Dangerous Animals (2025) IFC/Horror-Thriller RT: 98 minutes Rated R (strong bloody violent content, grisly images, sexuality, language, brief drug use) Director: Sean Byrne Screenplay: Nick Lepard Music: Michael Yezerski Cinematography: Shelley Farthing-Dawe Release date: June 6, 2025 (US) Cast: Hassie Harrison, John Heuston, Jai Courtney, Rob Carlton, Ella Newton, Liam Greinke.
Rating: ***
Anybody planning a trip to the shore this summer is well advised to avoid Dangerous Animals as it will make you afraid to go near the water in much the same way as Jaws did 50 years ago. Killer sharks are out there. This time, however, one of our own is helping them. You see, Dangerous Animals isn’t just another killer shark movie. It’s also a serial killer thriller featuring a psycho who treats the deadly predators like gods. He makes sacrifices to them. Great, now vacationers have two things to worry about.
Dangerous Animals marks a return to filmmaking for director Sean Byrne who’s been on hiatus for ten years. The Aussie is best known for 2009’s The Loved Ones, a wonderfully depraved teen horror movie about a girl who doesn’t react well to rejection. He also made The Devil’s Candy (2015) which I haven’t seen. He’s back now and hasn’t lost a step. Dangerous Animals is a cool B-movie with plenty of chomp-chomp action and an unhinged killer played with relish by Jai Courtney (The Suicide Squad) in a completely bonkers performance.
Byrne hits the ground running with two tourists, Greg (Greinke, Latecomers) and Heather (Newton, Girl at the Window), hiring Tucker to take them cage diving only for him to kill Greg and take Heather prisoner once they’re out on the water. Then we meet Zephyr (Harrison, Yellowstone), an American drifter surfing her way around Australia. She’s a loner by nature which is why she initially doesn’t want to get involved with Moses (Heuston, Heartbreak High), a real estate agent who dresses like somebody from The Book of Mormon. She reluctantly agrees to help him get his car started and the next thing you know, they’re getting busy in the back of her van.
Before the sun comes up the next morning, Zephyr splits to go surfing. In her words, “the early bird catches the barrel”. She doesn’t even make it out of the parking lot. Tucker appears, renders her unconscious and takes her. She wakes up chained to a bed next to Heather below deck on his boat. It doesn’t take her long to figure out they’re not his first victims. Tough girl that she is, Zephyr refuses to accept such a fate. She puts up one hell of a fight trying to escape. At the same time, Moses strikes out on his own trying to find the missing girl. Naturally, the local police don’t pay too much attention to his claims of foul play. She probably just took off.
In a season traditionally filled with big-budget, CGI-heavy noisefests, it’s refreshing to see something like Dangerous Animals. Byrne eschews all the usual bells and whistles to deliver a simple B-movie that gets by on thrills and action. It’s been pared down to almost the bare minimum save for a few digitally enhanced effects. He deftly blends two genres, natural horror and serial killer thriller, to create something that might not be wholly unique but feels fresh just the same. Byrne keeps things moving swiftly although the movie could have stood one less false ending. It just feels like he’s stretching things out a little too much.
Courtney is totally nutso as the killer, a man with a special affinity for sharks, the result of surviving an attack as a child. He really leans into role showing equal measures of quiet menace and psychotic glee when the sharks accept one of his sacrifices. He videotapes his victims being eaten with an ancient camcorder which lends a note of old school sensibility. It’s one of many brilliant creative choices on the part of Byrne and screenwriter Nick Lepard.
Harrison, an attractive girl, is an awesome heroine. I like that Byrne takes the time to develop her character a bit before putting her in jeopardy. We learn why she prefers to do life on her own and while it’s not horrifically tragic, it does explain why she can pick a lock. Life has made her strong, but not invincible. She’s more than capable of taking on her captor. Harrison makes it all believable. Heuston is okay as Moses, the wannabe boyfriend who tries to be a savior in one of the movie’s most thrilling sequences. I’ll only say this, the little dog does NOT die.
The shark attack scenes are well done. Byrne wisely goes with practical effects for the makeup and gore. He keeps the CGI to a minimum, especially where the sharks are concerned. He uses both real ones and mechanical ones. As to the latter, we’ve come a long way since the days of Jaws 3D. They never look fake.
Movies like Dangerous Animals are the reason why I love what I do. It’s still fun sitting in a dark theater on a summer’s day (or night) watching silly movies involving killer sharks or whatever. It doesn’t have to be realistic. In fact, I’d rather it wasn’t. I want to be entertained and that means taking a short leave from reality. I welcome films about killer sharks and serial killers working together (so to speak). Dangerous Animals, filmed on Australia’s Gold Coast (looking beautiful, btw), is great fun. Being reminded of the dangers that lurk in and out of the ocean is a nice way to kick off summer vacation, don’t you think?
