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20. Deep Rising (1998)

This filmmaker's science fiction thriller follows a group of scene-stealing ensemble cast playing hired guns employed to destroy the cruise ship the main setting. However a giant mutant octopus has beaten them to it! Featuring the endangered passengers are Famke Janssen as a jewel thief.

19. The 1900 Story (1998)

A baby, abandoned on the ocean-going ship a fictional ship, develops to be a gifted pianist (the lead actor) who never steps off the vessel. The peak moment of the director's imaginative story is the protagonist battling a keyboard contest with a jazz legend, somewhat unjustly portrayed as a arrogant character.

18. Ocean Planet (1995)

Kevin Costner acts as a warrior-esque drifter with aquatic adaptations and a souped-up watercraft in this big-budget science fiction adventure, set in a distant time where disappearing glaciers have submerged the planet. Everyone is searching for legendary terra firma while fending off the antagonist and his gang of constantly puffing marauders.

17. The Titanic (1997)

Two hours of tiresome canoodling between a wealthy lady (Kate Winslet) and an itinerant yobbo (the actor) are rescued by the director's spectacular recreation of one the 20th century's most infamous tragedies. It's impossible not to respect the boldness of a director who artfully converts a casualties of over a thousand into an heartening narrative of freedom.

16. Boat of Lunatics (1965)

Working-class people, Spanish performers and Nazi eugenicists interact on a commercial vessel journeying from North America to the Continent in the interwar period. The director's epic stars Vivien Leigh, in her last performance, as a sad divorcee, but it's Oskar Werner, as the vessel's physician, and another cast member, as a political noblewoman, who provide the film with its emotional wallop.

15. Ultimate Trip (1960)

The fictional ship is torn asunder in an explosion and Robert Stack's spouse (Dorothy Malone) is stuck in their room in this intense early catastrophe film. Can the hero and a courageous worker (Woody Strode) rescue her before the ship sinks? Fun fact: the Claridon is embodied by the famous European vessel Île de France.

14. Death on the Nile (1978)

Angela Lansbury are among the homicide possibilities on board a Egyptian riverboat in this all-star mystery writer whodunit. The lead actor, as the Belgian sleuth, is unable to halt numerous characters being shot, which reduces his potential killers to a manageable number. Bags more fun than the 2022 remake.

13. Sea Silence (1989)

Sam Neill play a partners trying to get over the trauma of their son's death by sailing their boat for a spin in the Pacific, where they save another actor from a damaged vessel. Big mistake! This filmmaker's tense movie is essentially a slasher movie at in maritime setting, but an high-quality one that put Kidman on the map.

12. Maggie's Tale (1954)

An British man, transporting goods for an American industrialist, is deceived into using a poor condition "Clyde puffer" in this filmmaker's harsh Ealing comedy in the unconventional tradition of his own previous work. Predictably, the boat's Scottish captain and crew trick the main characters for a journey, in every meaning of the expression.

11. Unstoppable Force (1974)

Richard Lester imparts his catastrophe film a state-of-the-nation tilt in this anxiety-inducing story of detonators planted on a passenger ship, the fictional ship. What's the correct choice? Two lead actors act as demolition specialists; another actor, as the cruise director, provides a touching depiction in tragicomic desperation.

10. The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

This film version of Paul Gallico's literary work is one of the peaks of the 1970s disaster genre. The fictional ship is capsized by a tidal wave, and it's up to the main protagonist to lead his followers through the inverted hull to safety. Shelley Winters is memorable as a retailer's spouse with a useful experience of competitive swimming.

9. All is Lost (2013)

The main star delivers a mature brilliant acting in one-man show as a individual struggling to stay alive in the Indian Ocean after his sailing vessel, the fictional ship, is impaired in a impact with an errant transport unit. It's stressful enough to observe, so one can only imagine how physically gruelling it must have been for the 76-year-old star to shoot.

8. Ship Commander (2013)

Tom Hanks does excellent performance in one of his regular-guys-under-intolerable-pressure roles, as the skipper of an US merchant vessel commandeered by Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa. He's matched by another actor ("Now I'm in charge"), making a sensational first movie role as the pirate chief in the director's tense movie, inspired by true stories. Should the last scene doesn't make you blub, you're emotionally detached.

7. Geometric Shape (2009)

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