Looking back, there are a surprisingly large number of movies that are about being stranded at sea. There is good reason for this: when looking to make a truly hard-hitting movie, what could be more terrifying than the feelings of hopelessness and fear associated with being stranded, miles from land with chances of survival getting slimmer by the minute? Add in an extra threat of, say a human-eating shark, or even escalating friction with the other unfortunate souls you may be stranded with, and you have a recipe for pure terror.
The fear factor is upped by the fact that a lot of these stories are not wild fantastical tales, but are scenarios that feel far closer to home and are situations that anyone of us could potentially find ourselves in. In fact, a large percentage of these types of movies are based on true stories. Admittedly, due to the popularity of these types of movies, which can often be shot on a low budget, the market has become slightly oversaturated in recent years, with countless sequels and rip-offs flooding the scene, so to speak. With this in mind, below are 8 of the best movies about being stranded at sea.
Related: These Movies Will Make You Second Guess Ever Getting on a Boat

8 Dead Calm

If you’re only going to star three actors in your movie, you could do a lot worse than the combined greatness of Sam Neil, Nicole Kidman, and Billy Zane. While out sailing in an attempt to try to take their minds off the loss of their son, a married couple come across a stranded stranger. They offer kindness and help, but as the story progresses, it becomes apparent that not everything is as it seems with the stranger. A genuinely tense thriller, Dead Calm is a fine example of creating an engaging and exciting movie without needing a huge budget.

7 The Reef

Not only has this group of pals found themselves capsized and stranded out at sea, they’re also being stalked by a great white shark. Unlike numerous shark-based movies before (and after) it, The Reef used real footage of sharks in the movie, according to Screen Rant, instead of practical or CGI effects, which always run the danger of making the sharks look unrealistic and, at times, downright ridiculous. Definitely one of the more genuinely scary shark flicks, The Reef never eases up on the tension, keeping viewers glued to the edge of their seats for the entire 90-minute run time. Maybe not the most original movie on the list, but certainly one of the most exciting.

6 Titanic

Titanic is proof that ‘bigger’ is not always better. The RMS Titanic was carrying 3,320 people when it was destroyed by a giant iceberg, the majority of who did not survive the aftermath. The real-life tragedy portrayed in James Cameron’s harrowing 1997 movie manages to perfectly capture the feelings of fear, panic and hopelessness as we spend time in those final moments with the passengers stranded at sea after the ship begins sinking. Obviously, the sheer scale of death and destruction was certainly impactful, but it felt even more personal as we spend nearly 3 hours with the two lead characters, Rose and Jack, following their forbidden romance and rooting for them throughout. After allowing the audience to develop this tight intimate bond with these two characters, we’re left devastated as, spoiler alert, it does not end well.

5 Open Water

Yet another movie on this list made all the more terrifying by the fact that it is based, albeit rather loosely, on a true story. This time, Open Water concentrates on an American couple who go scuba diving while on vacation, but find themselves stranded at sea and surrounded by sharks as their tour boat accidentally leaves them behind. Shot out at sea on an ultra-low budget, this actually adds an immense sense of realism and intensity, creating for a nerve racking 80 minutes in which the viewers hearts are in their mouths the entire time.

4 White Squall

A white squall is the occurrence of a sudden, violent windstorm at sea, which hits without warning. The lack of the usual warning signs, like black clouds, makes them near impossible to avoid when out at sea, as evidenced by the skipper (played assuredly by Jeff Bridges, in one of his more overlooked performances) and his class of students on a school sailing trip. Needless to say, the result was catastrophic, ending in tragedy, and the skipper is put on trial. Based on the real-life sailing boat the Albatross, which sank in 1961, director Ridley Scott not only focuses on the trauma of the event itself, but also spends plenty of time developing the characters beforehand in a coming-of-age style plot which makes the tragedy even more hard hitting for the audience.
Related: These Movies Will Make You Second Guess Ever Traveling on a Plane

3 Adrift

Like Titanic, this is based on a real-life event, just on a much smaller scale. No less harrowing for the viewer, Adrift stars Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin as a couple who are adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean after Hurricane Raymond, in 1983, and must find their way to Hawaii with a damaged boat and no radio. Like James Cameron did with Titanic, the film not only focuses on the disaster and survival aspects of the story, but also focuses on the intimate bond and romance between the two leads, allowing the viewers to become fully invested in their well-being. Even from the safety of your own couch, the rollercoaster of emotions you’re taken through is mentally draining — one can only imagine what it would have been like to have been there, stranded at sea.

2 The Shallows

Inspired by her husband Ryan Reynold’s minimalist movie Buried, which takes place entirely in a coffin, Blake Lively teamed up with director Jaume Collet-Serra and writer Anthony Jaswinski, for this stranded at sea survival horror. This time around, the story follows a surfer (played by Lively) instead of a sailor, who gets stranded out at sea, only to find herself under threat from a great white shark. Interestingly, the majority of The Shallows was shot in a tank using blue screens for effects, with the shark being entirely computer generated. Somehow, the result is still ultra-realistic, making you feel as if you are right there in the water with her, kind of the Blair Witch Project of stranded at sea shark movies.

1 Life of Pi

One of the most critically lauded movies of all time, Life of Pi was nominated for a total of 11 Oscars, winning four. The premise revolves around a 16-year-old Indian boy named Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma) who is stranded on a lifeboat with a dangerous Bengal tiger after surviving an ocean liner shipwreck. The movie is captivating from start to finish: we follow Pi’s story as the pair learn to trust each other in this visually stunning masterclass in storytelling.

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