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Beast masters: The 10 best animal attack movies

It's a good time to go to the movies if you're big on mean CGI animals: In the just-released action film Beast, Idris Elba plays a widower attempting to save his family from a wild lion on a South African game reserve. Meanwhile, the horror hit Nope features a rampaging chimp gone ape, while the gonzo Indian import RRR unleashes a full-on-furious menagerie. If all that has you licking your lips, here are ten animal attack movies worth sinking your teeth into, plus their trailers for a taste.

RRR, (aka RISE ROAR REVOLT), N.T. Rama Rao Jr., 2022
RRR, (aka RISE ROAR REVOLT), N.T. Rama Rao Jr., 2022

Everett Collection N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and furry friend in 'RRR'

King Kong (1933)

It may be that "beauty killed the beast," as Robert Armstrong's Carl Denham says at the conclusion of this classic tale about an outsized ape and his unlikely relationship with Fay Wray's heroine Ann Darrow, but it was definitely the beast who lays waste to New York. Almost a century on, stop-motion animator Willis O'Brien's creation remains a miracle of cinema. See also the 1976 and 2005 remakes directed by John Guillermin and Peter Jackson respectively.

The Birds (1963)

Director Alfred Hitchcock terrified '60s cinemagoers with this avian apocalypse, an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's short story, in which characters played by Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor discover that our feathered friends are not so friendly after all. Hedren would go on to star in another animal attack film, 1981's Roar, notable for the terrifying real-life proximity between the cast (which also included Hedren's daughter Melanie Griffith) and the many big cats featured.

Jaws (1975)

With all due respect to King Kong, the real 800-pound gorilla of animal attack movies is Steven Spielberg's still-nerve-rending blockbuster. Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw play the trio of shark-hunters who leave the safety of Amity Island to drink, compare scars, and track down the Great White which has been ruining the local mayor's hopes of re-election.

Piranha (1978)

Joe Dante's low budget movie about flesh-consuming fish sharply satirized Jaws while copying enough beats that Dante was concerned Universal might sue, until Spielberg himself intervened. "Apparently, Steven was able to spot the humorous intentions and the parodic aspect of it," Dante once told EW. See also 2010's Piranha 3D, particularly if you want to see Jerry O'Connell getting his penis bitten off in 3D.

Cujo (1983)

"It's Jaws but with a St. Bernard dog," doesn't sound like a great pitch. Fortunately, no one told that to Stephen King (or if they did, he didn't listen). This adaptation of the author's 1981 bestseller from Lewis Teague, who was also responsible for 1980's Alligator, boasts a crackerjack central performance from Dee Wallace as a woman desperate to protect her son (Danny Pintauro) from the family's rabid pet.

Arachnophobia (1990)

When Jeff Daniels' doctor moves from San Francisco to the small town of Canaima, CA, he's just looking for a quiet life. Instead, the physician finds himself battling an army of deadly spiders in this Frank Marshall-directed movie. Depending on the viewer's own level of arachnophobia, the result is either a pleasing horror-comedy or a terrifying reminder that you don't have to leave your home to be attacked by animals.

The Grey (2011)

"There's blood in the air. And there's death. They know we're wounded. They can smell it. Hopefully, they won't f--- with us." That's ray-of-sunshine Liam Neeson, after a plane crash in the snowy Alaskan wasteland, announcing why it isn't great that there are giant wolves on the loose. Suffice to say, the wolves do f--- with Neeson and the swiftly dwindling number of his fellow survivors in filmmaker Joe Carnahan's stupendous survival thriller.

Crawl (2019)

Piranha 3D director Alexandre Aja returned for a second bite of the animal attack genre, swapping out piscine peril for reptilian rampage. Kaya Scodelario's student swimmer attempts to save her father, played by Barry Pepper, from becoming alligator chow during a hurricane in Florida. The result is a relentless nail-biter hailed by Quentin Tarantino as one of his faves of the year.

Nope (2022)

Jordan Peele's hit horror movie mostly concerns a threat in the skies, but its most horrific sequence finds a chimpanzee going berserk on the set of a sitcom. Fun furry fact: The ape in the film is portrayed by Terry Notary, who specializes in motion-capture performances and previously played Groot in Avengers: Endgame.

RRR (2022)

Midway through this epic, India-set tale, N.T. Rama Rao Jr.'s hero Bheem attempts to rescue a young girl from the clutches of the British authorities by unleashing a group of wild animals, including tigers and bears, to savage the colonial forces. Despite stiff competition, the scene is the most jaw-dropping moment in director S.S. Rajamouli's entertainingly bonkers movie.

Beast is now available to watch in cinemas. See the film's trailer below.

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