‘Dangerous Animals’ review: Sean Byrne’s Australian sharksploitation lacks real bite

Dir: Sean Byrne. Australia. 2025. 98mins

The azure waters off Australia’s Gold Coast hide a dark secret in Dangerous Animals; and it’s not just the man-eating sharks that lurk in the depths. Following an Australian tourist guide whose shark obsession leads him to commit heinous acts, Sean Byrne’s third feature is a messy mash-up of creature feature and serial killer movie whose psychological posturing and gory effects can’t hide the fact that it’s propped up by tired horror tropes.

A messy mash-up of creature feature and serial killer movie

Byrne’s debut feature The Loved Ones won the People’s Choice Award in Toronto’s Midnight Madness strand in 2009, and follow-up Devil’s Candy played Sitges before being released in the US through IFC and Shudder, who have reteamed for a Dangerous Animals release in the US in June following its Directors Fortnight premiere. Whatever the reviews, horror fans everywhere should be tempted by the film’s high-concept premise, sharksploitation vibes and bloody chills.

Australian actor Jai Courtney is a world away from his Terminator Genisys / Suicide Squad action hero roots as the portly, unshaven Tucker, who runs shark safaris from his rusting hulk of a boat. Tucker seems friendly enough – until he gets out on the open sea, where he drugs unsuspecting (and exclusively) female tourists and feeds them to the sharks, carefully filming the ritualistic killing for repeat enjoyment. The amount of time that Byrne and cinematographer Shelley Farthing-Dawe spend lingering over terrified bikini clad victim Heather (Australian actor Ella Newton, with a persuasive British accent), both before and during her violent death, may be indicative of the depths of Tucker’s perverse fascination, but feels more uncomfortably calculated and predatory than either him or the circling beasts.

The racks of VHS tapes on his wall speak to the scale of Tucker’s psychopathy but, when he abducts free-spirited American surfer Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), he meets his match. A fellow loner and all-round tough cookie, Zephyr is not going down without a fight – particularly as she has recently met and fallen for local real estate agent Moses (Josh Heuston). Indeed, the spark resulting from their one night together is strong enough to send Moses looking for her when she doesn’t return his calls.

There are plenty of tense moments as Zephyr fights for her life – more than once she escapes Tucker’s clutches, only to be reeled back in by unfortunate circumstances. While the contained, isolated location brings a heightened sense of helplessness and claustrophobia (the film shot on a real boat off Australia’s Gold Coast), Nick Lepard’s overstretched screenplay doesn’t extend much beyond this well-worn cat-and-mouse scenario, and fails to bring nuance or depth that may have elevated the film beyond its simple story.

Crucially, and aside from brief and obvious references to his unfit mother, Tucker’s motivations remain unclear. The parallels he makes between himself and these killer kings of the ocean are drawn from pop psychology; his impassioned belief that sharks are misunderstood put at deliberate odds with his gleeful manipulation of their maneating. While Courtney does well to harness the childhood trauma that has left its mark – you’ll never hear ‘Baby Shark’ in the same way again – the character is written as a one-note psychopath who has just found another inventive way to kill women for pleasure.

Similarly, and despite Harrison’s committed, gung-ho performance, Zephyr is a join-the-dots final girl, another damaged soul who must square up to the demons inside herself if she is to best these real-world monsters. It doesn’t help that she is pitted against a shambling human nemesis, rather than just the more entertainingly unpredictable aquatic hunters of shark horrors like The Meg, The Shallows and, of course, Jaws.

More successful is the film’s atmospheric soundscape, with composer Michael Yezerski and Academy Award-winning sound designer David White (Fury Road) creating a rich and unsettling aural experience. And along the way there is certainly plenty of blood, guts and several well-timed jump scares – not to mention footage of real-life sharks blended into the action – that will surely please late-night crowds. Yet, underneath it all, Dangerous Animals proves rather toothless.