Dangerous Animals (2025) Movie Review – A bloody good time

The Review Geek

6 hours ago

A bloody good time
There's an art to crafting a great trailer that doesn't spoil everything, and Dangerous Animals' teaser is almost pitch-perfect in that regard. It's gripping, intriguing, and captures the essence of this horror/thriller beautifully.
Clocking in at just over 90 minutes, Dangerous Animals provides little surprises, living up to the promise produced in that teaser and embracing its distilled B-movie greatness. It's a film that's unashamedly visceral and gory, but also surprisingly effective in execution.
The story draws inspiration from 10 Cloverfield Lane and Jaws, blending those influences into a lean teen horror in the vein of Don't Breathe and Hush.
The opening of Dangerous Animals sets the scene for the film to follow. Mysterious, tense and just a tad surreally funny – Bruce Tucker (played to perfection by Jai Courtney) – runs a shark-diving expedition on his boat. Unfortunately, it all goes wrong for tourist Heather when her boyfriend is killed and fed to the sharks, while she's abducted by this maniacal serial killer.
With Bruce on the hunt for new victims, he sets his sights on survivalist Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), a savvy and free-spirited young surfer. When she crosses paths with Bruce, Zephyr is forced to try and survive, doing everything she can to overcome this maniacal predator.
With the stakes raised, Zephyr is handcuffed in the depths of Tucker's fishing boat, while he circles the water like a hungry shark, looking for tasty spots to pick up prey. Zephyr will be the next in line to meet a sticky demise though – unless she can outsmart him.
The story is simplistic and rather predictable but the performances from both Jai Courtney and Hassie Harrison help this one stand out. The pair work hard to outshine one another, with Courtney's monologues about the ocean, animal hierarchies and predators both chilling and strangely educational.
Courtney has an intoxicating way of filling every scene with an eerie sense of dread, and the movie is all the stronger for lingering the camera on him for an uncomfortably long time.
Conversely, Harrison's portrayal of Zephyr – a spunky, tough-as-nails survivor – makes for an easy heroine to root for, especially as the movie examines a bit of her backstory and what drives her. There's no big exposition dumps or overlong explanations about the past though, with Sean Byrne instead letting audiences make draw their own conclusions.
One of the standout scenes involves no dialogue at all: Bruce silently eating dinner, the camera lingering uncomfortably long. It's incredibly effective and underscores just how far gone he is.
All of this is helped by the way Dangerous Animals effectively builds dread with just the right amount of hard cuts and lingering shots. The editors have done a great job here cutting the film together, clearly knowing when to cut away—and when not to.
The film's main antagonistic hook (no pun intended) actually stems from Tucker rather than the sharks. These marine predators are used sparingly but effectively enough to maintain their presence as a formidable foe. However, the movie does a good job of portraying them as actual animals rather than maniacal killing machines too ala. Jaws. It's one of the more unique and welcome aspects of this movie that should definitely be applauded
Having said that though, Dangerous Animals overplays its hand on several occasions. The movie attempts one too many break-out attempts for Zephyr and it diminishes their impact over time.
It's also worth noting too that Moses Markley (Josh Heuston) is embarrassingly underused here. He doesn't have a whole lot to do beyond some filler investigative work to keep him busy, and the material he is given when joined with Zephyr has him playing second fiddle to her character. Moses lacks agency or anything in the way of charisma, which is a shame because this unrealized potential is a big hindrance to what's otherwise a taut thriller.
Overall, Dangerous Animals is a decent, if unremarkable, thriller. It doesn't break new ground, and the plot has few surprises, but the strong lead performances and slick editing keep things afloat. Flaws and all, this one's still a bloody good time.
Read More: Dangerous Animals Ending Explained