There’s something refreshing about the sharks featured in DANGEROUS ANIMALS >not< being the villains of the piece. Instead, they are presented on their own terms as majestic creatures of the deep who would really, really rather not deal with humans in any way shape or form, and that includes lunch. Instead, we have a human psychopath for the ages, a woman who takes no guff from anyone (or anything), and a toothsome morsel of man-flesh as the damsel in distress.
There are, of course, certain tropes that any horror film must follow, and DANGEROUS ANIMALS is wise enough to bow to convention. The American woman, Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), and the toothsome Australian morsel, Moses (Josh Heuston) meet cute when he needs jumper cables (i.e. to be rescued) and she’s just shoplifted something insignificant from an Aussie convenience store. One thing leads to another, prompted by a shared love of surfing, and the two share a memorable, and artfully filmed, evening of magic and wonder. That would be in Zephyr’s van. She’s traveling the world alone in search of the perfect wave and knows the importance of staying on her home turf, though she does park said van in Moses’ driveway.
The next morning, she takes off while he’s making breakfast indoors, but a text from him prompts a response from her about where she is and, yes, if he wants to join her for a morning surf, it’s a free ocean. Alas, when he arrives her van is there, but she isn’t. Refusing to believe he’s been ghosted, especially after he sees her van being towed, Moses set out to find Zephyr, despite not knowing her last name.
As for Zephyr, she wakes up chained to a bed. Next to her, another woman, Heather (Ella Newton) similarly encumbered, fills her in on where she is (a boat). She doesn’t fill her in on what we know, which is what happened to the guy Heather was with her on a swimming with the sharks adventure gone wrong on this boat. We know, though, because that’s how the film begins, and how we are introduced to Bruce (Jai Courtney), our psychopath who runs that swimming with sharks boat trip and whose own personal brush with sharks has left him with a reverence for them that’s gone awry. And fetishistic.
The psychopathy is novel, as is Bruce’s particular fetish that involves videocassettes and midnight shark encounters. I don’t want to spoil it for you. Coutrney makes him grotesquely fascinating, whether rocking out in a kimono to his favorite song or fretting about his captive making proper use of the bucket he’s provided so that they can maintain their dignity when their turn in front of the camera arrives. He’s bluff, charming, and menacing in a subtle way that hints at underlying issues without overplaying it. Coutrney has him living his best life and enjoying it to the hilt blithely unfettered by convention or empathy. And, because it’s what I’d want to know, while the human body count is considerable, the dog will be okay.
As for Harrison, she is a force of nature as a woman who refuses to give up and uses skills learned in foster care to extricate herself. Sheer grit and fearlessness combine to make it completely believable that short odds don’t matter in a script that struggles to remain within the bounds of credulity about Zephyr’s plight but wins us over with its sheer audacity.
Director Sean Byrne keeps things tense and half-a -step from hopeless throughout. He has a visual sense that knows when to use a long take and when to go kinetic, leaving us with images that are beautiful and horrifying. He also infuses the proceedings with his own, less psychopathic, reverence for sharks, which they deserve. Don’t get me started, but there’s a school of thought that these ancient creatures drove the evolution that produced us. Whether that was a good idea is not for me to say.
DANGEROUS ANIMALS is a hearty horror flick that turns convention on its head with dynamic resolve. Engrossing, unexpected, and engaging in a nail-biting way, it’s not for the faint of heart for the extremes to which Zephyr will go, but a wild ride for those who dare.
Your Thoughts?