Dangerous Animals Hunts Without Mercy

Dangerous Animals

★ ★ ★ ½

In Dangerous Animals, the Gold Coast of Australia shines with postcard beauty—until the camera dives beneath the surface. Serenity gives way to savagery at the hands of a killer who doesn’t typically kill by traditional means. Instead, he uses a harness, chum and a cold grin. Jai Courtney plays Bruce Tucker, a shark dive operator whose business is a front for his own sinister bloodthirst.

The first victims we see are Greg (Liam Greinke) and his pregnant girlfriend Heather (Ella Newton). Bruce takes Greg and Heather out to sea, puts them in a shark tank with diving gear and drops them in the water. They see lots of sharks and have a great time. Back on the boat, Bruce’s friendly nature does an about-face and he knifes Greg several times in the chest. He then pushes Greg overboard. It takes a moment for Heather to realize she’s alone on a boat at sea with a madman. When she does, her terror is real.

Jai Courtney as Bruce Tucker
© 2025 IFC Films / Shudder

On shore, Zephyr (Hassie Harrison) has traveled to the area to do some surfing and soul-searching. She meets a local real estate agent named Moses (Josh Heuston) and gives him a ride to his car. They have awkward, first-date chemistry that could build into something meaningful. As it is, they have a one-night stand, and it becomes quickly clear to Moses that’s all it is for now.

We’re able to sympathize at once with Moses and his romantic efforts and Zephyr’s need to be alone to work out some of her life issues. He might be ready for a relationship; she’s much less sure.

Shortly thereafter, Zephyr is attacked, knocked out and abducted by Bruce. She awakens in a cabin below deck on his boat, tied to a bed. She meets Heather, also restrained. Not long after, Zephyr will get a firsthand preview of the fate that awaits her.

Shark bait at the hands of a psychopath
© 2025 IFC Films / Shudder

Bruce choreographs death with the psychotic, excited nerdiness of a nature documentarian. He doesn’t murder with a weapon—he murders with an environment. In this case, sharks. To its credit, the film doesn’t just pit woman against man or human against shark—it quietly interrogates what happens when survival strips us of pretense and civility.

Once the nightmares get going in this film, they don’t stop. Zephyr keeps her wits about her and finds ways of escape, not once but several times. She’s not just another victim—she’s a disruption to Bruce’s ritual, and the tension tightens as their deadly choreography unfolds.

Even when she gets the jump on him, he’s able to counter and recapture her. It’s a chilling, symbiotic dance of predator and prey.

The film doesn’t make it easy on Zephyr—she’ll have to fight with every last breath to stay alive and escape Bruce. It’s captivating, thrilling and will drag you to the edge of your seat more than once.

If the film has a flaw, it may lie in its relentless pace. We’re rarely allowed to breathe—a prerequisite for tension, but one that occasionally robs us of deeper introspection. Still, it keeps us in its teeth and drags us into the depths of horror.

There is a moment early on in the film when Heather and Greg are in an underwater cage, surrounded by sharks. Heather is terrified but quickly finds calm in the dangerous beauty that surrounds her. The experience becomes exhilarating.

This echoes later in the film when Zephyr confronts a massive great white shark. Like Heather, Zephyr finds a calmness amongst the danger of the massive creature. It’s this reverence that gives her a fighting chance as we barrel toward the film’s conclusion.

Hassie Harrison as Zephyr
© 2025 IFC Films / Shudder

Of note is Courtney, who has had a leading role in blockbusters such as Terminator: Genisys and A Good Day to Die Hard with marginal success. Here, he’s like we’ve never seen him—completely in charge of the role, embodying Tucker’s psychopathic nature with a controlled, yet reckless, abandon. He plays the role just right and is astonishingly convincing.

Harrison is also well cast as Zephyr, who has a strong edge to her but lets little cracks of her vulnerability show. We want to see Zephyr get out of this mess and find a way to live her life—likely after years of therapy.

This film both blurs and cuts the line between hunter and hunted. That boundary isn’t always as clear as it seems. Anything cornered in captivity, with nothing left to lose, can become the most deadly of creatures. In Dangerous Animals, it plays out with violent, hypnotic beauty.