Starting June 12, Ukrainian cinemas will be showing a remarkable struggle for survival in the thriller/horror film «Dangerous Animals», starring Hassie Harrison and Jai Courtney. The plot is notable for the fact that the main character has to escape not only from the fanged predators that Spielberg so inventively scared the audience with half a century ago, but also from a mad maniac who is up to no good. What was the result of this deadly combination?
Pluses:
enough tense moments to make your blood run cold; a good attempt to combine «shark» horror with a thriller about a rabid maniac; good work from Jai Courtney as a shredded murderer;
Minuses:
the filmmakers clearly abuse the cat-and-mouse game between the protagonist and the antagonist; a number of unrealistic scenes; a banal predictable ending that does not make a proper impression;
«Dangerous Animals»
Genre survival horror movie, maniacal thriller
Director Sean Byrne
Starring Hassie Harrison, Jai Courtney, Josh Huston, Ella Newton, Liam Greinke, Rob Carlton
Premiere movie theaters
Year of issue 2025
Website IMDb
In Australia’s Gold Coast, for many tourists, Tucker is a boat owner who organizes adrenaline-pumping shark dives. However, in reality, he is a ruthless psychopath who lets carefree young people, mostly girls, feed on predators. Once upon a time, Tucker himself almost became a victim of a shark, which left him with huge scars. Now he considers his deadly routine a true calling, reverently recording the bloody massacres on an old-fashioned VHS.
One day, a young surfer with the sweet name Zephyr comes to the villain’s attention. Tucker, of course, can’t resist the pleasure of grabbing the girl to carry out his cruel ritual once again. But the rebellious blonde turns out to be a tough nut to crack, as she tries to do everything possible to avoid becoming dinner for the fanged ocean creatures.
«Dangerous Animals» premiered in the «Directors’ Fortnight» program at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and its official poster bears the proud inscription «from the producers of the horror “Longlegs”». The former can add some weight to a straightforward B movie, while the latter is pure marketing and is intended to draw additional attention to a rather modest project. Given the mention of a hype horror movie with an unrecognizable Nicolas Cage.
Interestingly, it was Cage who had the honor of opening the current beach season in the movie in «The Surfer», where there was also plenty of madness, toxic masculinity, and picturesque views of the Australian coastline. In the summer, which is usually associated with vacations, the film industry is once again ready to offer not only a series of obscenely expensive blockbusters, but also another a story about underwater danger — with a summer beach vibe and the obligatory bitten off limbs that dilute the beautiful emerald water with red. Last year, it was not very beachy, but rather bloody nonsense «Under Paris», the year before that — more blockbuster and no less ridiculous «Meg 2: The Trench» with the steadfast Statham.
However, «Dangerous Animals» — is a different kind of beast; it’s easy to guess where its paws (or rather fins) come from. Typical sharksploitation here meets a thriller about a deranged maniac. «Jaws» (1975) — with conditional «Saw». A blonde surfer like the one who appeared in «The Shallows» performed by Blake Lively — again with conditional Freddy Kruegerwhose main arsenal is shark jaws instead of sharp blades.
That is, the usual blonde woman, rooted in the tradition of the Hitchcockian thriller, is pitted against a ruthless murderer, and both exist in a setting saturated with Spielbergian suspense (which, by the way, also relied heavily on Hitchcock). But at times, the film stretches not so much to the thriller genre with its highly electrified air as to a banal slasher, where a psychopath chases his most coveted final girl.
Debut screenwriter Nick Lepard and Australian director Sean Byrne, who hasn’t made a movie in 10 years, don’t try to reinvent the wheel, but instead mix different genres and elements with gusto (there’s even room for a romantic line). It seems to work out quite well, but not without significant flaws that can spoil the overall viewing experience.
The problem is that, just like the non-stop action in the still-relevant «Ballerina», the cat-and-mouse game between the protagonist and the serial killer at some point starts to get boring. The maneuver with an unsuccessful escape, which is already a rusty genre cliché, can work only once, and then it’s just nonsense. Just like the moments when Zephyr is not in the mood for chocolate and, in theory, she should be in trouble, but for some reason this does not happen.
But otherwise, the movie has enough chilling scenes and tense episodes to keep fans of the creepy genre satisfied.
Jai Courtney, whose popularity peaked in the 2010s, when he was constantly starring in high-profile blockbusters, looks surprisingly organic in the frame — we recall «A Good Day to Die Hard» (2013), two parts of «Divergent» (2014, 2015), «Terminator: Genisys» (2015) and «Suicide Squad» (2016). It’s worth noting that he turned out to be a much better maniac than John McClane’s son or even Kyle Reese — roles that were a complete miscast. Now we can definitely say that the actor is in his place. Hassie Harrison doesn’t go beyond the typical image of a sufferer who can stand up for herself, but no more is required of her in principle.
«Isn’t this the best show on earth?» — this is the line that Courtney’s character says in one of the scenes, and if we take it in a meta-context regarding the characteristics of the film, the answer is «definitely not». We have seen better. But as one-time entertainment for fans of the genre, why not? You can watch it, even with the caveat that it will undoubtedly be a difficult task to stick your thumb up.
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