Serial killers fascinate me. They always have. So a serial killer that uses sharks as his murder weapon? You already know that I love stuff like that. What better movie to watch for my birthday?
Dangerous Animals follows Tucker, a sadistic serial killer who captures young women and feeds them to sharks, videotaping the attacks. Okay, it technically follows Zephyr, an aloof surfer, who Tucker kidnaps, but he is significantly more interesting.
Jai Courtney does a truly amazing job in a very difficult role. He’s magnetic. Tucker is charming and non-threatening while in public, meticulous in private, and deliciously deranged while killing. Every shift feels natural, as does his steady degradation as he begins to lose control.
There were several moments where Tucker’s brain battled with his compulsions to do his kills in the “right” way, and it not only deepened his characterization but it created a narrative reason for Zephyr’s continuous survival.
I did want her to live, though. She’s a jumble of cliches, down to the tattoo of birds fleeing a birdcage, but she’s a strong, capable female lead that absolutely refused to give up. We’re not really given any real backstory on her, but that’s okay. The way that she acted and reacted to the world and the people around her conveyed enough.
She also had very nice chemistry with Moses. I admittedly didn’t fully buy why he cared so much about her since it was literally a random one-night stand, but the scenes between them were good. It was one of the better sex scenes that I’ve seen lately, and their pillow talk afterwards was well done. I just wish that they had known each other for longer than 11 hours before Zephyr went missing.
But that’s an issue with the script, and that is where I had most of my problems. It is incredibly repetitive. There is almost no sense of progress or momentum. You don’t need four or five escape attempts. You only need three at most. The confined setting on a boat in the middle of the ocean is fabulous, but it really wasn’t taken advantage of at all.
The kill scenes were also very similar. It was tense and scary the first time. By the third, the thrill wears off. I do have to give points for the kills being realistic, though. We have realistic shark attacks that leave realistic wounds, fatal and otherwise. This is, without a doubt, the closest a movie that I’ve reviewed has gotten to how sharks actually behave in the wild.
I needed a lot more sharks, though. I knew going in that this was more of a serial killer movie than a shark movie, but I still had hoped for more. Although, I suppose that would also go against the point that the script took pains to make: sharks are just animals. They’re not mindless maneaters. They’re not monsters. Or bloodthirsty killers. The vast majority of shark attacks are just a case of mistaken identity or them just trying to figure out what you are.
More shark attack scenes would directly contradict that, so I get it. But I still would have gladly traded one of the many failed escape attempts for another death. Or even just more of the sharks actively feeding from the chumslick.
The shark footage that we did have was absolutely gorgeous, at least. And it should be, considering that it was all real. Even when humans and sharks share the screen, it was still real footage of real sharks that they married with footage of the actors. The only CGI was the above water shark fins.
It looks really good. Sharks are really beautiful creatures, and this movie conveyed that in a way that nothing else really has for me. There’s an early cage diving scene where a character, Heather, goes from primal fear to just absolute awe as she watches them. There’s something almost spiritual about it.
As much as I adore the silly stuff like sharks with far too many heads, it’s nice to have a more grounded movie, too. And it really is worth watching for Courtney’s performance alone.
Random Thoughts
Sean Byrne, the director, also wrote and directed The Loved Ones and The Devil’s Candy. Both are excellent (and viscerally uncomfortable) horror movies.
Tucker’s first name is Bruce. At what point does a reference become an overdone cliche instead of a homage?
The dance montage was simply incredible.
I kept expecting the dog to die, but it does not.
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An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally watches far too many shark movies.
Happy birthday, Fangirl! What better way to celebrate than with a shark movie review?
ReplyDeleteIt's been my personal tradition for ten years now, starting back with The Shallows. It's one of my favorite things to do : )
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