Summary

Throughout the years , the intimidating wideness of the ocean has becharm film maker and audiences alike . Its mystery and the creatures it holds ( both fictional and real ) help it attend to as one of the most terrifying and cliff-hanging setting for some ofthe best thriller moviesever released .

These ever - present bodies of water assist audience explore from thebest action moviesto the worst claustrophobic nightmares . Shark attack , commandeer , or even psychologically - filled encountersall happen within the best thrillers that take place on the ocean .

The 2010s was an splendid fourth dimension for psychological thriller , and many unbelievable release have fall under the radar and deserve more attention .

Collage of Hunter staring at pills in two different scenes in Swallow

10Dead Calm (1989)

Sinking In Suspense

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Cast

all in Calm is a thriller directed by Phillip Noyce , starring Nicole Kidman , Sam Neill , and Billy Zane . The film follows a couple on a racing yacht trip who meet a stranger and becomes embroiled in a tense struggle for natural selection on the open ocean . As the suspense intensifies , they must pilot psychological and physical challenge to protect themselves .

After the tragic passing of their son , John and Rae Ingram decide to spend some time alone at ocean . It is important to note the morphing function the sea plays . It changes from being a therapeutic experience to becoming a terror when the theatrical role become stranded . The vulnerability the sea pulls out from them is really amusing to see , and strange things chance when they save a unknown on a sink schooner , making it even better .

Nicole Kidman took sailing lessons before the filming ofDead Calm . She actually piloted the racing yacht during the net violent storm scenes .

A collage of characters from the best suspense movies on Netflix

This isolated ship film work perfectly as it ’s a three - person - redact film . Nicole Kidman , Sam Neil , and Billy Zane ’s acting is singular inDead Calm . The two boats depicted do make the film , as well as its very original setting . encounter the ocean ’s roar pass the schooneralmost completely by the close has to go down as one of the just scenery in the musical style .

9Sea Fever (2019)

Parasites At Sea

Sea Fever , directed by Neasa Hardiman , is a sci - fi thriller set aboard an Irish sportfishing trawler where a marine biology scholarly person , played by Hermione Corfield , encounters a mystical parasitic transmission . The crew ’s struggle for survival tests their resilience and underscores the stress between scientific inquiry and instinctive fear .

Despite its pocket-size budget , Sea Fevernarrates the events of fishers marooned in the ocean . The problem?They have a parasite grow in their last mo of drink in water supply . It is way beyond just another canonic , horrific motion-picture show .

The background for this film is extremely measured . Water itself ends up playing a magnitude of important function . From the sizeableness shown by the ship hem in by miles of ocean water supply to the little ocular constituent showing how the contaminated water is infecting all the crew . The direct contrast generated between the fishers quarantining but also being trapped under the Irish ocean adds another layer of claustrophobia . Sea Fevercreates an unsettling atmosphere while also show the power and menace that water has .

Ansel Elgort as Jake Adelstein from Tokyo Vice and Joel Edgerton as Jason Dessen from Dark Matter.

8Sphere (1998)

A Well-Rounded Adventure

A spacecraft is discovered on the floor of the Pacific Ocean , take for granted to be at least 300 years sometime and of alien root . A crevice team of scientist and experts is put together and necessitate to the Habitat , a state of matter - of - the - nontextual matter subaqueous living environment , to investigate .

Based on Michael Crichton ’s book , Sphereexplores a very defined circle of character uncovering a more than 300 - class - desolate ship . Often overseen equate to some ofSamuel L. Jackson ’s beneficial picture show , Spheredoes manage to fall a light on his reference Dr. Harry Adams and his more cautious counterpart , Dr. Norman Goodman .

While the majority of photographic film like to depict the sea as this marvellous force , Sphereuses it as a internal representation of the unknown . This is one of the rarefied instances where we can see that the characters ' descent into the sea mirror their bloodline into the unknown . At the same time , it also symbolise the psychological challenges they lead off to fount . Scenes like them being underwater and talking to Jerry , an " foreign " , leave looker feel claustrophobic and endangered like the reference themselves .

Imagery from Dead Calm and The Poseidon Adventure

Custom Image by Yailin Chacon

7Below (2002)

Trapped Together

document the fictitious incident of a crew in the Atlantic Ocean in 1943,Belowshows the mysterious happenings in a confined space . While the picture does contain start scene , its rightful threat lies in the way the producer smartly combined two genre . This atmospheric ghost thriller mixes the concept of an underwater US Army torpedo determine with a mess of historical context and an underlying ghost history .

InBelow , it appears as if the USS Tiger Shark move through the typical submarine movie problems . However , the filming used to reflect on the movie is what makes it special . The twists of the picture mixed with the mold never ending paranoiamake it remarkable even to this daytime .

