Dangerous Animals (15) |Close-Up Film Review

Sun, surf, and a serial killer with a shark obsession? Oh yes. Dangerous Animals takes one bite and doesn’t let go.

Sean Byrne (The Loved Ones) returns with a twisted sunburnt nightmare that crashes through the waves of genre tropes and pulls us deep into a salt-stung survival story soaked in dread. One part blood-splattered horror, one part edge-of-your-seat thriller, this is the kind of film that grabs your attention fast and leaves you breathless by the final reel.

Meet Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), a fearless, free-spirited surfer who rides the waves like she owns the ocean. But paradise turns to pure hell when she’s kidnapped by Tucker, a shark-worshipping madman with a boat, a plan, and a whole lot of sharp objects. The film plunges us straight into the nightmare, wasting no time—and neither does Tucker.

Now let’s talk about the man of the hour: Jai Courtney. This is easily a career-best performance for him. Known for action-heavy turns in The Suicide Squad and Terminator Genisys, here he dives into the deep end—pun intended—and gives us something raw, deranged, and hypnotically terrifying. His Tucker is a true oceanic lunatic, obsessed with the sacred “order” between man and predator. One minute he’s whispering shark facts with eerie reverence, the next he’s unleashing feral violence—and we hang on every word, every twitch, every terrifying smile.

Now, I’ve got to say it—Hassie Harrison doesn’t quite match Courtney’s intensity. Her Zephyr has moments of grit, but there’s a lack of spark that keeps her from fully igniting as the film’s final girl. She’s decent, she does the job, and she certainly gets her hands dirty when it counts—but when your villain is a scene-stealing force of nature, it takes something electric to balance that out. Still, she’s not just floating—she holds the film’s centre, even if it occasionally slips through her fingers.

Where Dangerous Animals truly slaps is in its atmosphere. The cinematography leans into sun-bleached paranoia, turning the ocean from a place of beauty into a suffocating, endless threat. The water glistens like glass, but you just know something’s circling beneath. And Sean Byrne knows exactly how to build that quiet, mounting dread, whether it’s a still moment on a deserted beach or a silent figure lurking on deck with a rope and a cold stare. It’s not just jump scares—it’s tension you can taste, thick in the air like sea salt on your lips.

And can we take a moment for the sound design? Every creak of the boat, every splash, every silence is loaded with danger. You’re constantly scanning the frame, expecting something to strike—and more often than not, it does.

Josh Heuston and Ella Newton show up briefly as Zephyr’s concerned friends, but let’s be honest—this is a two-character showdown. A psychological tug-of-war wrapped in rope, blood, and crashing waves. And it is glorious.

The final act? Let’s just say Zephyr finally bites back, and the result is a cathartic, salt-sprayed showdown that had me yelling at the screen in the best way. She may not land every emotional beat early on, but when it’s time to fight or become fish food—she delivers. By the end, she’s bloodied, breathless, and absolutely unforgettable.

Dangerous Animals is tense, twisted, and totally exhilarating. Jai Courtney sinks his teeth into a role unlike anything we’ve seen from him before, and while Harrison doesn’t quite match his madness, she still holds her ground when it matters most. With jaw-clenching suspense, sunburnt cinematography, and a serious sense of style, Sean Byrne proves he knows how to build a nightmare and let it breathe. It’s bloody. It’s bold. And it’s brilliantly bonkers.

A viciously good time with bite, brains, and brutal beauty. Stay out of the water.