11 chilling aquatic horror stories that will drag you into the deep

Shark Week airs later this month, featuring comedian Ken Jeong and singer REI AMI teaming up in the all-new K-Pop Shark Heroes. While I’ll happily tune in for some delightful marine music, my deep-sea horror fears are real—and I blame Jaws. The ocean (or truly, any large body of water) has never quite been the same after watching the 1975 classic. In the “before times,” I’d pull on my floaties and frolic across the sand, diving headfirst into the ocean. But after hearing the iconic “dunnnn dun, dun-dun, dun-dun, dun-dun,” even freshwater lakes were off the table.

Despite the shark panic that Jaws arguably created, sharks actually kill less humans each year than mosquitoes. That’s why, this list of underwater suspense isn’t about sharks (mostly), but rather, other mysterious killers that slink around in murky waters. For your sake, if you happen to be near water, I hope it’s a nice, safe, shallow, brightly lit swimming pool during the middle of the day—don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Get your summer scare with these aquatic horror books and movies on Libby and Kanopy!

Books + audiobooks

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager
🎧 Audiobook

A voyeuristic thriller where nothing is as it seems and one woman’s lakeside escape turns into a chilling game of truth and deception—because the most dangerous secrets are the ones you never see coming.

The ultimate escapist read… no lake house required.

Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman
🎧 Audiobook

A shocking discovery on a honeymoon in paradise changes the lives of a picture-perfect couple in this taut psychological thriller.

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
🎧 Audiobook

A haunting love story submerged in grief and mystery, this debut novel plunges into the eerie unknown where the deepest transformations happen not in the ocean, but in the quiet spaces between two hearts drifting apart.

Jaws by Peter Benchley
🎧 Audiobook

I said there mostly wouldn’t be any shark books on this list. But this iconic Steven Spielberg shark-versus-man classic had to be included, especially since many don’t know it was a book first. Read the literary forerunner with many twists of plot and character that were omitted in the film.

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw
🎧 Audiobook

A lyrical reimagining of a fairy tale gone feral, a monstrous mermaid and a haunted plague doctor carve a bloodstained path through a forest of horrors, where survival means embracing the beast within.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
🎧 Audiobook

When a young girl’s body is pulled from a quiet Ohio lake, the ripples of her death unearth a family’s deepest secrets and submerged desires in this haunting, lyrical exploration of love, identity, and the silence that drowns us.

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
🎧 Audiobook

Reminiscent of a classic whodunit, this suspense-filled thriller follows journalist Lo Blacklock searching for a missing woman on a cruise ship—a woman that everyone else insists doesn't exist.

If you loved this one, check out her follow-up, The Woman in Suite 11, released last year, where Lo Blacklock returns to attend the opening of a luxury hotel, only to find herself in a white-knuckled race across Europe.

Deep Trouble by R. L. Stine
🎧 Audiobook

I can’t mention Jaws without mentioning this Goosebumps classic.

Billy and his sister are visiting their uncle, Dr. Deep, on a tiny Caribbean island. It's the perfect place to go exploring underwater. But he's not alone in the water. Something's lurking deep below the surface. Something dark and scaly....something that's half-human, half-fish...

Movies & TV series

Creature from the Haunted Sea
1961 | 1hr

A crook decides to bump off members of his inept crew and blame their deaths on a legendary sea creature. What he doesn't know is that the creature is real.

Blackshore (TV series)
2024 | 5hr 3min

The picture postcard town of Blackwater might be a pastoral idyll for some—but it’s hell on earth for DI Fia Lucey. Facing disciplinary charges for assaulting a violent criminal, Fia has reluctantly returned home to a town she left many years before. She starts investigating the recent disappearance of hotelier Roisin Hurley, a case everyone else seems strangely reluctant to pursue. After Roisin’s body is pulled out of the lake, sordid secrets emerge. Who was Roisin protecting? Was she a victim of sexual abuse or a sinister collaborator? And could there be a connection between these shocking crimes and the traumatic events of Fia’s childhood?

The Host
2006 | 2hr

A creature plunges from a bridge into the Han River, emerging on its shores for a feeding frenzy upon onlookers. When a young girl is snatched in the melee, her family sets off to recover her from the monster.

Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.

*Title availability may vary.

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