I have this theory, maybe more of a philosophy, when it comes to shark-centric movies. From Jaws to Under Paris, if I’m watching a movie that features sharks in any form or fashion I’m – without exception – rooting for the sharks. No disrespect to the hapless beach-goers and Quint, Hooper, and the gang, but unless they’ve got a fin, they’re not my pick to win.
It has been a solid decade since Sean Byrne’s last film, 2015’s The Devil’s Candy, and twenty six years since his first directorial outing with 2009’s The Loved Ones. Both of these films make my shortlist of my favourite horror films of all time and I’ve never identified more with a hungry shark smelling blood in the water than hearing about his newest production, Dangerous Animals. Byrne has done a spectacular job at induced demand here, since I’ve been practically salivating at the prospect of a new Byrne joint since the credits rolled on his last one.
In Dangerous Animals, we’re immediately introduced to Jai Courtney’s Tucker, a deranged tour boat operator who has a sexual proclivity for feeding women to sharks and meticulously documenting the act on a series of VHS tapes in his collection, each packaged with a lock of the victim’s hair. One of the most clever reveals of the film is the slow pan out to the sheer number of these videos in his cabinet, showing just how deadly and dedicated Tucker is to his, uh, craft. Under Byrne’s direction, Nick Lepard’s writing, and Courtney’s considerable commitment to the character, Tucker is a twisted, charismatic, compelling villain who is both capable and highly fixated on showmanship. He even gets a twisted dance number about halfway through.
On the other side of this equation is Hassie Harrison’s Zephyr, a nomadic American surfer who’s found herself in Australia for the love of the waves. Fiercely independent and living out of a van, she’s the kind of free spirit that isn’t tethered to any particular place or person, making her the perfect target for Tucker’s predatory impulses. Combined with this, Zephyr is shown to be incredibly resourceful while also possessing an athleticism and instinct for survival that makes her the kind of Final Girl that could have been grown in a lab. She more than lives up to this potential as she survives so many harrowing encounters with Tucker while always coming up with a new, cunning plan to escape even if some are more successful than others.
So with these two opponents set up and a bunch of sharks caught in between, how does one land on rooting for the titular animals? What Dangerous Animals does that few other shark films even attempt, is to simultaneously use sharks as an ever-present natural threat while also depicting their immense beauty, majesty and value. It might not always be realistic, but just feels right. Tucker, even through his mania, is a survivor of a shark attack and has used that trauma to conceive of his method of killing and to satisfy his sexual (and perhaps artistic?) impulses. He makes long, impassioned speeches about the superiority of sharks, but it’s very clear that he sees himself as one of these beautiful creatures and he definitely is not.
Writer Nick Lepard conceived the idea for Dangerous Animals based on a certain amount of backlash against 2016’s The Shallows in which a surfer, portrayed by Blake Lively, is stranded a distance offshore and is terrorized by great white sharks. In that film, as in so many others, the sharks are portrayed as being little more than eating machines that could cause the public to fear and even hate our finned friends. Byrne, once reading the concept and refining the script, made his intentions clear by saying that “the more I thought about it, the more excited I got about the chance to make a shark film where the shark isn’t the obvious antagonist. I thought, if JAWS turned the shark into a monster then this could be the long overdue film to correct the cruel misconception by pointing the finger at the real monster: man.”
Under Byrne’s direction, characters feel fleshed out and each one has both clear motivations (even if it’s as simple as ‘save the girl’ or ‘avoid getting eaten’). We join the cast as they experience a wide variety of harrowing incidents as Zephyr and Tucker struggle for control on Tucker’s ship, and you’re keenly aware that there’s little control to be had with the menacing and highly intelligent predators circling beneath. Of Byrne’s films, this may be the one with the least subtext but the most consistent use of tension throughout as Zephyr makes several inventive attempts to escape Tucker’s ship. A potential assist by a well-meaning but largely incapable hero in Moses (Josh Heuston) doesn’t go quite as planned, and is one of the ways that Dangerous Animals cleverly flips the ‘damsel in distress’ trope on its head.
In terms of presentation, Byrne’s precise direction perfectly captures the small-space, close-quarters cat-and-mouse conflict between Tucker and Zephyr while also portraying just how isolated and seemingly-inescapable the setting is. There’s a number of fight scenes and struggles that you feel viscerally because they take place in a fairly tight hallway or room in Tucker’s ship and you’re always keenly aware that Tucker could be lurking around any corner of the ship as the sharks circle the water surrounding it. It’s a great way to build and maintain a steady level of tension, which Dangerous Animals has in spades.
As BBP’s resident Sean Byrne fan, I had sky-high expectations for Dangerous Animals after waiting a decade since his last film. Introducing, contorting, and perfectly executing a shark-centric thriller, one of my favourite forms of horror, exceeded all of those expectations. This film has joined stone-cold classics like Jaws and Deep Blue Sea in the category of films that I throw on when I need a fin fix, and even over and above those movies manages to portray sharks with the respect and reverence they deserve. In a world where Dangerous Animals exist, it’s clear that Man is the most dangerous, and the sharks are all right.
Sean Byrne’s Dangerous Animals is now playing in theatres from Elevation Pictures, IFC, and Shudder
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