6Captain Phillips (2013)

Based On A Real Nightmare

star Tom Hanks , Captain Phillips tells the story of the titulary master whose load ship was commandeer by Somali sea robber in 2009 . A fictionalise version of veridical - life sentence event , the film follows Captain Phillips and his gang as they fight for their lives against a group of Somali pirates led by Abduwali Muse . Besides Hanks , Barkhad Abdi and Catherine Keener also asterisk .

Grossing more than$200 million against a budget of $ 55 million , Captain Phillipsis one of the good movies set in the ocean . While it may not be one ofTom Hanks ' most underrated movies , it still does not get the realization it deserve . Captain Phillips , yet again , try director Greengrass ’s thrillers are like no other .

Based on a true taradiddle circumvent the events of the 2009 MV Maersk ’s hijacking , Captain Phillipsmakes viewers experience the despair and desperation of being trapped in the middle of the oceanwith no hope of saving . The Somalian crew , while not being widely recognized actors , stole the show . They made the pic so immersive that it was well-heeled for viewer to forget it was just a motion-picture show .

Dead Calm (1989) - Poster

Dead Calm is a thriller directed by Phillip Noyce, starring Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill, and Billy Zane. The film follows a couple on a yacht trip who encounter a stranger and becomes embroiled in a tense struggle for survival on the open sea. As the suspense intensifies, they must navigate psychological and physical challenges to protect themselves.

5Triangle (2009)

Lost In A Sea Of Repetition

This psychological thriller follows a group of friends stranded on a yacht in the Bermuda Triangle , where they board a return ship only to have terrifying worldly distortions and duplications of themselves .

fill with fantasy , selection , and sci - fi moments , Triangleis an sea - base celluloid where a group of protagonist terminate up on a racing yacht in the centre of the ever - scary western part of the North Atlantic Ocean . While the Bermuda Triangle itself is surrounded by urban legends and just an overall mystic aura , the movie does take this to its reward . What seems at first like a typical slasher , bloom into a thinker - bending mystery . Triangleis simply a rewarding experience .

Towards the end , it is unmistakable that the ocean played a bighearted role than just being intimidating like in other movies . It acts as a accelerator for the time loop and the strange events the characters go through . The sea itself is what adds suspense in the film , both as an atmospheric element but also as a plot machine .

Headshot Of Nicole Kidman In The Los Angeles Premiere Of Netflix’s ‘A Family Affair’

4The Old Man And The Sea (1958)

Just A Fisherman In The Ocean

Often forgotten by most , The Old Man and the Seais a movie whose focal full point is just that : an old Cuban strayed for days , alone , on a boat . While at first , the premise ca n’t sound like much , the want of other localisation aid the interview concentrate more on the particular and symbolization behind it .

In the originalThe Old Man and the Seabook , the ocean is supposed to be sprightliness and the individual ’s role in it , and directors John Struges and Fred Zinnemann delivered precisely that . While not as thriller - y as other ocean - based features , The Old Man and the Seais not brusk of impactful moment . The wide injection of the never - ending sea , the rapid growth into Santiago ’s promising face , and the panned - out views of the piece alone on his sauceboat , allow the audience experience the vastness and isolation . However , moments like Santiago adjudicate to catch the giant marlin make all the experience worth it .

3The Abyss (1989)

Alien Encounter In The Deep

The Abyss is James Cameron ’s fourth feature picture show and his second water - themed flick . star Ed Harris , Michael Biehn , and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio , the 1989 drama that revolves around a team of oil proletarian and Navy SEALs who face up a mysterious exotic subspecies at the bottom of the ocean .

Winning the 1990 Oscar for Best Visual Effects , The Abyssis a flick that features one of thebest exceptional effects in a James Cameron moving picture . Unlike many other ocean adventure thrillers , it has a sci - if factor append and this can be remarked by how they cleverly played along with the conception of water itself .

In its first clips , the water is illustrate as something eerie , yet beautiful . This is a more character - driven film , and it can be observed that the deeper they got , so did the ocean ’s appearance . The scenes with water - manipulating foreigner are what in the end takes the patty . The look-alike of the seawater tentacle convert into a fount are timeless . Scenes like when the humans are reasoning with an alien under the water are still thought about even 35 years afterwards .

Headshot Of Sam Neill

The thriller musical genre improves with each passing twelvemonth , and throughout 2024 , several highly awaited thriller TV shows are scheduled for release .

2The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

Fly, You Fools!

The Poseidon Adventure is a disaster film directed by Ronald Neame . It stick with a chemical group of passengers as they struggle for endurance after their lavishness sail ship capsizes in the open ocean . Starring Gene Hackman , Ernest Borgnine , and Shelley Winters , the moving picture showcases their heroic journeying to condom amidst perilous conditions . The Poseidon Adventure is based on Paul Gallico ’s novel and emphasizes themes of bravery and human resilience .

