Dangerous Animals
A Relentless, Smartly Directed Shark Horror
Survival thrillers like Dangerous Animals need to get three things right: they have to throw the protagonist into a tense, high-stakes situation we actually care about; they need a lead smart enough to maybe get out of it, even if we can’t quite see how; and they should cut the nonsense and get to the point. Thankfully, Australian director Sean Byrne gets all three right in Dangerous Animals, a super fun and constantly tense ride that never wastes a second. Every scene either makes the villain scarier, makes us root for the heroine, or shows her next escape attempt—each one smarter, and each one more frustrating when it fails at the last second.
The movie follows Zephyr, an independent surfer who wakes up trapped on a boat after being kidnapped. Her captor is a shark-obsessed man who believes he’s doing nature a favor by feeding people that no one will miss to sharks. Signs on the wall suggest he’s done this before—more than once. But Zephyr, who’s had to fend for herself her whole life, isn’t going down without a fight. She’s resourceful, quick-thinking, and refuses to give up. What follows is a string of escape attempts, near-breakouts, and setbacks that keep raising the tension. And when her captor isn’t the immediate danger, there’s always the shark circling below.
It honestly sounds like the kind of B-movie you’d skip past on a random streaming service. But what makes Dangerous Animals stand out—enough to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, in the Directors’ Fortnight section—is Byrne’s direction. He knows exactly what kind of movie he’s making and uses the tight setting to full effect, turning the boat into a pressure cooker. The pacing is sharp, the action hits hard, and he keeps coming up with clever ways to keep the suspense going.
Jai Courtney is genuinely great as the villain (he’s been so much better lately now that he’s out of the big Hollywood franchises). He’s unhinged and almost cartoonish at times, but it works—he’s creepy, kind of funny, and even makes Baby Shark terrifying. (Between this and Drop, that song is really having a moment in horror.) Hassie Harrison is also a perfect fit for this kind of role. She brings wit, grit, and makes you believe Zephyr is always thinking two steps ahead, even when things go wrong.
Dangerous Animals is just a really good time—especially in a movie theater. Tightly paced and unflinchingly physical, it is a masterclass in how to turn a familiar genre setup into something thrilling and deeply satisfying. My audience was clapping at the end. What made it even better for me was that I saw it at Cannes, not in one of the festival’s fancy theaters, but in a school auditorium. And honestly? It was one of the most memorable screenings I had during the whole festival. Sometimes, a well-made genre film like this hits harder than a lot of the “important” stuff.