9. Open Water
In 2003, the film Open Water, loosely based on the true story of a couple, Daniel and Susan, lost at sea after a scuba-diving trip, had viewers terrified of leaving dry land. The couple were left in the ocean by their diving boat after there was an error with the headcount and it headed back to shore. They werent discovered missing until the following day, at which point a search began. It was a psychological horror, with the majority of the film just the two principal cast members Daniel Travis and Blanchard Ryan, adrift in the ocean, cycling through an intense mixture of emotions while trying to survive until help arrives. Sharks begin to stalk them, in what essentially amounted to taunting, taking small bites out of them until eventually mauling Daniel during a storm. At this point, Susan had lost all hope and completely gave up. She removed her gear and sank below the surface to drown before the circling sharks had a chance to feast upon her flesh. Had the two of them been rescued, it would have completely negated the first 70 or so minutes of the movie, lessening the tremendous isolation of desperate hopelessness that the viewer felt along with the cast. One small complaint: A nice touch would have been to have a rescue plane go flying overhead mere seconds after Susan took her final plunge, illustrating just how frustratingly close they had come to salvation.