The Poseidon Adventuretells the story of a sail ship that gets knocked over in the ocean . The movie ’s approach is more catastrophe - adventure . The ocean here is not find out as boundless or even cryptical like in other plastic film , but as a wild , roily force in the build of a tsunami . Being free in 1972 , they did not count on a lot of the visual effects or the practical imagination that ’s useable today , so the fact that they could record that enormous wall of weewee so naturally gain it all the more astounding .

The Poseidon Adventurewas shot consecutive , enamour the actors ' increase hurt authentically .

Headshot Of Billy Zane In The premiere of ‘Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1’

The moving-picture show open up with a tidal wave claim C of the passengers ' sprightliness , prove just how merciless it is . The few remain people are essay to hold out on the scraps of what the ship once was , is depressing . The attention to detail in scenes like the mammoth wave being attend through binoculars , the once - lively corridors oversupply , and the ballroom getting flooded with water show how even the grandest of ships can be reduced to a simple shell of its former self in second gear .

1Jaws (1975)

Fear The Deep

Steven Spielberg ’s legendary tale of one humankind ’s desperate conflict with a killer Great White shark on his small seaboard community . Faced with a mounting leaning of victim and a local authority absolutely - set against causing affright or destroying the holidaymaker economy , he meet a team to undertake the shark head - on .

Despite being released almost 50 years ago , Jawsstill holds up to this day as one of Steven Spielberg ’s best movies with themost iconic moments . Even with its see technology , the image captured of the endless , restrain ocean that take for these ferocious creatures still roam through people ’s judgement , even after so long . Its tension - load down scenes , like when Brody is feeding the fish and a monolithic shark ’s head suddenly appear beside him , became diachronic in the genre .

The 1979 TV broadcast ofJawsincluded prolonged scenes , such as a shark - hunting fury and additional dialogue that most the great unwashed do n’t know about .

Cast Placeholder Image

Being the first pic ever to gross more than one hundred million dollars , Jaws showed the general consultation how terrorise the ocean as the setting can be . While the first one-half of the movie takes place on soil , focusing more on fearmongering , the second one-half is an dangerous undertaking in the deepness of the ocean . Opening with scenes like Chrissie getting eat up , this movie is only hypnotic , yet suspenseful from the start .

Sea Fever (2020)

Sea Fever, directed by Neasa Hardiman, is a sci-fi thriller set aboard an Irish fishing trawler where a marine biology student, played by Hermione Corfield, encounters a mysterious parasitic infection. The crew’s struggle for survival tests their resilience and underscores the tension between scientific inquiry and instinctive fear.

Headshot Of Dougray Scott In The 2019 CW Upfront

Sphere

A spacecraft is discovered on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, presumed to be at least 300 years old and of alien origin. A crack team of scientists and experts is assembled and taken to the Habitat, a state-of-the-art underwater living environment, to investigate.

Headshot Of Dustin Hoffman In The Los Angeles Premiere Of ‘Kung Fu Panda 4’

Headshot Of Sharon Stone

Below Title card 2002

Article image

Starring Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips tells the story of the titular captain whose cargo ship was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009. A fictionalized version of real-life events, the film follows Captain Phillips and his crew as they fight for their lives against a group of Somali pirates led by Abduwali Muse. Besides Hanks, Barkhad Abdi and Catherine Keener also star.

Headshot Of Tom Hanks In The Los Angeles World Premiere Of Apple TV+ Series ‘Masters Of The Air’

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This psychological thriller follows a group of friends stranded on a yacht in the Bermuda Triangle, where they board a passing ship only to experience terrifying temporal distortions and duplications of themselves.

Headshot Of Melissa George In The DUNE Paris Premiere

Headshot Of Michael Dorman

A man fishing in The Old Man and the Sea (1958)

Article image

The Abyss is James Cameron’s fourth feature film and his second water-themed movie. Starring Ed Harris, Michael Biehn, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, the 1989 drama that revolves around a team of oil workers and Navy SEALs who face a mysterious alien race at the bottom of the ocean.

Headshot Of Michael Biehn In The Spike TV’s Scream Awards 2006

The Poseidon Adventure - Poster

The Poseidon Adventure is a disaster film directed by Ronald Neame. It follows a group of passengers as they struggle for survival after their luxury cruise ship capsizes in the open sea. Starring Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, and Shelley Winters, the film showcases their desperate journey to safety amidst perilous conditions. The Poseidon Adventure is based on Paul Gallico’s novel and emphasizes themes of bravery and human resilience.

HeaDSHOT oF Gene Hackman

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Steven Spielberg’s legendary tale of one man’s desperate battle with a killer Great White shark on his small seaside community. Faced with a mounting list of victims and a local authority dead-set against causing panic or destroying the tourist economy, he assembles a team to tackle the shark head-on.