As if a movie about wasn't scary enough, the filmmakers behind 鈥淒angerous Animals鈥� have upped the screams by adding what every thriller needs 鈥� a
While that may sound like very dangerous moviemaking, the result is actually taut and well crafted, a worthy birthday present to 鈥淛aws,鈥�
鈥淒angerous Animals鈥� stars as an Australian boat captain who likes feeding his female customers to sharks and videotaping it, while also offering little brainy speeches about the nature of makos, mosquitos or sailfish while toying with his prey.
He meets what seems like his match in Hassie Harrison's Zephyr, an American antisocial surf queen who lives in a van and refuses to be tied down. 鈥淭here was nothing for me on land,鈥� she says. She's kind of a handful for any serial killer, For instance, she can pick locks with the underwire from a bikini top.
Nick Lepard's screenplay is muscular and satisfying, with nods to 鈥淛aws,鈥� of course, but also to 鈥淧oint Break,鈥� 鈥淗annibal鈥� and even the song 鈥淏aby Shark.鈥� He says he was inspired to write 鈥淒angerous Animals鈥� by seeing a surfboard bag and imagining it carrying a body, which says something about how Lepard's mind works, though we're not judging.
Director Sean Byrnes has a super ability to build dread and his scenes are crisp without being exploitative. The movie was shot on Queensland鈥檚 Gold Coast, but may take a bite out of the region's shark cage diving fleets. I'm looking twice even before taking showers now.
Zephyr and the serial killer play an engaging game of chess for most of the movie, if by chess is meant she's fighting to stay alive by wriggling out of handcuffs and running or swimming away and he's determined for her to be shark food.
鈥淥h, you're a fighter. I love fighters. It makes for a better show,鈥� he says, biting into the scenery almost as viciously as the sharks chomp on chum.
He also does that thing that all serial killers do 鈥� saying he and his victim are similar. 鈥淵ou're hard as nails. Like me. You and me, we're sharks,鈥� he tells her. She tells him to stop talking so much and calls him ocean scum.
The music department has a fun wink with the soundtrack. One scene uses Steve Wright's 鈥淓vie (Part One)鈥� 鈥� in which the singer begs his love to let her hair hang down 鈥� as the serial killer makes mementos out of his victims' hair. Another moment, astonishingly, plays Etta James' 鈥淎t Last,鈥� the ultimate wedding song, just as the bad guy finally captures his quarry inches from rescue.
The setting of a boat in the middle of the Coral Sea unlocks a delicious new home for terror. Sealable hatches and no one for miles means screaming is no good. And the serial killer has weaponized Vegemite.
One thing Zephyr has up her sleeve is a boy, smitten after a meet-cute in which she tries to shoplift ice cream. He's played by the hunky Josh Heuston and they're perfect for each other but she resists until she's snatched by our nasty boat captain. But even though she blew him off, her boy is suspicious about her disappearance and is on the hunt.
鈥淒angerous Animals,鈥� thankfully, doesn't try to be more than it is, although the quite beautiful images of sharks sliding through the ocean show, naturally, that we are the species that inspired the title. After all, sharks don't see a surfboard bag and wonder if they can put a body in it.
鈥淒angerous Animals,鈥� an IFC Films release in theaters Friday, is rated R for 鈥渟trong, bloody violent content, grisly images, sexuality, language and brief drug use.鈥� Running time: 98 minutes. Three stars out of four.
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
