The Most Terrifying Shark Movie Since Jaws Just Arrived on HBO Max (& It’s Based on a True Story)

The summer of 1975 was revolutionary for cinema thanks to Jaws. Steven Spielberg’s 1975 masterpiece not only invented the modern summer blockbuster, but invented the modern creature-feature craze, and an endless stream of shark movies have swum into theaters ever since. From blockbusters like The Meg to cult classics like Deep Blue Sea, the Jawsploitation era is far from over, and the scariest movie since Jaws just took a bite out of HBO Max.

HBO Max subscribers can now stream Open Water after the survival horror thriller started streaming on the platform on February 1st. The 2003 movie is based on the harrowing real-life story of Thomas and Eileen Lonergan, an American couple who in January 1998 were abandoned at sea during a scuba diving trip off Australia’s northeast coast and were never seen or heard from again aside from personal effects that later washed ashore. In the film, Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis take on the roles of Daniel Kintner and Susan Watkins, who become separated from their group scuba dive and find themselves stranded miles from shore in shark-filled waters.

Open Water’s Terror Lies in Its Believability

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So much of what makes Open Water so terrifying is just how plausible it all seems. The movie is a quieter type of horror than Jaws that is grounded in the horror of a simple human error that results in a tragic, fatal situation. The movie trades the big-budget, action-heavy, bloody spectacle of most shark films for a story that is truly just man at the mercy of nature. Open Water reads like a raw, slow-motion panic attack that emphasizes the vast, empty, and indifferent nature of the ocean and the slow, agonizing realization that rescue is not coming, leaving viewers, just like Daniel and Susan, waiting for the inevitable.

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Even when it comes to sharks, Open Water succeeds with a more believable, natural approach. Whereas Jaws altered public perception of sharks by transforming them into rogue, vengeance-seeking man-eaters, something replicated time and again in other shark films that followed, Open Water depicted a more natural, opportunistic feeding behavior. Rather than actively hunting the divers, the sharks treat them as unfamiliar, potentially interesting objects, their aggression building over time, allowing the film to build fear through the anticipation of an attack rather than just the attack itself. This resulted in what became one of the most terrifying, realistic, and bleak shark movies since Jaws, and one that still holds up incredibly well today.

What’s New on HBO Max?

If Open Water, rated fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 71% critic score, isn’t quite what you’re looking for, then HBO Max has plenty of other great streaming options. February 1st brought a massive wave of titles that included Insidious: Chapter 3, Life of Pi, MacGruber, The Notebook, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, among numerous others.

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