10 Best Horror Movie Creature Feature Movies Since 2010

9. The Shallows

The Shallows
Columbia Pictures

The shark movie subgenre is a hugely popular beast all of its own, but those shark-based pictures also fall under the label of creature features, too. And when it comes to shark films, few can match the brilliance of The Shallows.

From Jaume Collet-Serra, that 2016 offering was a minimalistic masterpiece of a movie.

As Blake Lively's Nancy seeks solace following the passing of her mother, we find this character heading to a sleepy oceanside locale to embrace the surf. Only the only embrace she finds, is the warm embrace of a great white shark's teeth on her leg.

Quicker than you can say 'but wait, isn't Jaws the only great shark film?', Nancy ends up stranded on a small rock formation, eying her escape to the shore while her predator stalks the route back to safety and the tide continues to rise.

It's tense, it's beautifully shot, it's main beast is nicely delivered, and Lively is on fin-omenal (*groan*) form as she anchors a movie that spends so much of its 86-minute run time centred solely on her character being stuck so agonisingly close to safety.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.