A little dated top 7.

The news story that this is based upon is actually a little old, i wrote this list a week ago and i have only just got round to putting it online, but read about it, its real. Anyway here is the first of hopefully many movie lists.

This week it was revealed by a new census that around 235 species of the same tiny marine creatures exist at the bottom of both the North and South poles despite being over 12,000Km apart. So FYI, you only have to bother visiting the bottom of one icy ocean, don’t do both; apparently they’re pretty much the same.

This naturally raised questions about underwater beasts. Naturally. So here is a brief rundown of 7 underwater movie scenes involving the worst the deep has to offer.


1.
The Film: Jaws (1975)

The Creature:Decomposing body.

The scene: Your reading a feature about underwater horrors and you didn't expect this one to show up? Albeit maybe not the creature you were expecting, Spielberg's Jaws set the bar for underwater scares.

This scene in particular, whilst marine biologist Matt Hooper (Dreyfuss) is snooping about the depths, who should pop out of the sunken vessel but a dead guy with a worm in his eye. That’s right a worm is in his eyeball, and we thought the shark was bad enough.

Guaranteed to make the audience jump every time, and probably resulting in Hooper needing to change his scuba suit.

2.
The Film: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. (1999)

The Creature: More like creatures, the underwater giants of Naboo.

The Scene: After Qui-Gon rescues the floppy-eared Gungan simpleton (sigh) Jar Jar Binks, the couple joined by Obi-Wan leave the giant frogs rather damp hometown and head towards Theed, Naboo's capital to rescue Queen Amidala and basically waste time until Vader pops up.

On the way however a giant fish, an Opee Sea Killer to be precise, pursues them only to be rescued by an even bigger underwater heavyweight a Sando Aqua Monster. As Qui-Gon says "There's always a bigger fish", whereas in reality we say, "There's definitely better movies".

3.
The Film: Deep Blue Sea (1999)

The Creature: Maco Shark

The Scene: "Now we've seen how bad thing's can get, and how quick they can get that way, well they can get a whole lot worse. But we're not going to fight anymore! We're going to pull together and we're going to find away to get out of here!" "Yeah!" thinks the crew and audience "Yeah, I think we're going to survive this invasion of super intelligent hybrid sharks, yeah!"

Oh . . . no wait, Samuel L Jackson's just been nailed by a giant shark whilst on land. Gutted.

Out of water, yes, but technically they’re at the bottom of the ocean on a huge underwater lab so it still counts. Sharks so bad they can get you even when you’re out of the water, Jaws eat your heart out.

4.


The Film: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. (2004)

The Creature: The Jaguar Shark

The Scene: After searching the sea's, fighting pirates, and loosing a possible son in a helicopter crash, a tiny blip on the radar shows what could finally be the film's maguffin, the mythical Jaguar Shark.

After delving to the depth's Steve (Murray) and co find what they were searching for at last. The beautifully animated colossal Shark, golden complete with black Jaguar spots.

As emotion outweighs resentment, Zissou is moved to tears by his encounter with the beast from the deep and decides not to kill it. He was out of dynamite anyway.

5.
The Film: Alien Resurrection (1997)

The Creature: Xenomorph (Alien)

The Scene: In space no one can hear you scream, this we know, but under water no one can hear you do a sort of water-muffled bubble scream. . . that list of non-scream-able places keeps growing. Yes, just when you had overcame your fear of sharks and thought it was safe to return to the water, now you have Aliens to worry about, well if Alien Resurrection has anything to say about it anyway.

As our cast lead by the new and improved Ripley make their way to safety they encounter a flooded area of the Auriga (the alien infested ship) and must cross to safety. Little do they know that the Xenomorph is a pretty nifty swimmer.

One very tense scene later, with the crew displaying some pretty impressive breath holding abilities, they submerge on the other side. Minus one member but plus one more reason to fear the Alien.


6.
The Film: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

The Creature: The Kraken

The Scene: Well there are a few scenes actually, but the most notable one is probably the scene at the climax of Dead Mans Chest where the Kraken tears apart the Black Pearl along with Captain Jack.

So big you never really see it fully, apart from a brief glimpse of it beached and dead in Pirates 3, this colossal squid complete with huge tentacles, slimy tooth ridden mouth and flesh tearing suction-cups strikes fear into the heats of all bad ass pirates.

Plus its Davey Jones’ pet, they must have been all out of gerbils when he popped into the pet store during his last outing on land.


7.
The Film: Finding Nemo (2003)

The Creature: Anglerfish.

The Scene: Whilst in pursuit of a crucial clue to whereabouts of his son, Marlin and Dory find themselves at the murky bottom of the ocean only to be greeted by a very tooth-ey torch headed Angler Fish. Queue a Tom and Jerry style chase.

We’ve had aliens, hybrids and mythical sea creatures but perhaps what’s most frightening about this entry is the fact that it actually exists down there in the dark.

Imagine seeing that in your paddling pool. You’d shit yourself.