Australia, Dangerous Animals, Ella Newton, Hassie Harrison, horror, Jai Courtney, Josh Heuston, Liam Greinke, movies, reviews, Rob Carlton, Sean Byrne
June 2, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Sean Byrne
Culture Representation: Taking place on Australia’s Gold Coast, the horror film “Dangerous Animals” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: An American woman, who is a drifter/surfing enthusiast, is kidnapped by a serial killer, who drops his victims into a shark-ridden ocean and videorecords his victims getting killed by sharks.
Culture Audience: “Dangerous Animals” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of tension-filled slasher horror films where the killers are sharks and humans.
“Dangerous Animals” is a taut horror film about a serial killer who murders some of his victims by feeding them to deadly sharks in the ocean. Jai Courtney gives an unforgettably sinister performance as an example that humans can be the most dangerous animals of all. The movie has some predictable moments, but the suspenseful tone is top-notch, and the cast members’ acting is better than what the average horror movie has to offer.
Directed by Sean Byrne and written by Nick Lepard, “Dangerous Animals” was filmed on location on Australia’s Gold Coast, where the movie takes place. There’s no mystery about who’s the serial killer because the first scene in the movie reveals who he is. The killer is a muscular loner named Bruce Tucker (played by Courtney), who goes by the name Tucker. He operates a business called Tucker’s Experience, where he takes customers (who are usually tourists) on his medium-sized fishing boat and lowers them in a cage so they can get an up-close look at sharks.
A grizzled elderly sailor named Dave (played by Rob Carlton) often refers customers to Tucker. Dave has no idea that Tucker is really a serial killer, Tucker kidnaps some of his customers, drops them into the ocean by crane when there are deadly sharks nearby, and videorecords these barbaric killings. Even though the movie takes place in the 2020s, Tucker still uses VHS tapes and VHS video cameras to document the murders. He keeps a collection of these murder tapes. Sometimes, he kills people in other ways.
Tucker specifically targets people who are usually not from the area and are people whom he thinks won’t be easily traced back to him. In the movie’s first scene, two tourist acquaintances named Heather (played by Ella Newton) and Greg (played by Liam Greinke) are on Tucker’s boat as new customers who were referred to by Dave. Greg and Heather are not a couple but met each other at the hostel where they’ve been staying, according to what they tell Tucker.
Heather is nervous about going underwater in the cage. Greg has to encourage her to do it. As soon as Tucker hears that Heather and Greg have not told anyone in their travel group that they’re on Tucker’s boat for this excursion, you just know that things will not end well for Heather and Greg.
Before the inevitable happens, Tucker shows Heather and Greg an old Gold Coast Herald newspaper clipping of when he was about 12 or 13 years old and was on the front page because he survived a shark attack. Tucker proudly show his shark bit scar that are on his midsection. As already shown in the movie trailer for “Dangerous Animals,” Tucker murders Greg by stabbing him. What happens to Heather is revealed later.
Meanwhile, an American drifter in her early-to-mid-20s has recently arrived on the Gold Coast to do some surfing because she’s passionate about surfing. Her name is Zephyr (played by Hassie Harrison), and she lives in her van. It’s eventually revealed in the movie that Zephyr has a troubled past of being in foster care when she was a kid. She also has a criminal record, mostly in juvenile detention.
Zephyr crosses paths with Moses Markley (played by Josh Heuston), who’s about the same age as Zephyr, when they are both at the same convenience store. Moses needs someone to jumpstart the battery of his car, which is in the parking lot of the real-estate office where he works. Moses is immediately attracted to Zephyr and flirts with her. She’s standoffish at first but she reluctantly agrees to help him with his car trouble.
On the surface, Zephyr and Moses have completely different lifestyles. Moses works in a 9-to-5 office job where he has to wear a suit and tie. Zephyr is unemployed and dresses like a surfer. Moses comes from an affluent family. Zephyr doesn’t have a family to call her own. Moses is open with his feelings. Zephyr is very guarded with her emotions.
But during their first conversation, Zephyr and Moses find out that they have a few things in common: They both love to surf. And they’re both fans of the 1960s rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival. Zephyr agrees to go on a date with Moses. They spend the night at his place after their first date.
The next morning, Moses is disappointed to see that Zephyr has left without saying goodbye. When he texts her, she says she left to catch some early-morning waves. Moses asks if he can join her later to surf, and she says yes. But before Moses can meet up with her at the beach, Tucker sees Zephyr alone in a deserted parking lot near the beach and kidnaps her.
The rest of “Dangerous Animals” shows what happens when Zephyr is in captivity and Moses’ frantic search to find her. The movie has a very uncomplicated plot, but there are many thrilling twists and turns. The kills in the movie are very gruesome, but that’s to be expected when some of the victims get mangled by sharks.
Harrison gives a very good performance as Zephyr, whose tough exterior covers up a lot of emotional pain. Courtney’s evil villain performance as Tucker is impactful, but the movie comes up short by not explaining why Tucker became a serial killer or anything else about his background besides the fact that he survived a shark attack as a boy. Even with some unanswered questions, “Dangerous Animals” is a straightforward horror movie that doesn’t pretend to be anything that it’s not. It delivers what’s expected and is an adrenaline-pumping and tense ride along the way.
Independent Film Company and Shudder will release “Dangerous Animals” in U.S. cinemas on June 6, 2025.