9 Shark Movies To Prepare Audiences For The Meg
5. Open Water
Open Water is an intimate and horrifying account of a couple stranded out at sea, desperately clinging to life as they are circled by sharks.
If the purpose of this shark-fueled subgenre is to capitalize on the real-life fear of shark attacks, then Open Water is one of the most successful films in the genre. By forcing the audience to feel the slow and ticking passage of time alongside the character, it makes it all feel real.
The film also dedicates an inordinate amount of effort to making the sharks feel real, which goes a long way. Rather than opting for mechanical or CGI sharks, the production used real sharks while shooting and it shows.
It's not all great, there are definitely moments of the couple bickering that do little favors for the film. But when it's firing on all cylinders, it leads to some harrowing moments of shark-related horror.
Seeing as The Meg does look to be attempting to capitalize on the horror aspects of its premise (at times), Open Water is a great example of how the film will handle its tension building and attempt to make its giant CGI shark a bit more real.