Directed by: Sean Byrne
Starring: Hassie Harrison, Jai Courtney, Josh Heuston
Dangerous Animals is the second Australian horror film I've seen in as many weeks (the other was Bring Her Back), and both are chillingly effective and suspenseful. There isn't just focus on the gore, these movies both understand that suspense is more important to horror than just a blood-spattered screen. We also learn to care about the people involved and what happens to them.
The opening scenes of Dangerous Animals set the tone. Two unsuspecting tourists hire boat captain Tucker (Courtney) to take them out to sea and let them swim with the sharks via a shark cage. This goes without incident, until Tucker kills one of the tourists and takes the other hostage. His plan is to feed the other tourist to the sharks at his convenience. We then meet American surfer Zephyr (Harrison), who meets a handsome realtor named Moses (Heuston) when the van she lives in breaks down. Zephyr and Moses hit it off, but when Zephyr drives to the beach before dawn to ride the waves, she is kidnapped by Tucker and made the second hostage on his vessel. Her fate will be that of the other girl's unless she can figure out how to escape.
Dangerous Animals works due to the appealing Harrison performance and Courtney's menacing villain who once famously survived a shark attack as a kid, but is now endlessly and creepily fascinated by sharks. Despite his sometimes friendly demeanor, he is as cold and heartless as the sharks. He admires Zephyr's fighting spirit, but not enough to spare her. Moses, in an attempt to track Zephyr's whereabouts, is also soon taken hostage by Tucker. He's an equal-opportunity shark-loving psycho.
The movie breaks no new ground. Tucker probably should've disposed of Zephyr long before he tries to lower her into the water to be eaten. How Zephyr avoids the same fate as other victims isn't entirely convincing, but by then Dangerous Animals had built up enough goodwill to keep us engaged.
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