War Is Hell But Sharks Are Worse In the Beast Of War Trailer

A canoe of commandos gets crunched by carcharidon carcharias in the finest act of alliteration ever written.

I like shark movies, I like war movies, and those rare moments when the two intersect are like PB&J to me (the Americans got that one right, believe). So imagine my delight when I learned that old amigo Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead) was bringing us exactly that. The result is Beast Of War, a sorta-based-on-a-true-story thriller that sees mates become chum in the furnace of World War II.

Beast Of War Trailer

What’s the plot?

The official synopsis has been dispatched direct from the front:

1942: A warship carries hundreds of Australian soldiers across the Timor Sea to the frontline of WW2. Suddenly, Japanese fighter jets scream out of the sky, and within minutes the ocean becomes a hell of steel, fire, oil and blood.

With the vessel destroyed, a handful of soldiers build a makeshift raft from floating debris as they cling to their lives. Tensions run high between the hot-headed and terrified young men, as they band together in an effort to survive.

But their biggest battle is yet to come. In the dark below, a great white shark hunts in the wreckage and is
drawn to the smell of fresh blood in the water. Heroes will emerge and bad blood will rise to the surface, as these soldiers do whatever it takes to survive a war with an apex predator.

Who’s in it?

• Mark Coles Smith is Leo.
• Joel Nankervis is Will.
• Sam Delich is Des.
• Maximillian Johnson is Stan.
• Lee Tiger Halley is Teddy.
• Sam Parsonson is Thompson.
• Tristan McKinnon is Bobby.
• Aswan Reid is Archie.
• Masa Yamaguchi is Commander Tetsuo Harada.

When’s it out?

Beast Of War is in Australian cinemas from October 9, 2025.

What’s the vibe?

Hell, I’m sold. Now, as we all know, the most famous shark attack of World War II is the USS Indianapolis incident, as recounted by ol’ mate Quint in Jaws. That’s been filmed twice already, as the TV movie Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis in 1991, and as USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage in 2016. But despite the latter coming at the height of Nicolas Cage‘s “oh shit it’s the IRS” period, they’re really only for obsessives (like… uh… me). Beast Of War might be based on a lesser known event, but it looks like it may actually be a good movie, so it’s ahead on points.