2022's Beast pits Idris Elba against a man-eating lion in the Savanna and there are a surprising number of movies like Beast that are not simply creature-features. Elba plays a father bringing his daughters (Iyana Halley and Leah Sava' Jeffries) to a game reserve while they all mourn the ing of the family matriarch. The visit quickly goes downhill as animal attacks are on the rise, culminating in one lion stalking the family and, seemingly, determined to get to them.

Beast heralds the return of the animal attack subgenre of movies that has fallen out of popularity in Hollywood in recent years. But while there have certainly been some goofy entries in the genre over the years, there are also some hugely entertaining ones. There are many elements from Beast that bring to mind other similar movies. From the approach of filmmakers to this specific genre to the tone of the script to the family aspect of the story, fans may also like these movies after checking out Beast.

Jaws (1975)

Directed By Steven Spielberg

Though Beast feels like it elevates the animal-attack movie beyond the typical B-movie offerings, Jaws was the first one to show how incredible a genre movie like this could be. It also introduced perhaps the scariest movie sea monster ever thanks to its portrayal of a shark that just will not stop. Jaws is set in a small island community where the bustling summer beach season becomes terrorized by a deadly shark. While some attempt to track and destroy the shark, others ignore the danger the shark presents completely.

Jaws has a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Steven Spielberg cemented himself as a true Hollywood talent with a thrilling, terrifying, and brilliant adventure. The movie was plagued with difficulties, but the audience would never know it thanks to some brilliant editing and a fantastic score that ramps up the tension. Beast might not have the Jaws theme in the background of its scenes, but its capable cast and the deliberate camera angles certainly help to raise the tension of the scenes, helping the movie play out like as much of a thriller as the 1975 favorite.

Anaconda (1997)

Directed By Luis Llosa

While Beast does attempt to add some credibility to the genre, the animal attack movies benefit from being cheesy at times. The moment in the trailer that showed Elba punching the lion in the face lets audiences know they don't have to take it too seriously, and there are plenty of moments in the movie that allow the storyline to lean into the more ridiculous aspects of B-movies that popularized creature-features and animal attack movies.

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Another movie that entertainingly leaned into its own ridiculousness is Anaconda. Starring the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube, it follows a documentary crew exploring the Amazon jungle when they are forced by a dangerous hunter to track a massive and deadly snake. While they track the snake along the Amazon River, the snake also tracks them, and those aboard the boat are memorably picked off one by one. Anaconda is not for the Beast audience who were drawn in by the more emotional elements of the story. This is for the audience who wanted the movie to be a bit more sensationalized and a bit more campy.

Rogue (2007)

Directed By Greg McLean

Part of the fun of Beast is how it takes the characters to a new location - and one that is perhaps not seen all that often in movies. The Savanna is explored with its beauty as well as its danger, which adds a terrific element to the story. The characters are out of their comfort zone as much as the audience is because they are experiencing this terror in an unfamiliar place. Rogue takes a similar approach with its setting of the Australian outback. It follows an American journalist who s a boating tour only for the boat and its engers to be attacked by a territorial crocodile when they follow a distress flare.

It also earned similar praise from critics with the Sydney Morning Herald even calling it "almost elegant," and comparing it to Jaws, though noting that Jaws is the benchmark for these movies.

Also like Beast, it borrows elements from real-life stories, although the movie's tale is fictional. It also earned similar praise from critics with the Sydney Morning Herald even calling it "almost elegant," and comparing it to Jaws, though noting that Jaws is the benchmark for these movies. Of course, the difference here is that the main location is much smaller than in the previous movies. It's easy to understand why a predator would lash out when a group of people invade its home instead of simply giving them a wide berth in a larger setting.

Burning Bright (2010)

Directed By Carlos Brooks

As if taking on a deadly animal wasn't enough for the animal attack movie subgenre, Beast throws in a protective father storyline. When the lion targets Elba and his character's two daughters, he is determined to do everything he can to keep them safe, adding another layer of tension to the story. Instead of using a predator indiscriminately going after strangers, featuring characters who are bonded together long before the animal finds them provides a more emotional story arc amidst the carnage.

Burning Bright takes a similar approach to this kind of genre story. It follows a young single mother who finds herself and her son trapped inside a house during a hurricane with a tiger inside with them, looking for its next meal. While the movie has the added element of the hurricane and natural disasters going for it, it's the family bond that gives it an emotional core as well.

Backcountry (2014)

Directed By Adam MacDonald

The lion in Beast is a veracious enough enemy in any setting. But the movie shows just how formidable the animal is when humans wander into the territory that it is familiar with and spends plenty of time hunting in. It makes the fight to survive all the more difficult when the predator knows the setting even better than the humans within it. Backcountry is set in a more relatable location as it follows a young couple on a camping trip in the woods. But it proves to be just as dangerous as they get lost and soon find themselves terrorized by an angry bear.

