This weekend sees the release of Underwater, a new sci-fi horror flick from director William Eubank that takes us to the deepest part of the ocean, where a group of scientists have to survive after an earthquake decimates their submersible laboratory. Spoiler: there are devious creatures afoot, but the real danger is the liquid atmosphere surrounding them. Even though most of the Earth is covered in water, and that percentage is likely to increase, humanity just isn’t cut out to survive in it. Filmmakers have tapped into the horror of water before, so here’s our rundown on flicks where the wet stuff is the ultimate villain.
Adrift
Based on a true story, 2018’s Adrift stars Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin as a couple hired to sail a rich couple’s yacht from Tahiti to San Diego. On the way, a massive hurricane tears through their path, capsizing the boat in one of the most terrifying shipwreck scenes ever captured on film. Only Woodley’s character survives, and she has to keep the boat afloat until a passing ship can rescue her. Unlike many other lost at sea flicks, Adrift doesn’t ramp up the drama with sharks or other predators – it knows that the implacable, pummeling ocean is more than enough.
The Wave
The fjords of Norway don’t just have a fun name to say, they’re also important for keeping huge amounts of water away from civilization. This 2015 Norwegian disaster film postulates a scenario that many geologists say is quite likely: that an avalanche in the mountains could destabilize the whole system and send tidal waves up to 250 feet high smashing through houses. That’s exactly what happens in The Wave, with a geologist and his family struggling to stay together as the picturesque town of Geiranger is completely submerged under clear, cold water.
Dark Water
In one of the best Japanese horror movies ever, a single mother moves into a decrepit apartment with her daughter, only to find that the building’s plumbing has… some problems. A child had drowned years ago in the water tank on the roof, and the lonely kid’s malevolent spirit manifests itself first in a leak in the ceiling, then water pouring out of every faucet in the place until it floods. Things escalate more and more, with the spirit attempting to drown the woman’s living kid, until an entire elevator filled with haunted water closes things off in a grim but compassionate manner.
The Abyss
James Cameron’s 1989 sci-fi horror flick takes the idea of malevolent water completely literally. When a search and recovery crew goes after a lost submarine in the Caribbean, they encounter an unexplained intelligence that has the ability to animate liquids, forming tentacles that wreak all sorts of havoc on the crew as they are marooned at the edge of a massive trench. As paranoia grows and secret agendas come to light, the water surrounding the fragile human lives becomes their greatest threat. Thankfully, the alien intelligence turns out to be less aggressive than originally thought and we get a happy ending after all is said and done.
The Perfect Storm
Wolfgang Petersen’s hit 2000 movie boasted some of the best and most terrifying effects ever lensed, mixing cutting-edge CGI with practical tricks and amazing performances to really sell the story of a fishing vessel trying to make it back to port in Gloucester during a massive three-directional storm front convergence that whips the ocean’s surface up into nearly vertical walls of water. After they lose their antenna, it seems like all hope is lost. And then a rogue wave larger than anything the boat has contended with yet rolls in, and things get really bad.
The H-Man
When the vessel Ryujin Maru II vanishes at sea in this 1958 Japanese sci-fi oddity, it’s found a week later with the entire crew simply gone, their clothes left in messy piles like they simply melted away. Surprise! A mysterious liquid that looks like blue water is hunting the rescuers. Cut to the mainland, where we learn that the Ryujin Maru II was exposed to nuclear radiation that dissolves organic cells into living, carnivorous water. A cell of the creatures has set up in the sewers, and only a young woman mixed up with drug dealers knows the truth.
Noah
Darren Aronofsky’s big-budget Biblical adaptation doesn’t get to the big flood until more than halfway through the movie, but its threat looms over the title character’s whole life. Noah is haunted by visions of a tremendous wave swallowing the land, and as an adult begins his quest to construct a vessel that will keep Earth’s animals alive after an angry God unleashes the flood. Noah contends with other foes during the flick, most notably Tubal-cain and his followers, but it’s the isolation created by drifting on the Ark surrounded by water, waiting for God to pull the plug and make the world habitable again that really keeps things moving.
Pressure
This 2015 British disaster film has a scenario that straight up gives us nightmares. When a group of employees from fictional oil company Vaxxilon get sent down to fix a pipe at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, their diving bell loses contact with their mother ship during a storm. Things get worse when one of the divers discovers the wreck of that ship next to them on the ocean floor, meaning they’re stranded 670 feet below the surface with oxygen rapidly running out. The sheer claustrophobia of being surrounded by impassable water in every direction as your time slowly slips away makes this one a tense and uncomfortable movie, despite its lack of interesting or relatable characters.
The Poseidon Adventure
The 1970s were the golden age of disaster films, with directors having access to never-before-seen budgets to tell stories of various acts of God killing large groups of humans. 1972’s The Poseidon Adventure sees the titular ship on its final cruise from New York to Athens before retirement. Unfortunately, as any movie cop can tell you, your last day on the job is always your worst. When a huge wave hits broadside the ship, it capsizes and begins to sink. A ragtag group of survivors have to navigate the tilting, collapsing boat to find safe passage out to rescue.
The Impossible
This compelling Spanish film is based on a true story of survival during the 2004 tsunami that devastated Thailand. In The Impossible, the Bennett family – Maria, Henry, and their three sons – are vacationing in the country when the massive wave crashes into Khao Lak. Separated, they cling to survival in a foreign country, stripped of all of their advantages and trying to come back together. The tsunami isn’t a perpetual presence in The Impossible – rather, it’s treated like a short, sharp shock to the family’s comfortable lives, a massive disruption that comes and leaves everything changed in its wake.
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