If you like to be under the sea—or at least like your movie plots to take place there—you’ve got several dozens of submarine-oriented flicks to choose from. There’s something compelling about the submarine genre of movies: the close quarters, the life-and-death nature of it, the mystery of what’s out there in the dark and vast ocean depths.

Here’s a rundown of our personal favorite ten submarine movies:

#10 The Enemy Below

At the height of World War II an American warship squares off against a German submarine. Watch as dueling captains, Robert Mitchum versus Curt Jürgens, struggle for supremacy. Not surprisingly, the 50+ year old The Enemy Below has an antiquated feel, especially the pacing and special effects, but the superlative plot carries it through. 1957

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# 9 Below

Below is less of a submarine movie and more of a Sixth Sense-like horror-suspence movie that happens to take place underwater. Submarine movie purist may want to navigate clear of this haunted tale. For lovers of ghost stories this flick staring Gary Broadway is a worthy watch. 2002

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# 8 Run Silent – Run Deep

A World War II submarine captain, Clark Gable, is bent on taking revenge against the Japanese sub that sunk his previous ship. And he’s determined not to let the safety of his crew or his executive officer (and personal rival) Burt Lancaster get in his way. Run Silent is more of a cautionary tale about the destructive nature of revenge than it is a serious action flick. Still, the close confines of a sub together with the superlative acting from an all-star cast make this psychological tale an entertaining watch. 1958

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#7 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

In Disney’s first (and some would still consider best) large budget movie, Kirk Douglas ends up on a fantastical submarine captained by an eccentric and reclusive James Mason. The duo experience several harrowing adventures, including battles with enormous creatures of the deep. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, both the film and the original Jules Verne’s book, have withstood the test of time reasonably well. A few remakes have been attempted over the years, the best of which might be a Nickelodeon cartoon version. Spot Cool Stuff would love to see a modern well-directed, well-special effected version. Are you listening Steven Spielberg? 1954

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#6 The Hunley

The first submarine to ever sink an enemy warship: The H. L. Hunley in 1864. The Hunley, a made-for-TV movie, stars Armand Assante and Donald Sutherland and depicts the incredible true story of this Confederate submersible and the soldiers who sacrificed to produce and operate it—and to keep it secrete from the Union. Sadly, is movie is only available on VHS though several compelling documentaries about the Hunley are available on DVD and Blu-ray, the History Channel’s History’s Mysteries Raise The Hunley foremost among them. 1999

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#5 Das Boot—The Director’s Cut

Many a movie critic has declared Das Boot the best sub movie ever. Spot Cool Stuff can not see why. We understand that real submarine warfare involves a lot of monotony and long bouts of tedium. But that doesn’t mean we want to see a movie with that same tedium, which is what Das Boot delivers. For the first 90 minutes of this movie we follow along as almost nothing happens aboard a German u-boat. Literally, even the movie characters spend this time lamenting the lack of action. The pace finally picks up 1 1/2 hours into this 2-DVD disc flick, enough to keep Das Boot from sinking out of our Top 5 . . . barely. 1981

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# 4 The Abyss

Can you make a thrilling submarine movie without the specter of war as part of the plot? The Abyss proves you can. A crew including Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are underwater petroleum engineers called upon to help recover a lost nuclear submarine. What they find is a mysterious race of creatures who live in the uncharted depths of the ocean and who seem to be plotting to wipe out humanity! 1989

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#3 U-571

A submarine movie with Matthew McConaughey and Jon Bon Jovi? That might seem like a recipe for disaster, yet somehow U-571 delivers a gripping tale of a WWII spy mission to secretly capture a German enigma decoding machine. Our band of heros begin their daring undertaking aboard a fake German submarine but soon find themselves in command of a real (and crippled) German u-boat after their plan goes awry. The plot was inspired by real mission conducted by the British. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair thought it an “affort to British sailors” that U-571 depicted all the heros as American. Nevertheless, this suspenseful yarn is anything but an affront to lovers of submarine movies. 2000

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# 2 Crimson Tide

Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington serve as the Captain and Executive Officer of an American nuclear submarine. The submarine is ordered to fire their missiles to prevent a nuclear launch upon the United States. Or is it? Hackman and Washington disagree, to say the least, on the proper course of action. What follows is a riveting chess game of mutinies and counter-mutanies between the two men. Crimson Tide is superbly acted and contains nearly the perfect mix of dialogue and action. 1995

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# 1 The Hunt For Red October

The Soviet Union built a new type of submarine that could alter the entire balance of the Cold War and its captain, Sean Connery, decides to defect to America with it. The Soviet navy tries to sink the sub before it falls into enemy hands while CIA operatives Alec Baldwin and James Earl Jones try to figure out what heck is going on. That’s the gist behind this superbly acted thriller based on a Tom Clancy novel of the same name; in addition to getting our vote for the best sub movie ever made The Hunt For Red October is also among the best book-to-movie adaptations we’ve seen. 1990

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