REVIEW: ‘Dangerous Animals’ Subverts All Expectations

The summer movie season has started, and you can’t get better than Dangerous Animals. Released by Shudder and IFC Films, Dangerous Animals is directed by Sean Byrne, written by Nick Lepard, and stars Jai Courtney, Hassie Harrison, and Josh Heuston as its main cast.

At 93 minutes, Dangerous Animals follows Zephyr. In Australia, Zephyr is a loner and just looking to surf. She’s not looking for relationships or anything to tie her down. A rebel by any other name, her quick wit helps set her apart. This isn’t a manic pixie dream girl. She’s a girl who is deeply over the world around her. Then, she meets Moses.

Dressed like a Mormon Missionary, Moses is immediately drawn to Zephyr, and she to him. But when Zephyr is abducted by Bruce, a shark-obsessed serial killer, and held captive on his boat, she must figure out how to escape before he carries out a ritualistic feeding to the sharks below.

Zephyr joins the ranks of some of the top final girls in horror.

Dangerous Animals doesn’t know when to stop, and it’s better for it. With Zephyr’s continued bad luck as she attempts to escape from Bruce, you’d think that the will-she-escape-won’t-she-escape would wear thin. Instead, Sean Byrne and Nick Lepard have used thoughtful and intelligent physical sequences that let the audience buy into every single triumph and mistake. Zephyr is smart and resilient, and if she’s going to die, it will be on her terms. In the annals of final girls, she is one of the best.

Hassie Harrison’s portrayal is never not entertaining, even when she’s practicing her cold and aloof “I don’t want a boyfriend routine” with Moses. Additionally, we don’t get too much background on who she is and why she is the way she is, and without that exposition, Zephyr grows even bigger. She is someone to root for, but we know she doesn’t need us or anyone else in her corner. She’ll figure it out.

Zephyr offers audiences an apologetic woman looking to set her own path, and she excels at being alone. However, Dangerous Animals carefully balances a serendipitous one-night stand that turns into romance with the thrill of a killer in the best ways. Nothing feels hamfisted; instead, every development feels warranted and at home in the film.

Additionally, Moses is the sweet golden retriever boyfriend or hook-up, if you want to be honest, that anyone would dream of. He doesn’t mind his business, but instead of coming off as overbearing, it’s sweet. More importantly, the earnest way that he approaches the situation, trying to get the police to search for Zephyr and noticing when her van is towed, all help to create a character with attention to detail driven by romanticism.

Moses’ softness balances out Zephyr’s harsh exterior, and it’s not a fault, but a strength. He trusts her and listens to her, and it’s a moment in film that shows that love-at-first-sight maybe isn’t bad at all, even if there are heaps of trauma bonding holding it up.

Then, of course, to round out the three leads of Dangerous Animals is Jai Courtney. His performance is easily an all-timer, taking the Buffalo Bill dance into his weird single, drunk, straight dude territory that is both hilarious and intimidating. Despite only being six-foot-one, the ship’s door frames and corridors, when paired with Zephyr’s small frame as his victim, make Courtney’s Bruce into a monster.

Jai Courtney is on another level in Dangerous Animals.

Instead of leaning on sexual fantasies or painting sharks as mindless killing machines, Dangerous Animals instead pulls the camera in close on Bruce, his shark attack survival, and his ritual of finding tourists for the sharks. Despite his gruff exterior, he has everything figured out, and as we see, Zephyr isn’t the first, second, third, or even fourth time he’s done this. Bruce views himself as the Apex predator, necessary to keep the ecosystem in check, to cull those who would unsettle the balance.

Bruce’s cruelty drives this film, and it’s always clearly detached from the sharks themselves. They’re ultimately tools, and to be honest, it’s refreshing. After Jaws was released, the poaching of sharks became worse. Human fear, stoked by their inability to understand food chains and ecosystems, decimates many shark populations.

And right now, with the environment balancing on a razor’s edge at best, Byrne and Lepard’s choices to use the theme and tropes of the shark creature feature and map them onto Jai Courtney’s character are excellent.  Moralizing movies aside, it’s also an interesting take that doesn’t make you fear going into the water… just talking to strangers.

Everything about Dangerous Animals works. The characters pull you into the story, their decisions make sense, and ultimately, at just over an hour and a half, it knows exactly how to use every minute. With everything going for it, I’d be surprised if it didn’t become an instant classic. Dangerous Animals lives for shocking moments, but none of them supersede the story. This is the best time you’ll have on the water and the perfect summer scream.

Dangerous Animals is playing theaters nationwide June 6, 2025.