Best Submarine Movies

The best submarine movies ever made, ranked by audience score. Das Boot takes it at 8.1, and the 20 films below prove how much range the premise has — Greyhound, The Hunt for Red October and The Abyss pull it in completely different directions.

20 titles · average score 7.0 ·

The top 5 picks

  1. 1Das Boot (1981) poster

    Das Boot (1981)

    8.1 · 2,587 ratings

    A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.

  2. 2Greyhound (2020) poster

    Greyhound (2020)

    7.4 · 3,403 ratings

    A first-time captain leads a convoy of allied ships carrying thousands of soldiers across the treacherous waters of the "Black Pit" to the front lines of WWII. With no air cover protection for 5 days, the captain and…

  3. 3The Hunt for Red October (1990) poster

    The Hunt for Red October (1990)

    7.4 · 3,703 ratings

    A new technologically-superior Soviet nuclear sub, the Red October, is heading for the U.S. coast under the command of Captain Marko Ramius. The American government thinks Ramius is planning to attack. Lone CIA analyst…

  4. 4The Abyss (1989) poster

    The Abyss (1989)

    7.4 · 3,536 ratings

    A civilian oil rig crew is recruited to conduct a search and rescue effort when a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks. One diver soon finds himself on a spectacular odyssey 25,000 feet below the ocean's surface where…

  5. 5Lifeboat (1944) poster

    Lifeboat (1944)

    7.4 · 490 ratings

    During World War II, a small group of survivors is stranded in a lifeboat together after the ship they were traveling on is destroyed by a German U-boat.

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How this list is ranked

Nothing on this page is hand-picked to hit a word count. We pull films matching this list's criteria from TMDB, require a real audience behind each score, and rank by that score — 20 titles averaging 7.0. The page rebuilds daily, so new releases appear here as soon as enough people have rated them.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best submarine movie?

Das Boot (1981) at 8.1, ahead of Greyhound and The Hunt for Red October. All 20 films on this page average 7.0.

How do you find submarine movies?

Through TMDB's keyword tagging, which is maintained by its community and goes far deeper than genre labels — it catches films that share a premise even when they belong to completely different genres.

Is this list updated?

Yes — it rebuilds every day from TMDB, so newly released movies appear as soon as enough people have rated them. You do not need an account to browse it, and there is no paywall on anything at MovieAI.

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