TOP UNDERWATER THRILLERS

The new aquatic adventure film The Chamber - where a submarine mission goes badly wrong - is the epitome of an underwater thriller. It plunges you into the action and makes you feel as if you’re right there with the crew fighting amongst each other, and fighting for their lives, sinking into the depths of the Yellow Sea. Here are eight more deep sea chillers that’ll have you struggling for breath.

VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

1961

“Race from outer space to seven miles below the sea ... with amazing aquanauts of the deep!” In this classic sci-fi adventure Walter Pidgeon is in charge of a nuclear submarine whose very mission is to save the planet Earth. Directed by Irwin Allen, who went on to make disaster movies like The Poseidon Adventure and The Swarm, the film features the sub being attacked by a giant octopus, which should be recommendation enough.

THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE

1972

One of the classic disaster films of the 1970s, with an all star cast - including Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine and Shelley Winters - aboard an ocean liner and trying to survive when it capsizes and sinks towards the bottom of the sea. Brilliantly gripping and occasionally heartbreaking, this is a Hollywood blockbuster that is sheer quality and thrills. The film was remade in 2007 and, guess what? It wasn’t half as good.

DAS BOOT

1981

Wolfgang Peterson’s film (originally a two part German TV mini-series), based on Lothar G.Buchheim’s powerful book, is an account of life on a World War Two U-boat helmed by Jurgen Prochnow - the claustrophobic, intense, suffocating day-to-day underwater existence of the crew who could be torpedoed or bombed at any moment. It’s an incredible film experience - ‘a descent into the pit of hell’ as Variety described it - and became the benchmark for underwater cinema when it was released. Try and find the full length version - you will not regret it.