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World Oceans Day 2025: "Blood in the Water" MOTELX Collection
On this World Oceans Day 2025, as we watch this vast blue expanse that was our primordial birthplace warm up and prepare to swallow us in an overwhelming tide of blood and microplastics, we highlight the message of respect and praise for the pelagic element conveyed by horror films, with a collection of "Blood in the Water" curated by MOTELX programmers.
The Ocean is not only the element from which all life has flowed, the cradle of us all... It is also the radical origin of all our fears, the natural habitat of the worst monsters that gnaw at our subconscious and contradict our civilizing hubris: from sharks to Cthulhus. The element from which we crawl into existence is also the one that reveals itself most hostile to human life and, increasingly, promises to close the circle on us, going from being the cradle of life to the graveyard of humanity in the blink of an eye, in a long bloody tide full of fury and polluted with microplastics, which will easily carry out its justice on the contaminating element that we all are.
"What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleeping without dreams."
― Werner Herzog
Under the title "Blood in the water: horror in the blue vastness", MOTELX marks World Oceans Day 2025 with a selection of films that delve headfirst into the darker side of the waves. This collection spans decades of horror cinema, from the colorful B-movie of "She Gods of Shark Reef" (1958) to the psychological delirium of "The Lighthouse" (2019), revealing the sea as a setting for the obliteration of identity and a threatening entity for the polluting primate. The classic "Jaws" (1975) inaugurated the modern fear of the ocean, propagating a contemporary culture of panic around sharks, while "Orca" (1977) and "Leviathan" (1989) explore the fury of other sea creatures wronged by human actions. Films like "Open Water" (2003) and "Dagon" (2001) confront us with man's impotence in the face of the vast blue, where isolation and the supernatural intertwine, and "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" (2009) satirizes our predatory relationship with the ocean.
This collection of MOTELX recommendations carries a profound irony: the oceans, the cradle of life on the planet, are now threatened by the same species that was born from them. The human ecological footprint — through overfishing, plastic pollution, fossil fuel exploitation and climate change — has destabilized marine ecosystems to a critical point. The horror in these films resonates with a current truth: the destruction of the ocean will not come from mythological monsters, but from systematic human practices. It is as if horror films were warning us, through the mirror of fiction, that the sea — once a source of mystery and the origin of life — could become its tomb.
This selection of marine horror cinema from MOTELX challenges us to look beyond the scare and recognize that the true horror lies in the impact we have on the very thing we should be protecting the most.
Here are the 10 titles selected to celebrate World Oceans Day 2025 with "Blood in the Water":
1) "She Gods of Shark Reef" (Roger Corman; 1958)
Two brothers, one of them wanted for murder, are shipwrecked on an island inhabited by young women who have accumulated a valuable treasure of pearls.
2) "Jaws" (Steven Spielberg; 1975)
When a shark wreaks havoc on a beach, a sheriff, a biologist and a sailor give chase.
3) "Orca" (Michael Anderson; 1977)
A hunter faces a killer whale seeking revenge for the death of his mate.
4) "The Fog" (John Carpenter; 1980)
Local legend has it that a ship drawn onto the rocks of Antonio Bay was surrounded by an unearthly mist as it sank; The myth says that when this mysterious mist returns, victims will emerge from the depths seeking revenge.
5) "Jaws 3-D" (Joe Alves; 1983)
A giant thirty-foot shark gets trapped in a SeaWorld theme park and it's up to Police Chief Brody's sons to rescue everyone.
6) "Leviathan" (George P. Cosmatos; 1989)
On the hull of a sunken Soviet freighter, a team of deep-sea miners led by chief oceanographer Steven Beck stumbles upon a mutant creature that is the product of a failed genetic experiment.
7) "Dagon" (Stuart Gordon; 2001)
A shipping accident brings a young man and a young woman ashore in a decrepit Spanish fishing village where they discover they are in the clutches of an ancient sea god and his monstrous half-human offspring.
8) "Open Water" (Chris Kentis; 2003)
Based on the true story of two divers who were accidentally trapped in shark-infested waters after their boat left without them.
