Scuba diving movies: 23 of the best underwater flicks

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We list the best scuba diving movies of all time, from thrilling underwater epics to Hollywood blockbusters featuring incredible subaquatic scenes

With the dark depths of the ocean as a backdrop, the threat of a turbulent sea and an ever-dwindling air supply, scuba diving should be ripe for spectacularly tense movie plots.

Sadly, the underwater realm has struggled to get a foothold in the glitz, glamour and special effects of the modern Hollywood blockbuster.

Whether it’s the latest superhero reboot, science fiction thriller or historical epic drama, the effects-driven juggernaut that powers the modern film industry seems to continually overlook subaquatic cinema.

This may be because scuba diving movies are more costly to film and tend to be more sink than swim. Far too many have been box office bellyflops, receiving a rotten green splat as opposed to a fresh red rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

However, this hasn’t put us off. Below, we explore the best scuba diving movies of all time (even though they may not always measure up to non-diving alternatives). The list is an eclectic mix of movies from the archives of Hollywood that feature, in one way or another, the underwater world.

BEST SCUBA DIVING MOVIES

Here are our best scuba diving movies of all time, ranked in no particular order.

1. The Abyss (1989)
An epic adventure film thrusting a team of civilian divers and Navy SEALs to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in a search-and-rescue mission for a sunken nuclear submarine.

The abyss dvd cover – best scuba diving movies

2. Le Grand Blue (The Big Blue) (1988)
The rivalry between Enzo and Jacques, two childhood friends and now world-renowned free divers, becomes a beautiful and perilous journey into the unknown.

Big Blue dvd cover – best scuba diving movies

3. The Deep (1977)
Deep-sea divers vie with a Haitian drug dealer to recover a trunkload of sunken morphine. Based on Peter Benchley’s best-selling novel of the same name.

The deep  dvd cover – best scuba diving movies

4. Deepsea Challenge 3D (2014)
In James Cameron’s dramatic fulfilment of a childhood dream, he pilots a submersible he designed on a dive 11km (7mi) beneath the ocean surface. Visually one of the best diving movies ever made, the film is a celebration of science, courage and human aspiration.

Deep sea challenge  dvd cover – best scuba diving movies

5. Thunderball (1965)
Classic Bond with Sean Connery. 007 heads to the Bahamas to recover two nuclear warheads stolen by SPECTRE agent Emilio Largo in an international extortion scheme.

Thunderball

6. The Frogmen (1951)
The new commander of a Navy Underwater Demolition Team – nicknamed Frogmen – must earn the respect of the men in his unit, who are still grieving over the death of their former commander.

Frogmen

7. Men of Honor (2000)
When the son of a Kentucky sharecropper joins the newly-integrated Navy, his tough-as-nails training officer wants no part in his ambitions. Inspired by the true story of the first African American master diver in the US Navy.

Men of Honor  dvd cover – best scuba diving movies

8. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
A classic film based on a classic book and the first science-fiction film shot in CinemaScope. A ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings encounters the advanced submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by Captain Nemo.

2000 leagues  dvd cover

9. Blue Water, White Death (1971)
Peter Gimbel and a team of photographers set out to find and film, for the first time, the Great White Shark. The expedition took over nine months and travelled from South Africa, across the Indian Ocean, to South Australia.

Blue water

10. Amsterdamned (1988)
A mysterious diver hiding in Amsterdam’s canal system embarks on a rampage of gruesome murders, leaving few clues for the city’s best detective. As the body count begins to rise, the detective’s daughter unwisely tries to track down the killer.

Amsterdamned  dvd cover – best scuba diving movies

11. Open Water (2003)
Based on the true story of two scuba divers accidentally stranded in shark-infested waters after their tour boat has left. What follows is a reminder to us about how much ‘fun’ it is to be frightened by our most primal fears – namely what we think may linger just below the surface.

Open water

12. Pioneer (Pionér) (2013)
Set at the beginning of the Norwegian oil boom, authorities aim to bring the 500m deep oil ashore. Petter and his brother, Knut, have the courage to take on the mission, but a tragic accident occurs.

pioneer is one of the best scuba diving movies

13. Pressure (2015)
Four deep-sea divers become trapped in their saturation bell at the bottom of the ocean off the Kenyan coast. After their boat sinks during a storm, the survivors must figure out how to reach the surface before they run out of air.

Pressure

14. Black Sea (2014)
A rogue submarine captain (Jude Law) and a misfit crew go after a rumoured sunken treasure, but greed soon turns the men on each other in this suspenseful adventure thriller.

Black sea

15. Diving into the Unknown (Takaisin pintaan) (2016)
After a terrible accident deep inside an underwater cave, the survivors are forced to risk their own lives to bring the bodies of their friends home. Deeply claustrophobic and unnerving.

Diving into the unknown dvd cover – best scuba diving movies

16. Aliens of the Deep (2005)
James Cameron teams up with NASA scientists in this documentary to explore the Mid-Ocean Ridge, a submerged chain of mountains that band the Earth and are home to some of the planet’s most unique life forms.

Aliens of the deep dvd cover – best scuba diving movies

17. Sanctum (2011)
A team of cave divers embark on a deadly expedition to the world’s largest, but least accessible cave system. When a storm forces them deep into the caverns, they must fight raging water, deadly terrain and creeping panic to escape.

Sanctum dvd cover – best scuba diving movies

18. Ocean Men: Extreme Dive (2001)
Join freedivers Pipin Ferreras and Umberto Pelizzari on a journey into the deep blue world through the use of breathtaking underwater photography and insightful animation.

ocean men  dvd cover – best scuba diving movies

19. Ray: A Life Underwater (2011)
A documentary about a rogue with an eye for salvage – and the ladies. The short film is an affectionate portrait of one man’s deep-sea diving career, told through his extraordinary collection of marine artefacts.

ray is one of the best scuba diving movies

20. Lady in Cement (1968)
During an ocean dive, Miami detective Tony Rome (Frank Sinatra) finds a woman’s body with its feet encased in a concrete block and sets out to solve the murder case.

lady in cement is one of the best scuba diving movies

21. The Dive (Dykket) (1989)
A Norwegian deep diver has 524 diving operations in the North Sea under his belt and is planning his retirement when he’s persuaded to do one last lucrative but risky job.

Dykket is one of the best scuba diving movies

22. Last Breath (2019)
The true story of a deep-sea diver stranded on the North Sea seabed in 2012. Diver Chris Lemons accidentally severs his umbilical cable and is trapped 100m below the surface with only a small amount of air in his backup tank.

last breath diving movie poster

23. Chasing Coral (2017)
Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. In Chasing Coral, a team of divers, photographers and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world.

chasing coral dvd cover

Reader suggestions

Here’s what our readers have added to our list of the best scuba diving movies.

*Jaws (1975) gets an honorary mention. Even though the underwater scenes were pretty thin on the ground, this is one of the most iconic movies ever to take place on or below water.


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