Cold during January? Maybe this movie can warm you up.
Sean Byrne finally gets a big budget and thankfully he does not waste it. With his third feature Dangerous Animals from 2025 Byrne dives headfirst into summertime ocean horror and delivers something that feels sun soaked, tense and vicious in all the right ways. I only just got around to watching it now and I honestly think the wait was worth it. There is something especially satisfying about being dropped into crashing waves and salty air while it is freezing outside like the perfect antidote to the winter blues.
Byrne has always had a knack for taking familiar genre ingredients and sharpening them into something meaner and more memorable and Dangerous Animals continues that streak. The Loved Ones (2009) and The Devil’s Candy (2015) are his two previous features and both are very well worth your time. The Devil’s Candy being my introduction to Sean and a personal favorite. This is not just another ocean horror movie coasting on scenery and easy thrills. It is confident, brutal and clearly made by a director who knows how to use a bigger budget without sanding off his edge. Right from the opening moments it feels like a filmmaker fully unleashed with a larger scope, higher stakes and that same nasty tension Byrne has built his reputation on.
Dangerous Animals centers on Zephyr, played by Hassie Harrison, a young surfer who lives out of her van and just wants to chase waves and stay off the grid. One morning, after meeting a guy at a party and slipping away before sunrise, she heads out to the coast to surf and clear her head. Out there, things take a dark turn. She is grabbed and wakes up on a fishing boat in the middle of the ocean with a man who at first seems calm and almost friendly, but quickly shows how deeply unstable he is.
The man (Bruce Tucker played by Jai Courtney, who killed this role) runs shark tours, but what he really does is use the ocean as his personal hunting ground. He keeps people trapped on the boat, toys with them, and lowers them into the water where sharks circle beneath. Zephyr realizes fast that she is not just being held. She is being prepared for something brutal.
Most of the story is about her trying to stay alive using whatever she can find, watching every move he makes, and looking for chances to escape. She is terrified, but she is stubborn and smart, and she refuses to give up. There are moments where it feels like she is going to make it, and then everything slips away again, which keeps the tension tight the whole time.
By the end, it turns into a straight fight for survival. Zephyr forces the man to face the same danger he created and the ocean finally swallows the person who thought he owned it. She survives, but it is clear nothing about her life will ever feel the same again. A super creative way to make a shark/ocean horror film that isn’t just like every other shark movie trying to be Jaws (1975) or made for a cheap thrill because of how inexpensive they are to make.
The film is shot extremely well and has a great soundtrack. The ocean waves clashing in the background for ambiance is something that will constantly remind you of the good times the summer and the beach brings, but in this film, it can symbolize something evil. Although I’m writing this in January, the atmosphere makes you feel like it’s summertime again. The film is super underrated and if you can, check it out. At the time I’m writing this it’s streaming on Shudder.
Dangerous Animals stuck with me after it ended, not just because of the sharks, but because of how raw and tense it all felt. It shows how real monsters can be people who think they are in control. The movie knows how to keep you on edge and lock you into the story. If you enjoy survival thrillers that actually make you feel the danger, this one is worth checking out.
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