‘Dangerous Animals’: Sean Byrne’s Horror Mashup Is a Big Fish Tale With Loads of Chum
Tony Sokol
Australian director Sean Byrne’s “Dangerous Animals” is a mixed-genre survival thriller which weaponizes sharks in a newly exploitive twist: unknowingly playing second mate to a seafaring serial killer. Think “Saw” on the high seas or “Hostel” with a waterslide. The ocean is deceptively calm because the premise is too treacherous to work on land.
The horror mashup opens with a promising tease. Operating out of Surfers Paradise on Australia’s Gold Coast, Tucker (Jai Courtney) advertises an immersive “Swimming with Sharks” experience. The fishing boat skipper offers cage-dives reminiscent of the memorable undersea highlight of Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws.” Tourists Greg (Liam Greinke) and Heather (Ella Newton) decide to take the plunge after missing a hotel junket ride to Sea World. Tucker eases their nerves while heightening tension with flirtations and veiled threats until making good on a “human chum” joke. It is as surprising as the opening scene in the 1970s classic. That is where comparisons to Spielberg stop.
Tucker is a good character stranded on a deserted premise: a serial killer who uses sharks to kill his victims. Tucker stages snuff films as aquatic ballet which he records on a vintage video camera. As a tour guide, Tucker doesn’t have much repeat business, but his cassette library is full. Screenwriter Nick Lepard maintains a cat-and-mouse game which gets old fast because of the rushed backstory, contrived shortcuts, and obvious predetermined conclusion.
We know Tucker’s next victim, Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), is a badass American because she shoplifts ice cream as an introduction. She is spotted by local realtor Moses (Josh Heuston), who blackmails her into jump-starting his car. They both like Creedence Clearwater Revival. They both like surfing, though it is Zephyr’s escape from a fractured early life. The cute tone change does little to broaden the characters beyond creating the bond which gives Moses an excuse to look into Zephyr’s disappearance.
Jai Courtney exerts a brutal charisma as Tucker, weaving soft humor between hard violence. He gives more than the script offers. Tucker’s only motive is some vague mother issues and a terse soliloquy about surviving a shark encounter as a child. Tucker frames his psychopathic worldview as part of the ecosystem’s natural hierarchy, but he is merely a predator. Tucker is a new kind of incel: an old-school macho misogynist.
Courtney makes Tucker fun to watch through force of will and channeling his inner Oliver Reed. Tucker gets erotic and sportsmanship thrills from the snuff tapes, and collects trophies. He tucks a lock of each victims’ hair into the casing, binding it like fishing lures. Tucker sees himself as the shark, and Zephyr as a marlin, which he calls “the fighting fish.” Zephyr is a worthy opponent to Tucker, and Harrison jumps into the part ferociously. Zephyr is not a victim. She taunts her captor, painfully mangles herself out of handcuffs, and escapes over and over again. Zephyr flips the damsel-in-distress cliché on its head by saving the rescuer, but otherwise remains stuck in routine survival mode.
“Dangerous Animals” contains some extremely well-shot horrific moments, such as the morning aftermath of one of Tucker’s evening performances. The shark-bait rituals are also successful low-key spectacles. Cinematographer Shelley Farthing-Dawe highlights the seascape artfully, whether drenched in the sun, or under the ominous night beams of the boat. Searching helicopters adds to daylight suspense, while the nightlife of vacation resorts dangles chances of escape. The isolated location heightens the peril, but too much time is spent confined to the onboard cell with the previous victims’ names carved in the paint.
Even among footage of real sharks, the CGI is so obvious it dilutes the fear. This reviewer still roots for the sharks, even if they are merely a tourist trap. The soundscape from composer Michael Yezerski, along with the Australian rock soundtrack, propels the journey through straightforward survival thriller territory in spite of the murky waters.
Besides a few lags, Byrne keeps the action moving fast so no one questions how little sense everything makes. The contrivances keeping the chase story on track are too far-fetched and spontaneously convenient to be convincing, and don’t push far enough to brave uncharted waters. “Dangerous Animals” finds a new twist for old tropes, but sticks to standard navigation.
“Dangerous Animals” releases June 6 in select theaters.