Out of the movies like Beast, Backcountry is one that utilizes its setting the best. The atmosphere of the woods truly sets the tone, even beyond the bickering couple who could just as easily throttle one another as help each other out of the woods. It's easy for the audience to feel as lost as the campers. Just as Beast is anchored by the performance of Idris Elba, Backcountry is anchored by the performance of Missy Peregrym. She does a lot of her work in the movie on her own, terrified and fighting to survive, and her performance really elevates the film.

Cujo (1983)

Directed By Lewis Teague

The family element of Beast adds a lot to the story. While few can relate to the terror of coming face to face with a lion, many people know the feeling of being scared for their children and trying to keep them safe. That makes it easy to connect with a character in what might seem like an otherwise outlandish story. Cujo is a faithful Stephen King adaptation that takes a simple setting and makes it terrifying. It follows a mother and her small son who are locked in their broken-down car with a rabid dog trying to get to them.

The movie is claustrophobic because so much of it takes place in a small space. It is harrowing because there is seemingly no escape from the rabid dog. In those ways, it has a lot in common with Beast. While Beast is initially in the expansive game reserve, utilizing plenty of vast space, it becomes more and more claustrophobic as the characters become trapped, and a parent wants to make sure their children survive - even if it means they might not.

The Edge (1997)

Directed By Lee Tamahori

Beast combines the typical animal attack movie with a survival movie. Elba and the other characters find themselves facing various threats while out in the wilderness, including some human threats. That adds a new wrinkle for Beast. Most animal attack movies like Beast do not rely on the human elements to keep them going. When characters are targeted by other humans, and not just the animal stalking them, however, it adds an even more sinister feeling.

The Edge is a gripping survival story starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin as two men whose small plane crashes, leaving them to fend for themselves in the wilderness. Along with being stalked by a bear, they begin to wonder how much they can trust each other. They only have one another to lean on, and as they doubt one another, the movie becomes as much of a psychological thriller as it is an animal attack story.

Crawl (2019)

Directed By Alexandre Aja

Another animal attack movie that features a family element like Beast is Crawl. This time around, however, the family relationships are flipped, which helps give the movie a fresh feel. It also features a natural disaster to bring in the animal, like Burning Bright. It follows a young woman who checks on her father during a hurricane only to find him trapped under his house's crawl space with the water rising.

While that threat is worrisome enough, the flooding also brings several alligators. It is fun seeing a daughter fighting to protect her father in this intense and terrifying thriller. It makes for a heart-pounding ride from beginning to end. Again, like Beast, the movie is grounded by the performance of the lead. Kaya Scodelario is mostly known for appearing in Skins as a teenager and the Maze Runner franchise, in which she plays a teen, but Scodelario is an incredibly versatile character actor and is able to give the movie a similar weight to Elba in Beast.

The Grey (2011)

Directed By Joe Carnahan

Elba is a terrific actor to see in this type of movie. He has the acting chops to elevate the story but is also an exceptional movie star and action hero that fans can root for as he takes on this deadly animal foe. If movies like Beast want to be taken seriously instead of seen as campy, they have to employ similar actors of gravitas to make the stakes of the movie feel real.

The Grey is another animal attack movie that makes great use of its protagonist. Liam Neeson plays a hunter who finds himself trapped in the Arctic tundra with other survivors of a plane crash. And as much as Neeson is familiar with hard-hitting fight scenes, he meets his match with a pack of hungry wolves.

Just as Beast begins with a man mourning the loss of his wife, The Grey also leans on the way grief can affect a person. Neeson's hunter takes a job as a sharpshooter for an oil rig because he is apathetic about his own life after losing his wife. His abilities are exactly what the group needs to even attempt to survive though. The end of the movie, however, is a bit more ambiguous than the audience might be ready for.

The Ghost And The Darkness (1996)

Directed By Stephen Hopkins

Though there are so many different animals presented in the man vs. beast genre, lions have not been used very often. However, Beast does a very effective job of showing why they are considered the "kings of the jungle" and are apex predators. While it is often easier for audiences to see giant reptiles like anaconda or alligators as something to be feared, from a distance, a lion looks like a house cat. A lion is not a house cat though as Beast and other movies like it make abundantly clear. Another movie that did a great job of making lions a formidable threat is The Ghost and the Darkness.

It also won the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing. It's rare to see movies in this particular subgenre be recognized by the Oscars.

Loosely based on a true story, Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas star as hunters trying to stop a pair of deadly lions who terrorize a local construction operation in 1800s Africa. This is one of the few movies like Beast that takes the audience a little further into the past. Though the movie received mixed reviews from critics, it comes the closest to the same threat-level and tension of Beast. It also won the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing. It's rare to see movies in this particular subgenre be recognized by the Oscars.