The 30 best animal attack movies: Surprise, ‘Jaws’ is not No. 1

I recently searched for a list of the best animal attack movies, but couldn’t find one. Too many lists were cluttered with science-fiction movies about giant animals (ants, spiders, rabbits, etc.) and other monsters.
I wanted to find a list of the best animal attack movies that featured at least somewhat realistic animals. It wasn’t available, so I made my own.
What follows is a list of the best-reviewed animal attack movies based on critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
I was surprised to find that “Jaws is not the No. 1 movie on the list. The classic shark attack movie was No. 2 with 98% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
When I compiled a more modest list four years ago (“Top 10 animal attack movies”), “Jaws” had 100% positive reviews. But since then, Rotten Tomatoes included a negative review from Los Angeles Times that the paper featured in a list of its wrong-headed reviews.
The current best-reviewed animal attack movie is “Rogue,” a 2008 film about a killer crocodile. It received 100% positive reviews from 11 critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Here is a list of the best-reviewed animal attack movies ranked by percentage of positive reviews. I also included what kind of killer animal is featured.

The best animal attack movies

1. Rogue (2008), crocodile; 100% positive reviews
2. Jaws (1975), great white shark; 98%
3. The Birds (1963), birds; 96%
4. Grizzly Man (2005), grizzly bear; 93%
5. Arachnophobia (1990), spiders; 91%
6. Backcountry (2015), bear, 86%
7. The Naked Jungle (1954), soldier ants; 83%
8. The Grey (2012), wolves; 79%
9. Black Water (2008), crocodile; 79%
10. The Reef (2010), great white shark; 78%
11. Piranha 3-D (2010), piranhas; 73%
12. Piranha (1978), piranhas; 72%
13. Open Water (2003), sharks; 72%
14. Creepshow (1982), cockroaches; 69%
15. Snakes on a Plane (2006), snakes; 68%
16. Alligator (1980), alligator; 67%
17. Willard (2003), rats; 64%
18. Frozen (2010), wolves; 62%
19. The Edge (1997), grizzly bear; 60%
20. Grizzly (1976), grizzly bear; 60%
21. Cujo (1983), rabid dog; 59%
22. Willard (1971), rats; 57%
23. Ben (1972), rats; 57%
24. Jaws 2 (1978), great white shark; 53%
25. The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), lions; 50%

The next six movies did not have a rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so I ranked them based on reviews on Internet Movie Database (IMDb).

• Blue Water, White Death (1971), great white sharks; 7.3 out of 10
• Roar (1981), lions; 6.4
• Of Unknown Origin (1983), rats; 6.2
• Savage Harvest (1981), lions, 6.1
• The Pack (1977), feral dogs; 5.9
• Razorback (1984), razorback boar; 5.9

Honorable mentions go to “Kingdom of the Spiders” (1977), “Lake Placid” (1999), and “Anaconda” (1997). They each have fans, but don’t have a majority of positive ratings.
Let me know if I missed any good ones.

Photo: Movie poster from “Rogue.”