Top 5 Thursday: Movies That Make You Stay Out of the Water

I used to be a swimmer. A good one. But in the pool. I was never that keen on the ocean, although I did snorkel when I was in Galapagos. It’s stepping out of my comfort zone. The not knowing what goes on below and the unpredictability of the water just scares me a little bit. And there are many movies that make you stay out of the water, for various reasons. Here are my five favorites.

5. Deep Blue Sea
I wouldn’t take a job in a laboratory that is in the middle of the freakin’ ocean and surrounded by extremely smart sharks.

4. Piranha
Being killed by a shark is terrible, but I think piranha’s are even worse. Those little sharp teeth all over your body. It’s a slow death, or even no death and just pain and missing body parts.

3. Open Water
You’re in for the trip of your life, you go scuba diving, see the most beautiful underwater world. But then the boat leaves without you and leaves you in the middle of the ocean. Isn’t that a nightmare? That’s why “Open Water” makes you think twice about diving in the deep sea.

2. Lake Placid
Lakes aren’t safe either. Because many of them have crocodiles or alligators in them. Okay, not as big as the crocodile in “Lake Placid”, but they are super dangerous. Because once a croc gets you, he won’t let go. The death role you know.

1. Jaws
Off course this is number one. Because of this movie, almost everyone is afraid of sharks. Even though “Jaws” is everything but realistic, the movie gives me the chills even after seeing it so many times. The moments where you don’t see the shark are probably more scary then the moments where you do see him.

They Almost Made the Top 5: Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, It Follows, Deep Rising, Anaconda, The Perfect Storm, All is Lost, Rogue

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 127: Piranha

Director: Joe Dante

Genre: Horror/ Thriller/ Comedy

Runtime: 94 minutes

Year: 1978

Starring: Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Barbara Steele, Kevin McCarthy, Dick Miller

Description: When flesh-eating piranhas are accidently released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.

Review: What’s “Piranha”? It stands for beautiful ladies, boobs, lots of blood and bad jokes. Do you want a good story, then this isn’t your movie. But that doesn’t matter, because sometimes this is just the kind of movie you need.

If you’ve seen “Jaws”, you see the resemblance. The opening scene is practically the same, only this time with two people and piranhas. It looks like it’s mocking “Jaws” and in that it succeeds.

Joe Dante directs and he always does the combination of horror and comedy well. I thought this movie was going to be bad, but it’s better than I thought. And the special effects aren’t all that bad either. Only that weird little creature in the laboratory ruined it for me. That shouldn’t have been in there.

“Piranha” is a fun horror comedy, an enjoyable watch.

Rating: 3/ 5