Movie Review: DANGEROUS ANIMALS

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: June 6th, 2025 / 02:00 AM

DANGEROUS ANIMALS movie poster | ©2025 IFC/Shudder

Rating: R
Stars: Hassie Harrison, Jai Courtney, Josh Heuston, Ella Newton, Rob Carlton, Liam Greinke
Writer: Nick Lepard
Director: Sean Byrne
Distributor: IFC/Shudder
Release Date: June 6, 2025 (theatrical)

There are now enough criminals-obsessed-with-sharks movies for these to qualify as a moderately well-populated subgenre. DANGEROUS ANIMALS emerges at the top of this particular food chain – and even if it were just a serial killer movie, it would still be good.

We are introduced to Tucker’s Encounters battered but functioning dive cage boat, moored off a beach on the Australian Gold Coast, the big city in the background.

Heather (Ella Newton) and Greg (Liam Greinke) have become friends and maybe more at a hostel. Heather is English, on her gap year from college; Greg is a Canadian, just roaming around.

Heather is hesitant about the notion of cage-diving with sharks, but Greg and Captain Bruce Tucker (Jai Courtney) convince her to take the plunge.

We don’t make it to the opening credits before we discover bluntly that Tucker is a smiling psychopath. It takes us awhile longer to learn his true agenda, not to mention his usual m.o.

Then we’re introduced to Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), an ace American surfer living out of her van by the beaches of Australia’s Gold Coast. Zephyr has a not-quite-meet-cute with young realtor Moses (Josh Heuston), who is in the middle of a jumper-cable emergency.

When Zephyr reluctantly comes to the rescue, she finds that Moses is a fellow surfer. They spend a great night together, and then the commitment-phobic Zephyr bolts. She does agree, though, to go surfing with Moses the next morning.

When Zephyr is kidnapped by Tucker, Moses at first thinks he’s simply been stood up. However, he is smitten enough to start searching in earnest once he suspects Zephyr may be the victim of foul play.

Director Sean Byrne and writer Nick Lepard manage to inject some authentically sweet romantic undertone here, although the big ongoing show is between Tucker and Zephyr. Tucker perceives himself as an alpha predator, like a shark, and Zephyr is an alpha of self-defense and ingenuity. The advantage shifts repeatedly back and forth between them in ways we both do and don’t expect, and we become increasingly engaged with wondering about the next moves of each.

Byrne keeps us looking around for objects that can be used as makeshift weapons and stages bracingly brutal fights that never seem superhuman. Lepard not only structures events so that they escalate dramatically but also has some enjoyably quirky dialogue.

For those squeamish about such things, it should be noted there is no threat of rape. Except for one big VFX shot, the shark attacks occur below camera. There is also a gratifying amount of footage of real sharks, taking in the majesty and variety of these animals.

In fact, DANGEROUS ANIMALS is fairly pro-shark, depicting them as not only impressive to observe, but also as something other than indiscriminate eating machines.

It’s not improbable that Tucker, a shark attack survivor himself, would subsequently become fascinated with the creatures. There are real-life shark experts, such as frequent SHARK WEEK participant Paul de Gelder, who have lost limbs to the animals and then become shark advocates.

However, they don’t draw the conclusions that Tucker holds dear. When Zephyr gives Tucker the nearly-inevitable “We’re nothing alike” speech, it’s a pity that she didn’t see the opening sequence, where we (and Tucker, Heather, and Greg) experience sharks swimming in a school. Then Zephyr could have added to her list of condemnations that Tucker is wrong about sharks being solitary creatures.

Either by coincidence or design, Courtney spends much of the film looking like Richard Dreyfuss circa JAWS, which is an intriguing effect all its own, as if his character had gone insane after those events. Courtney is excellent, underplaying at every opportunity, demonstrating that Tucker makes complete sense to himself.

Harrison is spirited and appealing, and Heuston is likeable as her suitor. Newton is sympathetic as Heather, and Rob Carlton adds color as an old wharf hand.

DANGEROUS ANIMALS has enough sharks to make it attractive for fans of the subgenre, and enough action and plot twists for thriller enthusiasts in general.

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