9) "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" (Júlíus Kemp; 2009)
An epic tale about a group of whale watchers whose ship breaks down and they are rescued by a whaling boat. The ship's "Fishbillies" have just gone bankrupt and everything is spiraling out of control.
10) "The Lighthouse" (Robert Eggers; 2019)
The story of an old lighthouse keeper named Old, who lives in a Maine town in the early 20th century.
"What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleeping without dreams."
― Werner Herzog
Under the title "Blood in the water: horror in the blue vastness", MOTELX marks World Oceans Day 2025 with a selection of films that delve headfirst into the darker side of the waves. This collection spans decades of horror cinema, from the colorful B-movie of "She Gods of Shark Reef" (1958) to the psychological delirium of "The Lighthouse" (2019), revealing the sea as a setting for the obliteration of identity and a threatening entity for the polluting primate. The classic "Jaws" (1975) inaugurated the modern fear of the ocean, propagating a contemporary culture of panic around sharks, while "Orca" (1977) and "Leviathan" (1989) explore the fury of other sea creatures wronged by human actions. Films like "Open Water" (2003) and "Dagon" (2001) confront us with man's impotence in the face of the vast blue, where isolation and the supernatural intertwine, and "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" (2009) satirizes our predatory relationship with the ocean.
This collection of MOTELX recommendations carries a profound irony: the oceans, the cradle of life on the planet, are now threatened by the same species that was born from them. The human ecological footprint — through overfishing, plastic pollution, fossil fuel exploitation and climate change — has destabilized marine ecosystems to a critical point. The horror in these films resonates with a current truth: the destruction of the ocean will not come from mythological monsters, but from systematic human practices. It is as if horror films were warning us, through the mirror of fiction, that the sea — once a source of mystery and the origin of life — could become its tomb.
This selection of marine horror cinema from MOTELX challenges us to look beyond the scare and recognize that the true horror lies in the impact we have on the very thing we should be protecting the most.
Here are the 10 titles selected to celebrate World Oceans Day 2025 with "Blood in the Water":
1) "She Gods of Shark Reef" (Roger Corman; 1958)
Two brothers, one of them wanted for murder, are shipwrecked on an island inhabited by young women who have accumulated a valuable treasure of pearls.
2) "Jaws" (Steven Spielberg; 1975)
When a shark wreaks havoc on a beach, a sheriff, a biologist and a sailor give chase.
3) "Orca" (Michael Anderson; 1977)
A hunter faces a killer whale seeking revenge for the death of his mate.
4) "The Fog" (John Carpenter; 1980)
Local legend has it that a ship drawn onto the rocks of Antonio Bay was surrounded by an unearthly mist as it sank; The myth says that when this mysterious mist returns, victims will emerge from the depths seeking revenge.
5) "Jaws 3-D" (Joe Alves; 1983)
A giant thirty-foot shark gets trapped in a SeaWorld theme park and it's up to Police Chief Brody's sons to rescue everyone.
6) "Leviathan" (George P. Cosmatos; 1989)
On the hull of a sunken Soviet freighter, a team of deep-sea miners led by chief oceanographer Steven Beck stumbles upon a mutant creature that is the product of a failed genetic experiment.
7) "Dagon" (Stuart Gordon; 2001)
A shipping accident brings a young man and a young woman ashore in a decrepit Spanish fishing village where they discover they are in the clutches of an ancient sea god and his monstrous half-human offspring.
8) "Open Water" (Chris Kentis; 2003)
Based on the true story of two divers who were accidentally trapped in shark-infested waters after their boat left without them.
9) "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" (Júlíus Kemp; 2009)
An epic tale about a group of whale watchers whose ship breaks down and they are rescued by a whaling boat. The ship's "Fishbillies" have just gone bankrupt and everything is spiraling out of control.
10) "The Lighthouse" (Robert Eggers; 2019)
The story of an old lighthouse keeper named Old, who lives in a Maine town in the early 20th century.