Shark
Not only is this a play on words, it’s also a play on the genre. Get ready as group of castaways are terrorized by a shark the size of a 747. Unlike a jumbo jet, this one doesn’t quite stick the landing.
When an oil company has unwittingly unleashed a prehistoric shark from its icy prison, the Jurassic killer maroons a group of art thieves and a group of beautiful young college students on an abandoned piece of land. The two opposing groups are forced to do what they can to survive or become food for the not-quite-extinct shark!
9. Shark Exorcist (2015)
Fifty years! Yes 50 years later and The Exorcist is still the scariest movie of all time. Sadly the scariest part of this worse shark movie is its tagline: “The only thing more terrifying than a shark in the sea, is a shark in a she!” You’re gonna need a bigger sense of humor.
A demonic nun summons Satan to a small fishing village, where he takes over the bodies of a great white shark and a young woman. A chain reaction of evil grips the tiny community as shredded bodies wash ashore. A Catholic priest arrives, and he must fight both teeth and temptation on land and sea in order to send these man-killers back to Hell before the tide comes in for good!
8. Psycho Shark (2009)
This movie has been dubbed “Jaws in Japan.” But we’ll let you be the judge on whether or not that’s a compliment or an insult. We think the trailer below will give you some push toward your opinion, maybe it’s just us, but it’s kind of intriguing.
Beautiful girls are in danger. At Sunny Beach, a huge shark is waiting for his prey. College students Miki and Mai arrive on a private beach on a tropical island. They can’t find the hotel where they booked their reservations, and have gotten hopelessly lost, until a handsome young man shows up, offering to take them to his lodge. But something is not right about the place. The owner’s fingernails are tainted with blood and Miki feels something sinister lurking nearby.
7. Avalanche Sharks (2013)
Whereas Shark Exorcist employs the Catholic Church as thier possession catalyst, here it’s a Native American curse. This one’s different though, the curse makes young women don bikinis in freezing weather, and salt water fish to swim in snow banks. I guess, snow is technically water?
It’s Spring Break at a U.S. ski field. The resorts visitors and staff are attacked by snow sharks who were summoned to the mountain by vengeful American Indian sharmans long ago. The staff and some spring breakers battle the cursed ice-sharks to survive in the snow and escape the mountain.
6. Planet of the Sharks (2016)
Waterworld meets Deep Blue Sea in this post-apocalyptic worst shark movie. Although Planet of the Apes had award-winning makeup effects by John Chambers, this movie keeps the creatures mute and in their natural form — if you count CGI as natural.
In the near future, glacial melting has covered ninety-eight percent of Earth’s landmass. Sharks have flourished, and now dominate the planet, operating as one massive school led by a mutated alpha shark.
5. Raiders of the Lost Shark (2014)
Are you noticing a pattern? No, not that there’s a pandemic of bad Jaws rip-offs, but there’s a pandemic of bad movie title parodies. It’s almost like writing titles for adult movies. That’s half right for this worst shark movie — this is softcore. Plenty of audition-grade acting and cheap SFX makes one wonder why this one ranked above Shark Exorcist.
Four friends set out by boat for a vacation on a private island. But unknown to them, a weaponized shark has escaped from a top-secret military lab, a shark genetically engineered with hate in its blood, and programmed to hunt any human within range. Now, these friends must band together to battle an all-new brand of predator who will stop at nothing to remain at the top of the food chain.
4. Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus (2010)
The filmmakers aren’t only taking artistic liberties with evolution but toying with genetics in this one. Given that a crocodiles are actually a real dinosaurs there was no need to change its name, that is unless you’re going to make it a kaiju. Which is exactly what the makers of this bonkers film did to make it interesting. Add a grown-up Jaleel White to the mix and you have a drinking game in which you take a shot and say “did I do that?” after every building collapse.
A megalodon battles with a crocosaurus causing massive destruction. The U.S. Army has to try and destroy the havoc creating monsters.
3. Amityville Island (2020)
Slasher meets possession meets a cult meets women in prison meets haunted house meets Jaws, let’s thrown in a creepy doll just for cliche’s sake. These worst shark movie titles are edging closer to being meta, this one gives a nod to both Jaws and The Amityville Horror.
A cursed survivor of killings at the Amityville house brings evil to a small island where bizarre genetic experiments are carried out on humans and animals in a secret women’s prison.
2. 2-Headed Shark Attack
Once the hair-flipping and beach towel poses are done, this one actually looks like a winner. With Carmen Electra and Brooke Hogan as headliners, it’s all downhill from here. Asylum put some thought into this one. It’s the very definition of a B-movie and the reason why we love them so much.
Survivors escape to a deserted atoll, after their boat during a Semester at Sea ship is sunk by a mutated two-headed shark. But when the atoll starts flooding, no one is safe from the double jaws of the monster.
1. Frenzy aka Surrounded (2018)
The money is in the cinematography in this The Shallows clone. This movie looks a little better than the rest on this list. Maybe that’s because the two leads Aubrey Reynolds and Gina Vitori aren’t the typical busty beach babe trope so often exploited in B-movies.
A group of friends run a popular travel vlog that helps fund their adventures. Paige (Gina Vitori), the leader of the group, includes her younger sister, Lindsey (Aubrey Reynolds), for the next scuba diving trip to an isolated cove. But when their plane crashes, the two sisters must use their strength, resourcefulness and immense courage to survive a pack of great white sharks.
Well that’s it. These are the worst rated shark movies on Letterboxd. Some are good some are bad, but all are fun. If you give one or all a watch let us know your thoughts. And as always, if we missed something let us know.
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