Dangerous Animals (2025)
Directed by: Sean Byrne
Premise: An Australian boat captain (Jai Courtney) abducts tourists and feeds them to sharks. A young woman (Hassie Harrison) tries to find a way out before it’s her turn.
What Works: Sharksploitation is a popular genre that has exploded in recent years. A lot of these films have been shipwreck stories or Jaws knockoffs. Dangerous Animals brings a different angle. Reminiscent of 1976’s Eaten Alive and Mako: The Jaws of Death, Dangerous Animals makes a madman the chief villain; the sharks are his instrument. The regard for nature is unique. Sharks and the natural world are neither virtuous nor evil in this film and the shark footage possesses a fearsome beauty. The polished quality of the filmmaking is an interesting contrast with the spirit of the picture. At its heart, Dangerous Animals is classic exploitation cinema, literally dangling a woman over a ravenous shark. But Dangerous Animals has been made with a contemporary sensibility. The characters feel real and they are effectively established in the opening. Hassie Harrison plays a surfer who lives out of her van but meets a nice, stable guy played by Josh Heuston. They kick off a romance and Harrison and Heuston make a likable couple which enhances the drama when they are put in jeopardy. Jai Courtney plays the villainous boat captain and Courtney is quite menacing but he also has a charm and energy that makes him scarier. Dangerous Animals has some gripping sequences and the filmmakers effectively draw out the tension.
What Doesn’t: While Dangerous Animals has a refreshingly different angle than we’ve usually seen in these films, it’s also much more of a serial killer movie than it is a shark movie. Viewers won’t be treated to as much shark action as they might expect from Jaws or The Reef. There are some noticeable continuity problems with the shark footage. It appears the filmmakers used real shark footage but they mix together different species. This becomes a bit distracting in some of the early sequences as the species of shark shifts from shot to shot. Dangerous Animals is also a tourism horror picture, putting it in the same subgenre as Hostel and Influencer. The flaw of many of these movies is that they require the victims to be a bit stupid. The characters of Dangerous Animals are mostly credible but it’s hard to imagine contemporary vacationers making some of these choices. With the ubiquity of true crime stories, most of today’s travelers know to be warry of situations that would put them in danger.
Bottom Line: Dangerous Animals is a well made mix of sharksploitation and travel horror. The movie succeeds in thrilling and frightening the audience and Dangerous Animals offers a slightly different take on the killer shark genre.
Episode: #1052 (June 15, 2025)