Matthew Percefull
Shark movies are a staple in the horror genre. These aquatic creature features have paved a unique lane in cinema. Spielberg’s Jaws was about as prestigious as these films would ever get, but that doesn’t mean that they are bad. Shark movies can be the perfect arena for some shlocky fun. Films like Deep Blue Sea and The Shallows have had fun subverting and participating in the campy tropes that these films offer. Sean Byrne’s Dangerous Animals continues this tradition as he mixes sharksploitation with the slasher genre.
Zephyr (Hassie Harrison) is a surfer who is weary of pretty much everyone. When she ends up in the grasp of Tucker (Jai Courtney), a serial killer who feeds his victims to sharks, she learns that human connection may be her only chance at survival. Dangerous Animals knows what you likely think of its premise. It revels in the camp and is all the better for it. It’s not perfect by any means, but if you like campy horror, you’re likely to have a good time.
Dangerous Animals’ cold open is a perfect representation of where this film is headed. If you’re in for the beginning, you’re in for the whole ride. We follow two tourists who have decided to impulsively sign up for a diving tour hosted by Tucker. The entire scene is about subverting expectations. It dangles the shark-shaped carrot in your face. It’s an appetizer of both psychotic Jai Courtney and the twisted sense of humor that Dangerous Animals has. It sets the film up perfectly and calms many of my reservations I had going in. You know you’re in good hands immediately, which is a relief in genre filmmaking. The rest of the first act is a bit slow, but that opening gives you fuel to ride out until the chaos ensues.
Dangerous Animals sits somewhere between a psychological thriller, a slasher, and a creature feature. It’s a love letter to B-horror. The type of film you see at midnight at a drive-in while you hold your date during the tense scenes. Or a film that thirteen-year-olds will be daring each other to watch at sleepovers. It’s a cult classic that feels like it’s always existed. Not in a redundant way. It feels like a film I would’ve come across at Blockbuster as a child and hid because the cover creeped me out. Mid-budget horror like this will always have a place in the ecosystem, and I’m glad future generations will have these campy films to obsess over.
The fun kills and over-the-top villain are expected in a story like this. Where Dangerous Animals surprises is in the quiet scenes. Our final girl, Zephyr spends quite a lot of time locked up with other captives on the boat. We get some great character work in these moments. They delve a lot deeper into the character dynamics than I was expecting. The character work overall is a lot more polished than one would expect from the serial killer shark movie. Effective writing like that makes Dangerous Animals a good candidate for a rewatch.
Director Sean Byrne has a short but notable resume. His previous two films, The Loved Ones and The Devil’s Candy are nasty pieces of Ausploitation that are still able to have a good time. Dangerous Animals cuts out some of the gore and ups the fun to max volume. It has a punk rock feeling to it that propels the story and keeps you engaged in the world. At times, it can feel sanitized compared to Byrne’s other work, though. The kills were a bit less gnarly than I was expecting. The lack of violence doesn’t take much away, but it may disappoint some viewers who are expecting a gorefest.
Josh Heuston and Hassie Harrison play our two young leads. Their characters spark a romance after an awkward meet-cute and hook-up at the beginning of the film. This romance subplot is the weak link of the film. It’s poorly set up and doesn’t make much sense on paper. The actors also lack any on-screen chemistry. Heuston and Harrison put in good individual performances, but it’s just hard to buy them as a couple. It’s hard enough to believe that someone would risk their life for a complete stranger that seemingly went ghost on them, it’s impossible when they behave more like siblings than lovers.
Jai Courtney is the real star of the show here. He’s having so much fun as the blood lusted Tucker that its infectious. Dangerous Animals just doesn’t work without a stand-out performance in this role and Courtney over delivers. From his line deliveries to his body language, Courtney dances that fine line between hilarious and threatening. It’s a ticking time bomb anytime he’s on screen. His backstory as a survivor of a shark attack also added a nice bit of irony to his character that Courtney is able to subtly convey.
Dangerous Animals might seem like your typical non-Jaws shark film on paper, but there really is a lot lurking under the surface. Strapped with a fun concept, great direction and an amazing villain performance, there isn’t much to complain about with this film. Byrne puts another solid notch in his horror auteur belt with Dangerous Animals. Here’s hoping it doesn’t take him another decade for his next feature.
