Steven Spielberg’s Jaws isn’t just the greatest shark movie ever made; it’s widely considered a cinematic masterpiece that goes beyond the horror genre. It inspired many copycat films, with varying degrees of success. Creating a truly frightening shark movie is a challenge, but director Sean Byrne and writer Nick Lepard recently achieved it with their 2025 film Dangerous Animals, which is currently a top 3 hit on Prime Video worldwide.
The movie features Hassie Harrison, Josh Heuston, and Jai Courtney in a story that feels surprisingly fresh, despite its simple premise. Zephyr (Harrison) is a dedicated surfer who’s passionate about chasing the perfect wave, though a budding relationship with Moses (Heuston) might tempt her to stay on land. However, a dangerous meeting with Tucker (Courtney) could end Zephyr’s surfing career – and her life. Tucker operates a shark cage-diving business as a front for his true, terrifying hobby: he’s a serial killer who lures victims into the ocean to be devoured by sharks, recording the horrific events for his own amusement.
‘Dangerous Animals’ Reinvented Shark Horror Movies
For years, shark horror movies followed a predictable pattern: people were attacked by a killer shark, whether they were swimming, diving, or even on a boat. Films like Orca and Piranha simply repeated this formula with different creatures. But Dangerous Animals offers a new take on this familiar story.
This story falls squarely into the shark horror genre, but with a twist. The sharks themselves aren’t evil – they’re simply behaving naturally. The real threat is Tucker, who is obsessed with sharks and dangerously determined to feed them, using the sharks’ own bite as his means of attack.
The horror film Dangerous Animals has received largely positive reviews, earning an 87% positive score on Rotten Tomatoes. Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting called it a thrilling and intense horror experience, and particularly praised star Courtney’s performance as career-best work. Many reviewers highlighted Courtney’s captivating and unsettling performance as a key strength of the movie.
Building an Impressive Resume
Dangerous Animals is Byrne’s third feature film, and it’s proving to be his most successful yet, earning praise from critics and reaching a wide audience in the U.S. This breakthrough is likely to lead to new projects for the Australian filmmaker, but it’s also a natural result of his consistently strong work.
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I first discovered Sean Byrne’s work with The Loved Ones, and it completely blew me away – it has an incredible 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes! It’s a shame it came out before streaming was huge, because I think more people should see it. His next film, The Devil’s Candy, was his first time directing in America and it was fantastic too, earning a 93% positive score. Now that Dangerous Animals is getting attention, I really hope it leads people to explore his other films. It’s clear to me that Dangerous Animals is just a glimpse of his incredible talent!
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2026-02-10 03:32