5 Shark Movies To Watch After Netflix's Under Paris
In the new Netflix shark movie "Under Paris" — which really should have been called "Shark de Triomphe" — an enormous shortfin mako shark named Lilith starts terrorizing the French capital after marine biologist Sophia Assalas (Bérénice Bejo) discovers and tags her in the Pacific Ocean. Before long, Lilith starts wreaking absolute havoc on Paris by lurking in the Seine, the river that bisects the City of Lights into northern and southern sections (known as the "right bank" on the north and the "left bank" on the right). Obviously, Lilith's presence in Paris causes some ... pretty large issues, especially because she's been giving birth to increasingly deformed and dangerous sharks that can swim freely in fresh water.
A French film obtained by the streamer, "Under Paris" has proven pretty popular on Netflix — despite the fact that, slight spoiler alert, it has a pretty bleak ending — so if you just checked out this foreign action flick, what other shark movies should you add to your list? From the movie that came to define the genre to some pretty silly, over-the-top movies about these apex predators, here are a couple shark movies to add to your watchlist after you finish "Under Paris."
Jaws
"Jaws" barely needs an introduction when it comes to shark movies, but let's just say it's the reason that movies like "Under Paris" even exist in the first place. Steven Spielberg's classic 1975 summer blockbuster opens with one of the most well-known and iconic scenes in cinematic history — a woman enjoys a late-night swim in a placid, peaceful ocean before John Williams' score kicks in and she's attacked by a shark, quickly pulled underneath the water and killed by what we later learn is a great white shark. At that point, the newly installed police chief of the beachside town Amity Island, Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) decides to close down the beaches, but is met with resistance; unfortunately, he was right, and more people are ultimately killed as the shark keeps attacking. Alongside oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and a shark hunter who goes by Quint (Robert Shaw), Brody sets out on a boat to try and take down the shark himself and keep Amity Island safe.
Between the score, the central performances by the shark-hunting trio, and Spielberg's brilliant direction, there's a reason "Jaws" is the shark movie you must watch if you've neer seen it before (or, to be fair, even if you've already seen it a million times). Frankly, the film is so good that you probably won't even notice that the shark itself, whom Spielberg dubbed "Bruce," is completely animatronic (and an unreliable animatronic at that).
The Meg
"Jaws" might be the reigning king of shark movies, but "The Meg" is certainly one of the silliest and most tongue-in-cheek entries into the genre. Released in 2018 and helmed by director Jon Turteltaub ("National Treasure" and its sequel, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"), "The Meg" begins its story with deep-sea diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) attempting an extremely dangerous rescue mission to help save a group trapped in a submarine that's being attacked by a strong, unknown force. When Jonas is forced to abandon the mission, nobody believes his story about the massive creature, only for the creature to surface five years later and attack Jack Morris (Rainn Wilson), a billionaire exploring the deepest parts of the Mariana Trench with oceanographer Dr. Suyin Zhang (Li Bingbing). At that point, Jonas sets out on another rescue mission, where everyone involved realizes the shark is a "meg," meaning it's a 75-foot megalodon.
The movie is about as over-the-top and patently ridiculous as you're probably hoping knowing that Statham — king of the heightened action movie — is involved, and it ultimately spawned a sequel in 2023 with "Meg 2: The Trench." Giant sharks and Statham are, clearly, a great combination ... so if you're looking for a ridiculous romp, "The Meg" or its sequel is a great bet.
The Shallows
"The Shallows," a 2016 film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra ("Orphan," "Non-Stop") and written by Anthony Jaswinski, proves that in order to tell a thrilling, gripping story about survival, you only really need one lead actor ... and a terrifying shark. The movie focuses entirely on Blake Lively's Nancy Adams, a medical student grieving the sudden death of her mother who decides to take a trip to a remote Mexican beach her mom once loved. After hours of surfing, Nancy goes out to catch a few more waves when she spots what turns out to be the body of a humpback whale when she's brutally attacked by a great white shark, which injures her leg and forced her to seek refuge on an isolated rock in the middle of the ocean. Though a few people spot her, they're killed by the shark when they try to rescue her — so Nancy is stuck alone to tend to her injuries (getting creative with jewelry and her surfboard's "leash") aside from a seagull also hurt by the shark, whom she named Steven Seagull.
Ultimately, Nancy figures out a clever escape plan involving a nearby buoy, a flare gun, and a gambit where she essentially tricks the shark into impaling itself on a piece of rebar; not just that, but thanks to her surfboard, even Steven Seagull makes it out of "The Shallows" safely. This is one of the most intense films on Lively's resumé, but it's worth a watch — particularly because it proves the actress can handily carry a film on her own.
The Reef
The 2010 Australian action thriller "The Reef" is pretty similar to the other entries on this list, except for one pretty fascinating fact: it's based on the true story of Ray Boundy, a skipper on a shrimp boat in the Coral Sea who watched as his fellow crew members were killed by a shark (in fact, one of them was holding Boundy's hand at the time of her death). In the fictionalized version, Zoe Naylor's Kate is the sole survivor of the shark attack — but before that, she joins a small crew sailing a yacht to buyers in Indonesia from Australia. On the way there, the route includes a coral reef, which damages the yacht, at which point the defacto captain Luke (Damian Walshe-Howling) suggests everyone swim to a nearby island. This turns out to be a pretty terrible idea.
One sailor, Warren (Kieran Darcy-Smith) refuses to join them, so he stays on the damaged yacht, but Luke, Kate, and the rest of the gang try and make it to Turtle Island ... at which point they're tracked and attacked by a great white shark. From that point on, it's a race to survive as multiple crew members are killed, though Kate eventually survives by clambering into a rock and waiting until another boat can come and rescue her. An epilogue reveals that Warren and the yacht are never found again. If you really love "The Reef," director Andrew Traucki released a "spiritual sequel" in 2022 called "The Reef: Stalked," which is ... honestly pretty similar to the original.
Sharknado
What list of shark movies would be complete without the camp classic "Sharknado?" Released in 2013 and made for the SyFy channel, Anthony C. Ferrante's film boldly asks the question, "What if a shark and tornado somehow combined?" With Tara Reid, Ian Ziering, and John Heard as the three main stars, "Sharknado" is patently absurd ... and that's what makes it so great.
When a shark tornado (no, seriously) ends up making landfall in Los Angeles, former surfer and current bar proprietor Fin Shepard (Ziering) tries to escape with his ex-wife April (Reid), their teenage daughter Claudia (Aubrey Peeples), despite the fact that massive flooding is making their mission difficult (well, the massive flooding plus the constant shark attacks that come with the massive flooding). Everyone knows "Sharknado" is full of deliciously silly action setpieces, like people tossing bombs into the mouths of flying sharks or the moment when Fin jumps into a shark's gaping maw with a chainsaw and kills it. Based on its overwhelming popularity, an unlikely franchise was born from the first "Sharknado" movie, and five sequels have been released since 2013 (titled "Sharknado 2: The Second One," "Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!," "Sharknado: The 4th Awakens," "Sharknado 5: Global Swarming," and "The Last Sharknado: It's About Time") alongside a few spin-offs. "Sharknado" is a completely ridiculous concept, but somehow, it just works.