‘Dangerous Animals’ review: A new kind of serial killer flick (with a terrifying twist)
4/5 shark bites
Sharks are often the villain of their horror stories but Sean Byrne’s new film, Dangerous Animals, makes it clear that the most dangerous predator is man. Well, sharks are still scary but a creepy gut with a boat is also not great.
Tucker (Jai Courtney) is a boat owner in Australia who offers cheap shark diving excursions to tourists. The problem is that he shows them the “wonders” of sharks and then feeds his victims to them. But only after he makes it clear that sharks don’t want to eat humans, they just think we are some other kind of animal. Now I am someone who respects the shark. In the sense that I’m so afraid of them I make sure to not go into their homes. That’s their business, not mine.
So a movie like this was intriguing to me. It’s one of my favorite horror genres (a deranged serial killer with an affinity for recording his kills). But it also had sharks, my biggest and greatest fear. So even as I was frantically trying to hide away from the things I’ve always told myself I will remove from my life by not going into the ocean, I was captivated by the ideas presented before me.
We often see these apex predators as the villains. How many movies have you seen where a shark or an alligator or a snake or some other kind of large animal is made to be the bad guy? We are hunting them, hurting them, as they are trying to survive and yet they are seen as the aggressors. In reality, it is man who is the monster and Dangerous Animals leans heavily into the idea that sharks are not to be feared but to be respected (which I do agree with).
There is a calm beneath the water
There are two moments within Dangerous Animals that had me questioning my fear. They both come to us as a moment of peace for women that Tucker plans on killing for sport. Zephyr (Hassie Harrison) finds a peace with a great white shark and another victim (Ella Newton) is in the cage and finds a calm among the sharks despite her own fear. That’s something that I never thought about nor wanted to experience.
And yet watching as the sharks swim by did bring me a sense of understanding to these animals. It even had me briefly wondering if I could face my fear and swim with sharks. (I cannot.) But as has been my own journey with these creatures, Dangerous Animals shows their power, their nature, and how they are not to be feared but instead respected. My respect keeps me out of the water but you get what I’m saying.
What I loved about Dangerous Animals was that this beauty and this understanding of sharks was paired with Jai Courtney basically being Australia’s Patrick Bateman. It was so fun and twisted and a unique premise for a serial killer film and I loved every second of it. Yes, even when I forced to watch sharks swim around and then try to go to sleep afterwards.
(featured image: Shudder)
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