DANGEROUS ANIMALS (2025) review
written by: Nick Lepard
produced by: Troy Lum, Andrew Mason, Pete Shilaimon, Mickey Liddell, Chris Ferguson & Brian Kavanaugh-Jones
directed by: Sean Byrne
rated: R (for strong bloody violent content/grisly images, sexuality, language and brief drug use)
runtime: 98 min.
U.S. release date: June 6, 2025
There’s been a ton of shark attack movies over the years, yet rarely are they any good. The characters are typically pretty lame, and the reliance on bad CGI makes most of them near-unwatchable. Not to mention, there’s usually some gimmick that either involves extreme weather or drugs, or sometimes both. So, when a clever take on this specific horror subgenre emerges, such as “Dangerous Animals,” fans should take notice and make an effort to check it out. Influenced by a handful of horror classics, screenwriter Nick Lepard aims to offer something very different from the multiple direct-to-video shark bait thrillers released throughout the year. Steering his screenplay is Australian director Sean Byrne, who hasn’t released a feature since 2015’s “The Devil’s Candy” and before that, 2009’s “The Loved Ones”, known for delivering strange and disturbing thrillers. This outing is no different, in that Byrne serves up some very unsettling situations with bloody kills, all with a perverse sense of humor and a killer survival instinct.
Zephyr (Hassie Harrison) is a young American woman living out of a van and making her way up and down the Gold Coast of Australia, while maintaining a stubborn solitude and focusing on catching the waves as a surfer. One night, she meets Moses (Josh Heuston) at a convenience store and is charmingly coerced into helping him jump-start his car battery, with the promise of keeping the pint of ice cream she stole a secret. The two wind up making a connection, before and after casual sex, and the next morning, Zephyr bolts out of there to hit the beach early, before she can enjoy the pancake breakfast Moses made for her. We get the idea that she’s not used to a good thing when it comes to relationships and is more inclined to get out of a situation before it presumably goes south.
Unfortunately, she’s going to wish she stayed with Moses, because soon enough she will find herself knocked out, kidnapped, and handcuffed to a bed in the belly of a boat. Zephyr quickly realizes she’s not alone, noticing another young woman handcuffed to a bed just across from her, and begins to sink in that they are both in grave danger.
The boat belongs to Tucker (Jai Courtney), a grizzled and boisterous local who runs a charter boat business (lamely called “Tucker’s Experience”) that offers clients a chance to swim with sharks out in the ocean. We meet him in the cold opening of “Dangerous Animals”, well before we meet Zephyr. A pair of tourists, Heather (Ella Newton) and Greg (Liam Greinke), are on board Tucker’s boat, having purchased a shark experience from the sketchy sea captain. To calm the couple’s nerves, Tucker assures them that there are more dangerous animals on land and that getting lowered into a cage in shark-infested waters will be the best experience of their lives.
To calm their nerves, Tucker leans in close and asks his tourists to join him in an unexpected sing-along of “Baby Shark”. But, that’s about as comforting as this intensely jolly character gets, since it is quickly (thanks to some crackerjack editing from Kasra Rassoulzadegan) established that he’s a killer of the serial variety that should be more feared than anything under the sea.
As Lepard and Byrne reel viewers in, it’s gradually revealed just how obsessive-compulsive and psychotic Tucker is. He mentions to his unsuspecting clients that he survived a shark attack by a great white when he was 7 years old, lifting his shirt as a gnarly visual aid. However, he doesn’t mention how that was a pivotal event that set him on a determined path to find alternative food for sharks. Tucker has a VHS collection locked away on his boat, categorized by a lock of hair crafted like a fishing lure, with recordings of his victims’ agonizing deaths. While they mostly come to him, he’s not averse to scouring the streets in his pick-up truck (like a shark scanning water) for new shark bait.
Considering his videotape collection, it’s a mystery how Tucker has managed to maintain his work without alerting the curiosity of local authorities. However, he comes across as the kind of sketchy character that most people would overlook or ignore. Lepard doesn’t get into why this guy is such a misogynist, but what we see on screen is enough, and less is usually more than enough. The more we discover about Tucker, the more we realize how his initial charm upon meeting people must be a painful annoyance for him – a necessary means to his predatory ends. He sees people as potential captive audience members to his barely concealed menace, sharing his predatory philosophy and fascination with sharks with fearful listeners.
Courtney impressively calibrates his performance to gradually crescendo into a wounded animal who becomes a maritime nightmare. Known for making an unimpressive appearance in forgettable franchise entry, “Terminator Genesys” and playing the wily Captain Boomerang in “Suicide Squad” where he got to use his Aussie accent, Courtney hasn’t been given the chance to wave his freak flag like this, as Tucker, his manic behavior swings big with solo drunken dance parties and socially awkward excursions to the local thrift store. It’s a hoot to watch.
Tucker relishes what an unexpected challenge the resourceful and resilient Zephyr proves to be. Their battle of wills is quite thrilling to watch, with Harrison dishing out a welcome sassiness that often flusters Courtney’s Tucker. On more than one occasion, Zephyr manages to escape but only to be dragged back into Tucker’s grasp. Those are unexpected moments that keep us on the edge of our seats. Although we know she will be the movie’s Final Girl and he will inevitably receive his just comeuppance, it’s still a blast to watch the Tucker versus Zephyr insanity.
There’s just enough backstory on Zephyr in the first half of “Dangerous Animals” to provide context for who we see, primarily as Moses interacts with her. She was bounced around foster homes as a kid and had to rely on her own and be mindful of who she got close to. She’s not used to someone like Moses, who comes from a place of privilege, yet doesn’t lead with that in any way. Someone who listens. They bond over music (their exchange over Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Ooby Dooby” is humorous, yet doesn’t fall flat when she references it in a Final Girl quip during the movie’s climax – that being said, I prefer Roy Orbison’s version) and “Point Break” quotes. When Moses can’t track her down after their night together, he becomes concerned after visiting all the places he would expect her to be. He becomes just as obsessive in his pursuit of her as she is in her escape.
Watching “Dangerous Animals” found me wishing Sean Byrne would make more movies. In just three features, he’s approaching genre pictures with a distinct style and angle that leaves a lasting impression on viewers. It gets pretty intense, but that doesn’t necessarily come from the shark activity in the movie. Byrne’s song setlist is used in entertaining ways, and composer Michael Yezerski’s score perfectly accentuates the story with just the right amount of jolts. “Dangerous Animals” can easily be described as a summer banger, providing just enough newness and wily energy to a regurgitated subgenre.
RATING: ***
