Jai Courtney’s vivid performance as a shark-obsessed serial killer is the highlight of this crowd-pleasing horror.
Sharks are scary. Serial killers are scary. The combination? Scary as hell. Built around a high concept elevator pitch so perfect it’s a wonder it hasn’t been done before, Australian director Sean Byrne‘s Dangerous Animals makes the absolute most of it. It’s a riveting, bloody, mean little thrill ride that moves faster than a mako and is guaranteed to have audiences screaming.
Our killer is Jai Courtney‘s Tucker, who runs shark-diving expeditions off his hulking, refitted tug boat. In the normal course of events that involves a protective cage, but not when Tucker’s blood is up and he turfs his victims overboard with a few bleeding wounds and films the results on an ancient camcorder. In these moments he’s in a kind of religious reverie. To him, sharks are gods of the deep and he, himself a shark attack survivor, their willing acolyte.
Into this toothy trap comes itinerant beach babe Zephyr (Hassie Harrison of Yellowstone). A loner on an endless surfing safari, she lives out of her van and allows herself no personal attachments – perfect prey for our villain. But Moses (Josh Heuston of Dive Club, appropriately enough), a recent one night stand, has developed feels. While Zephyr is handcuffed in the bowels of Tucker’s floating lair, Moses is himself on the hunt to see if there was a real connection. It’s hardly a spoiler to note that he may come to regret his romantic urges.
But at it’s heart, Dangerous Animals is a two-hander. Other characters come and go (messily more often than not) but our focus is squarely on the battle of wills between Zephyr and Tucker. Harrison is great as the tough, self-reliant Zephyr, but Courtney makes a meal of the film’s showiest role. Big as a bull and imbued with that kind of quietly hostile over-friendliness that is common to a particularly Australian brand of aggressive masculinity, Tucker is a fascinating creation. Smartly, we never get a “why I’m evil” speech, but clues here and there hint at his past, including a bite scar reminiscent of famed attack survivor Rodney Fox‘s. Courtney knows when to go large and when to retreat into himself, and while his big scenes are complete show-stoppers, it’s the quieter moments that are chilling.
Director Sean Byrne handles it all with confidence and precision, delivering a propulsive thriller that will play incredibly well with packed audiences. It’s been a decade since his last film, The Devil’s Candy, but he hasn’t missed a trick. Dangerous Animals is such an assured beast that we can only hope it’s nowhere near so long until his next offering.
Dangerous Animals is screening at the Sydney Film Festival ahead of its theatrical release on June 12, 2025.
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