“Live every week like it’s Shark Week.” — Tracy Jordan

Shark Week Shark Fact: Sharks are the coolest. Oh, how I love Shark Week. It’s one of my favorite times of the year — a full week dedicated to the wonderful, toothy majesty of the most awesome predator on the planet. So in celebration of this joyous season, I present to you my top five shark movies. It would have been more, but I think putting all the Jaws movies in there is cheating. Also, some are legitimately horrible.

5) Open Water
It’s a little slow, but Open Water belongs on the list for the sheer freaky, totally possible plot of two divers being left behind by their group. In fact, it’s loosely based on a true story. A horrible, horrible true story. Thus ensuring that I’ll most likely never go scuba diving. I’ll stick to seeing the beauty of the coral reefs via Planet Earth.

4) Shark!
Burt Reynolds is magnificent in full gunrunning, lady-punching, shark-knife-fighting glory. Sidenote: Reynolds was also pretty great in his recent Burn Notice appearance.

3) Deep Blue Sea
Normal mako sharks are pretty dangerous, but genetically enhanced, super-intelligent mako sharks are even more hardcore. So let Deep Blue Sea serve as a lesson to any of you smarty-pants scientists out there who think it’s a good idea to go altering shark DNA while living in the ocean, where sharks are known to hang out. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that’s probably not going to end well.

2) Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus
This wonderful little gem of a movie shot up the list when it was released last year. In it, a megalodon (giant, prehistoric shark) and a huge octopus get frozen in ice while having a bit of a dustup eons ago. Due to global warming, the ice melts (thanks a lot, CFCs), and the beasts are released. Of course, they immediately go on a rampage off the coast of California. It’s just so incredibly ridiculous and excellent that it’s a must-watch.

1) Jaws
It is only right that Jaws tops any worthwhile list of shark movies. It’s the movie that started a shark craze, and made thousands of people afraid to swim in the ocean. Or even lakes, which doesn’t really make any sense. It also has that amazing score that just drips with dread.

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