When the trailer released for “Dangerous Animals,” I thought it looked interesting. I can’t remember the last time I saw a serial killer movie that wasn’t “Scream,” “Halloween,” or another legacy sequel. I didn’t know the killer was played by Jai Courtney (of “Divergent” fame) from the trailer, only that he looked menacing. Not a lot was given away, only that it involved hostages, boats, and, I would imagine, fright, psychological torture, and a final girl.
Regrettably, what we get is a standard thriller that tries too hard. It takes an interesting concept I haven’t seen before yet squanders most of them. I liked that it took place in Australia. That’s seldom seen and makes for an interesting locale. And the film—which centers on a loner girl who wants to bury her past in surfing (Hassie Harrison)—avoided the temptation to make its happenings beach-like and sexy. Yet given the premise of the film (it features a serial killer on a boat), the opening scene—of two tourists who take a shark diving tour—is even tossed away. If you’ve seen the trailer, you know what the killer looks like and are just waiting for him to strike.
Swimming with the Sharks
The most striking problem with “Dangerous Animals” is its absolute lack of tension, and that’s saying a lot given its premise. I’m reluctant to spoil much about this film, which makes this criticism hard. Suffice to say that the film’s killer, Tucker (Courtney) has an interesting method for killing his victims and has an obsession with sharks. That probably gives it away, but we’ll save the particulars. The film opens with one of his attacks (it’s kind of brutal, I’ll admit, even though you see it coming). It then shifts its attention to Zephyr (Harrison), who meets a romantic young man (Josh Heuston), who attempts to be this film’s hero. But “Dangerous Animals” isn’t the type of film that concerns itself with heroes and victims. It’s kind of all over the place.
The crux of the film centers on Zephyr, who quickly becomes victim to a kidnapping by Tucker, held alongside another victim (Ella Newton). These scenes are standard stuff. The two women struggle to get out of their confines, handcuffed to prison beds on Tucker’s charter boat. He runs a legit business shuffling tourists to see sharks, but given the plethora of videotapes of victims we see in his cabin, it’s likely just to troll for victims. Tucker himself is a caricature. He visits the women below decks, taunting them with scant food supplies and monologues on sharks and their prowess. He’s the shark, you see, the strong one, and he likes it when they fight back. Tucker is a sport fisherman who prefers killing women to marlin. He’s oozing toxic masculinity, which can be standard fare for these types of films. When Zephyr sees right through him and lets him have it in one scene, I wonder if the filmmakers intended it or found it ironic.
Tries to Be Its Own Thing
Further problems exist with the film’s script by Nick Lepard, which seems hesitant to land on any genre. The film is pure thriller, but its treatment of its two leads—Harrison and Courtney—leaves a lot to be desired. Hueston has less screen time here but seems more capable. I believed his story: a young Australian kid who falls in love with a girl he meets and wants to make a go of it. Yet I didn’t believe as much Harrison’s tough veneer, and even less Courtney’s psychopathy. It feels like Lepard is channeling Dean Koontz’s “Intensity” here, intermingled with Buffalo Bill from “Silence of the Lambs.” Some of Courtney’s speeches had potential. He’s unstable and sadistic, yet the script doesn’t fully allow him to get there. Where it should have spent more time on honing in on his evil nature, it settled for monologues, bombastic soundtracks that distract from the terror, and a dance sequence that didn’t hit well at all. It feels more a direct homage to Jonathan Demme’s award-winning picture than authentic inspiration.
The film is also too long. At 1 hour and 38 minutes, it could have been much shorter, and the film’s end clamors around for far too long, expelling all believability. Yet I don’t blame Harrison or Courtney, but a script that wants both the victim and the abductor to be superheroes able to take an enormous amount of abuse and still be up walking and talking. The same is true of Hueston’s Moses; theres’s suspension of disbelief, and then there’s his character’s arc. He deserved a more fleshed out story, as did Harrison. Courtney does the best with what he has to work with but it’s a one-note show. He has little to do besides attempt to terrorize people with typical serial-killer lectures and menace. Tucker feels like an actor playing a psychopath rather than a psychopath himself. The inspiration “Dangerous Animals” draws from “Lambs” and other pictures is obvious and distracting.
Something Comes Up Missing
But the most disappointing part here is that “Dangerous Animals” is not an insulting movie. It had potential. The Queensland coast that serves as its backdrop, the sneer and menace Courtney tries so hard to inject, and the fact that it is, despite its failings, and original picture and not another in a long line of legacy sequels. I wish Tucker had been as menacing as he appeared in that trailer and Zephyr had been as fleshed out as she needed to be. The actors all appear to be trying (one scene between Hueston and Harrison below decks being the best) but it comes up short. It stacks thrills and suspense on top of each other in lieu of believability. The concept here is interesting. Maybe some more time in the oven before production would have saved it. Or maybe we expect more from horror films these days. Yet the film doesn’t hit as well as I’d hoped and was left feeling it could have been so much more.
