These films prove that it's never safe to get back in the water.

The Earth's seas and oceans are inherently terrifying. Those wide, seemingly unending expanses of undrinkable water are home to nightmare creatures living in the deepest depths, unseen and unknown are rightly ripe for the subject of horror movies. With the release of Jaws in 1975, the public was suddenly much more aware of the ocean and what could be potentially lurking beneath the surface, and suddenly water-based horror movies became more common than ever.

There is a myriad of horrors out on the water, whether it's monstrous mutated mammals or a creeping unknown life form making its way towards the land and humanity's ultimate destruction. Here are five water-centric horror films that are sure to have audiences rethinking a beach vacation.

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Little-seen 2009 sci-fi horror film Triangle has amassed a sizable following since its release. In the film, Melissa George plays a single mother, Jess, who is heading out on a boat trip with her autistic son Tommy. However, upon arriving at the harbor, Jess tells her friends that Tommy isn't coming and is at school. Once at sea, things spiral out of control quickly, with a distress signal, capsizing, and the loss of a friend happening in quick succession. The remaining friends board an apparently deserted ocean liner with inexplicably fresh food and bloody messages on a mirror.

From there, it becomes a truly frightening survival situation as it becomes clear they are being stalked and that something very strange is happening aboard the ship. Doppelgängers, violence, and a truly mind-bending mystery make Triangle a must-see for fans of tense and peculiar horror.

James Jagger and Camille Rowe star as engaged couple Ben and Tina, YouTubers who are on a mission to explore purportedly haunted houses across Europe. Initially traveling to France to hopefully explore a sanitarium that has been submerged in an artificial lake, the dense population of tourists prevents them and a local takes them to a part of the land that was submerged to prevent flooding. There, under the water, is a perfectly preserved mansion. The pair eagerly make the dive and enter the house, which is full of strangely well-preserved artifacts of life.

Once they are inside the underwater estate they begin to hear noises and voices. They find the bodies of the previous owners of the house, and some unquiet spirits surface to make the dive anything but peaceful.

Based on a Michael Crichton novel of the same name, the 1998 movie Sphere sees Samuel L. Jackson, Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Liev Schreiber as a team of scientists tasked with investigating a newly discovered alien craft on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Taking residence in a state-of-the-art underwater facility called the Habitat, the team discovers a strange sphere aboard the craft. They are also shocked to find that the craft appears to be American-made, but with technology far superior to what is available.

The sphere reflects everything but the people in the room, and the fluid surface can't be penetrated. That is until Harry (Jackson) goes exploring at night and passes through the surface. From there, horrible things begin occurring in the Habitat, and an unknown entity calling itself Jerry begins communicating with them through the computers. The team has to battle their worst fears while also solving the mystery of the sphere before time runs out.

An underwater drilling facility is struck by an earthquake that destroys part of the building. Upon trying to escape, the crew (featuring Kristen Stewart as Norah Price, Vincent Cassel as Captain Lucien, and Jessica Henwick as Emily Haversham) discover that Lucien has deployed the escape pods and opted to stay behind. The crew decides to walk across the ocean floor to the nearest facility a mile away and get help, but once out in the open, all manner of horrifying creatures begin to terrorize them.

Loosely based on Lovecraftian lore and featuring an appearance by the Old God himself, Cthulhu, Underwater is a surprisingly atmospheric supernatural survival horror. The creature's design is creepy and gross and Stewart is a more than capable protagonist fighting to save her friends.

In the slow burn horror film Sea Fever, Ph.D. student Siobhan joins a fishing trawler excursion to research the behavior patterns of deep-sea fauna. Once at sea, the coast guard alerts them that their fish-rich destination is now an exclusion zone — but despite their warnings and direct order from his wife Freya the captain, Gerard continues on into the zone. The ship becomes stuck when it runs into a large underwater object, and soon strange hull breaches weeping green slime are found throughout the ship.

It becomes clear that something previously unknown has contaminated the ship and is beginning to affect the crew. There are some gruesome scenes: eyeballs explode, wriggling creatures infest the boat, and those onboard turn against each other with little hesitation. Fans of slow, creeping horror will appreciate the finale's dense atmosphere and beauty.

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Emma Oakman is a British writer based in Canada who studied film at university. Emma has a proclivity for goop, gore, and all things that go bump in the night.