The Scariest Beach Movies (That Aren’t Jaws)

Part eco-horror, part infectioner with vague zombie over tones, this is a genre mashup that is gross, sad and compelling. A first feature from Jeffrey A. Brown this is definitely worth a watch for those who like their chillers weird.

Crawl (2019)

Not all underwater threats wear fins. In fact, the schlocky appeal of Alexandre Aja’s Crawl is that this time the ocean comes to you, whether you leave the beach house or not! During a category 5 hurricane, Florida resident Haley (Kaya Scodelario) sees her childhood home invaded by hungry and desperate alligators. Having come back to help her sister before the storm hits, she instead arrives just in time to face a set of jaws that don’t need to be in the water to get you…

Old (2021)

This beach thriller is a very slow-burn, and may not top many fans’ lists of the director’s best movies, but it’s worth at least one viewing to experience one of the most far-out twists in an M. Night Shyamalan movie ever. Soon-to-be-separated couple Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Prisca (Vicky Krieps) take their kids Maddox (Thomasin McKenzie) and Trent (Alex Wolff) on one last family vacation to a tropical resort. But when they’re invited by the hotel staff to a private beach for ultimate relaxation, things take a turn for the worse. Once they’re on this mysterious beach, there’s no way to leave it, and even worse: they’re all rapidly aging the more time they spend in this “paradise.” Why is this happening and what’s behind it will leave you speechless. Whether it’s in a good or bad way is up to the viewer!

Us (2019)

Less a movie about the horrors that lurk beneath a seaside beach than it is a warning of the type of folks such a place attracts, Jordan Peele’s second effort homages another horror film that shot a scene at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys, by setting an entire story around a family vacation gone wrong. Lupita Nyong’o’s Adelaide Wilson certainly didn’t want to come by the film’s central boardwalk, still haunted by memories of seeing her doppelgänger step through the glass at a decrepit funhouse mirror when she was a child.

That will turn out to be child’s play when compared to what comes next for her, husband Gabe (Winston Duke), and their two children after they meet underworld versions of themselves who are very eager to replace their wealthier, happier counterparts. A movie that’s unsubtle while considering its themes of class and upward mobility (the title could just as easily have been U.S.), Peele’s Us is an ambitious epic that asks you to remember to lock your rental properties…