Dangerous Animals (2025) ‘Cannes’ Movie Review: A Wildly Entertaining Stripped-to-the-Bone Slasher 

When you go to the Cannes Film Festival, you want to experience films you would not otherwise see. For me, it seems, this was buying a ticket to a horror film, one of my least favourite genres. “Dangerous Animals” (2025) is the first feature film by director Sean Byrne in a decade, and one of the few films playing in the Director’s Fortnight to have already obtained distribution, and therefore a marketing budget. This was apparent as I entered the Theatre Croisette for my screening, as a group of people in shark masks handed out scratch cards to win a scuba diving trip. I did not get the prize, but as the card said, I had survived.

What is surprising about “Dangerous Animals” is how long several characters clearly marked as disposable survive. If you have not seen the trailer, you will feel lulled into a false sense of security as you are introduced to Tucker, a delightfully unsettling performance from Jai Courtney, and how this serial killer operates. Make no mistake, the sharks he lures to his boat are his weapons to enact the killings, not the killers themselves.

He is the true monster of the film, which even he acknowledges in one scene as he monologues about shark facts. This is one way in which the film creates its own identity as a horror and a slasher: a charismatic villain with a unique method of killing. Whilst the script does not explore the character in any depth, which is not the direction the film is trying to go in at all, there are hints at why he prefers these methods, and the twisted reasons that he enjoys it.

Fighting to escape the gruesome fate of being fed to sharks whilst filmed is Zephyr, a free-spirited American surfer running from her past, given charm and determination by Hassie Harrison’s performance. The film’s gnarliest moments rely on her to sell the physicality required, and she manages to do so each time. She and Courtney are the standout performers, creating a tense, hateful rapport between the predator and what he views as his prey.

However, the script does not give the rest of the small cast enough material to match the pair, instead favouring to highlight the gore and horror and the experience over the characters. Josh Heuston as Moses is particularly let down, his subplot consisting of a couple of scenes of him moping on a nice beach about a romance with Zephyr that feels underdeveloped, despite the solid chemistry between the pair.

Also Read: The 10 Best Shark Movies, According to Rotten Tomatoes

Byrne’s direction is confident and unflinching when it comes to the gore, aided by impressive make-up and practical effects. He is a competent, experienced director who knows how to take Nick Lepard’s script and make the best film possible out of it. However, even at a short ninety-eight minutes, it felt like they could have cut out ten to fifteen minutes for a tighter plot. As it is, the film feels like it treads water with one escape attempt too many before it reaches a final showdown that comes across as silly compared to the relatively grounded, visceral build-up of the past seventy minutes.

While the film had a few genuinely funny moments that earned my laughter, there was one scene near the end where the tone faltered, and I laughed at it, not with it. The moment itself is meant to be played as sincere, but it comes off as jarring despite the character arc it wraps up. What I have written so far might make me come across as negative on this film, when the opposite is true.

If you are a horror fan, you will feel like you have seen this film many times, but “Dangerous Animals” manages to turn that into one of its biggest strengths. With a packed audience, this was my favourite screening of the Cannes Film Festival, and this is not the kind of film you would expect at an event held in such high regard.

The Theatre Croisette had even changed its lights to red as everyone found their places before the screening, setting the tone for what we were about to watch. As someone resistant to horror, it did take me a little while to ease into the film, but the crowd was an aspect of the screening that helped me let go of my apprehension and just enjoy the experience. And I really enjoyed it. Everyone cheered when Zephyr found a new way to fight back, winced at the gory kills, laughed at the film in that one example mentioned earlier, and screamed at the jump scares. One with Tucker made my friend jump so violently that he elbowed me in the shoulder.

At the screening, the cast and crew were in attendance, every seat was occupied, and everyone, including me, one of the most horror-averse people out there, had the time of their lives. To the extent that when it was over, I had to shake Sean Byrne’s hand to tell him how, despite my horror reservations, I had an absolute blast. Watch “Dangerous Animals” in a cinema. See it with a bunch of friends. You might never listen to Baby Shark in the same way again, but I promise that you will not be disappointed.

Read More: 10 Best Movies From Cannes 2025 To Look Out For

Dangerous Animals (2025) Movie Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia, Letterboxd
Dangerous Animals (2025) Movie Cast: Hassie Harrison, Josh Heuston, Rob Carlton, Ella Newton, Liam Greinke, Jai Courtney
Dangerous Animals (2025) Runtime: 1h 37m, Genre: Horror/Mystery & Thriller