The Top 10 Best Killer Animal Movies
5. The Bay
Of all the movies on this killer animal movies list, The Bay is one that comes the closest to breaking the three rules I set out. The movie is about a seaside community that comes under attack from killer sea louse. Normally these tiny pests aren’t a problem, but the town also has a poultry industry that relies heavily on growth hormones that end up in the same water as these little crustaceans. The result is creatures the get inside the residents and grow to terrifying proportions. Now, since these little guys are an unintended consequence of a typical industry practice, I’m going to allow it. What’s so scary about sea lice you might ask? Well, you’ll have to watch this gut-wrenching found footage movie that is one of the best I’ve ever seen.
4. Arachnophobia
I’m not a big fan of spiders. I don’t run away shrieking when I stumble upon them, but I’m also not planning on ever having a pet with more than four legs. However, it wouldn’t be much of a killer animals list if I didn’t include this gem from the 90’s. Jeff Daniels finds himself going toe to toe with a deadly species of spiders that makes its way from South America to his small town. These tiny little bastards take a page from the Wandering Spider, which is known for its deadly bite and aggressive nature, which makes them even more dangerous. Luckily for Daniels, there’s one man who dares to take on these deadly arachnids at his side. The town exterminator played by John Goodman. I won’t spoil it for you, but let’s just say the Orkin Man has nothing on him.
3. Crawl
Maybe it’s the fact that I’m from Florida where absurd things happen on a daily basis (we are the home to the infamous Florida Man, after all), but I was incredibly excited to see a killer animal movie set in my home state right in the middle of a hurricane. Of course, plenty of you will say the whole premise of Crawl is totally unbelievable. How could anyone be stupid enough to not evacuate during a category 5 hurricane? Well, welcome to Florida. The film follows a woman and her father trapped in a crawl space beneath their house by some pissed off American Alligators that have a hankering for human flesh. To make matters worse, the storm is causing the crawl space to slowly flood. It’s a great cat an mouse game from masters of horror Alexandre Aja and Sam Rami. A must watch for killer animal movie fans!
2. The Birds
A lot of the killer animal movies on this list are from the past 30 years or so. However, long before they ever hit the silver screen, Alfred Hitchcock was scaring audiences with an animal you probably wouldn’t think twice about. What I love so much about this film is that it never takes the time to explain what drives the birds to attack the small town. I guess they just had enough of mankind and finally snapped. If you’re not convinced that birds could ever pose a threat, just keep in mind that crows are crazy smart. So smart they can even recognize different humans and will place things on roads to get broken open by passing cars. In other words, be sure to share some of your bread with them from time to time. They might remember that when their kind makes their big move.
1. Rogue
When it comes to killer animal movies, none of them surprised me even half as much as Rogue did. The second killer croc movie to make this list, this one takes place in the murky waters of Australia. While saltwater crocodile attacks aren’t that common, it’s probably because a lot of people don’t make it back to report them. This film follows a group on a boat tour that finds themselves stranded while a monster picks them off one by one. What makes it so incredible is that it takes a note for the film that comes in at number one and never gives you a good look at the beast until the very end. Plus, it gets a bit of cred by casting native Australian Sam Worthington as one of the leads trying to survive the skull crushing jaws of this croc.
Those are the 10 best killer animal movies I managed to find after subjecting myself to hours of films featuring sharktopuses (sharktopi?), birdemics, and even killer pigs. There are more where they came from though and if you’ve got a hot tip on a great movie I might have missed, be sure to let me know in the comments below. I’d also love to hear which one of these films might have scared you the most when you first saw it. Also, be sure to check back from time to time, since this list will hopefully get a chance to be updated as new movies come out. Until then, just remember how scary nature is and your only hope not to feel her wrath is to make sure you recycle.