When rebellious surfer Zephyr (Hassie Harrison) is abducted by a shark-obsessed serial killer and held captive on his boat, she must outwit her captor (Jai Courtney) before she becomes the next offering to the predators circling below.

Byrne, the twisted genius behind cult classics The Loved Ones and The Devil’s Candy, has a serious flair for late-night horror, and Dangerous Animals is grindhouse gold. Lean, mean, and utterly unrelenting, the film traps viewers in a claustrophobic game of cat and mouse as free-spirited American surfer Zephyr (Hassie Harrison) is hunted down by a sadistic killer with a razor-sharp obsession. That killer? The feral, ferocious Tucker; played with terrifying intensity by Jai Courtney, who turns in the best performance of his career. Imagine Hunter S. Thompson by way of Wolf Creek – equal parts mad pirate, Gold Coast bogan, and apex predator.

The premise is pure survival horror bliss: Zephyr washes up in paradise only to discover it’s anything but. What begins as a dreamy surf escape quickly curdles into a nightmare as she’s targeted by the unhinged Tucker, a shark-fixated maniac who sees himself as the ocean’s ultimate predator. Courtney’s Tucker is terrifying, hulking, unpredictable, and disturbingly charismatic. He delivers blood-spattered monologues with manic glee, rants about sharks and primal dominance, and switches from charming to deranged in a heartbeat. There’s a grim comedy to him too; a true blue Aussie lunatic with a penchant for chaos and carnage.

What sets Dangerous Animals apart from your standard slasher is Byrne’s signature aesthetic: grungy, stylish, and soaked in sunlight and sin. The Gold Coast becomes its own character, a postcard-perfect paradise rotting from the inside out. Byrne masterfully peels back the layers of this beachy veneer to expose a festering underbelly of madness. There’s a Deliverance-by-the-sea vibe here, a primal survivalism that brings a gnarly authenticity to the film. When the violence erupts, and it does, often and viciously, it’s raw and unflinching, earning the film’s HARD-R rating with brutal flair.

Hassie Harrison is a revelation as Zephyr. Don’t let her sun-kissed surfer girl aesthetic fool you, she’s got grit, smarts, and survival instincts that shine as the tension escalates. Her battle with Tucker is a white-knuckle war of attrition, and the way Byrne twists expectations at every turn keeps you guessing until the very end. Just when you think Zephyr has the upper hand, the film yanks the rug out from under you with another gut-punch shock.

Clocking in at a tight 98 minutes, Dangerous Animals never lets up. The pacing is ruthless, the kills are creatively gruesome, and the film’s third act is a full-blown frenzy of terror, sweat, and salt water. This is horror that goes for the jugular—ferocious, sun-drenched, and soaked in blood.

After making a ferocious splash at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Dangerous Animals has solidified its place as the horror breakout of 2025. It’s clever, nasty, and soaked in Australian grindhouse charm. If you’re after a film that’s as fun as it is frightening, then this is the midnight-movie masterpiece you’ve been waiting for. Just remember: in Dangerous Animals, you’re never safe – not even in paradise. And sometimes… you’re safer in the water.

Image: Kismet Movies

The post ‘Dangerous Animals’ – Review appeared first on SpicyPulp.

Check out the full trailer for Dangerous Animals below:

Here’s the official synopsis:

When rebellious surfer Zephyr (Hassie Harrison) is abducted by a shark-obsessed serial killer and held captive on his boat, she must outwit her captor (Jai Courtney) before she becomes the next offering to the predators circling below.

From it’s first moments, Dangerous Animals appears to be taking audiences into a primordial abyss of pure terror as Hassie Harrison’s carefree surfer Zephyr is ensnared by the terrifying obession and brutal blunt force of Tucker (Jai Courtney), a deranged serial killer who carries an obsession for the sharks, and who has devised a unique way to see to his kicks, and the thrills amp up quickly making this a genuinely terrifying watch.

Praise has already been heaped upon Dangerous Animals following its premiere at Cannes, and for Courtney this is a film and a role that really allows him to stretch and go completely left field into the terror, As Tucker he’s almost a deranged Gonzo Hunter S.Thompson-like wild man and fiend who worships the ferocious power of the deep and whose constantly searching for his prey, and it’s all going to lead to a kinetic and frantic watch.

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Ready yourself for the pure freakish terror of Dangerous Animals when it arrives in cinemas on June 12.

Image: Kismet Movies

The post ‘Dangerous Animals’ takes ocean-filled terror in a different direction appeared first on SpicyPulp.