The best animal attack movies of the past 20 years

With news reports about a wolf attack in Russia and bloodthirsty squirrels in New York City, I was inspired to put together a list of well-reviewed animal attack movies.
With my list of animal attack movies, I left out the titles with strong science-fiction and fantasy elements. That would include films like “King Kong,” Godzilla” and other such monster movies.
I ranked the movies by percentage of positive reviews on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. I included films that had a “critics consensus” as well as those that didn’t have enough reviews for a consensus yet.

The best animal attack movies, 2000 to present

1. Burning Bright (2016), tiger, 100% positive reviews
2. Rogue (2008), crocodile, 94%
3. Backcountry (2015), bear, 92%
4. Grizzly Man (2005), grizzly bear, 92%
5. Artic (2019), polar bear, 90%
6. White God (2015), dogs, 88%
7. Crawl (2019), alligators, 84%
8. Black Water (2008), crocodile, 80%
9. The Reef (2010), great white shark, 80%
10. The Grey (2012), wolves, 79%
11. The Revenant (2016), bear, 78%
12. The Shallows (2016), great white shark, 78%
13. Piranha 3-D (2010), piranhas, 74%
14. Deep Blue Sea 3 (2020), sharks, 71%
15. Open Water (2003), sharks, 71%
16. Snakes on a Plane (2006), snakes, 69%
17. Rogue (2020), lion, 67%
18. Willard (2003), rats, 64%
19. Frozen (2010), wolves, 63%
20. Bullet Head (2017), dog, 61%
21. The Pack (2016), wild dogs, 55%
22. 47 Meters Down (2017), great white sharks, 52%

The best animal attack movies, pre-2000

1. Dark Age (1988), crocodile, 100% positive reviews
2. Jaws (1975), great white shark, 98%
3. The Birds (1963), birds, 95%
4. Arachnophobia (1990), spiders, 92%
5. White Dog (1982), dog, 92%
6. Long Weekend (1979), various animal attacks, 88%
7. Moby Dick (1956), sperm whale, 86%
8. The Naked Jungle (1954), army ants, 86%
9. Alligator (1980), alligator, 80%
10. Creepshow (1982), cockroaches, 73%
11. Roar (1981), lions and tigers, 71%
12. Piranha (1978), piranhas, 69%
13. Ben (1972), rats, 67%
14. The Edge (1997), grizzly bear, 64%
15. Cujo (1983), rabid dog, 63%
16. Deep Blue Sea (1999), sharks, 59%
17. Razorback (1984), boar, 58%
18. Jaws 2 (1978), great white shark, 58%
19. Of Unknown Origin (1983), rats, 57%
20. Willard (1971), rats, 57%

Photos: Movie posters for “Crawl” and “The Shallows.”