Sean Byrne made waves with his feature debut, The Loved Ones, in 2009 before following it up with 2015 possession thriller The Devil’s Candy, which was met with similar acclaim. Now, 10 years later, Byrne is set to shock and delight horror fans again with his Ozsploitation, creature feature, serial killer mash-up, Dangerous Animals.
Starring Jai Courtney, Hassie Harrison, and Josh Heuston, the film follows rebellious surfer Zephyr (Harrison) who finds herself in a deadly game of cat and mouse with Tucker (Courtney), a shark tour guide by day and serial killer by night who feeds his victims to the much-feared creatures. Ahead of Dangerous Animals’ release on June 6, FILMHOUNDS sat down with Byrne to discuss the inspirations behind the film, creating tension in small locations, and why we’re seeing a rise in animal attack horror once more.
Dangerous Animals is a really unique take not just on shark horror, but serial killer horror. Where did the concept of the film come from?
I was sent the script, so Nick Lepard, who is kind of a new writer on the scene. I think he’s also done Oz Perkins’ next film, Keeper. So it’s always exciting when there’s a fresh voice. And so as soon as I read it, the concept was irresistible. This fusion of a shark film and a serial killer film felt like such a great concept. Then you add the shark conservation element – where sharks aren’t the monsters and man’s the monster – it just felt so incredibly fresh. I think the world’s kind of been waiting a long time for a fresh take on the shark film. And I read it, and went, ‘Well, this is it.’ So I sort of jumped at the opportunity.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen you tackle these limited location cat-and-mouse narratives, as we saw in The Loved Ones. What is it like navigating these limited sets and creating that tension?
It’s the claustrophobia and its proximity to danger, but more than anything, I like characters that push each other to the nth degree. I like for the protagonist to really earn their survival, but also for the antagonist to be pushed to the edge. I’m also really inspired by sport. Sometimes I think about tennis matches between the likes of [Roger] Federer and [Rafael] Nadal, when it’s like the fifth set and they’re surviving on nothing but fumes. It’s a kind of intimacy and personal battle between two people, where even though one’s trying to survive and the other one’s a killer, they can somehow bring the primal best out of each other.
The shark attack scenes are horrifying and incredibly realistic. What research went into replicating the details of a shark attack?
I did a lot of research, making sure that it wasn’t just about a Great White. As amazing as they are, 90% of shark films are about Great Whites. We wanted to depict the sharks that were actually in that area, and show that they had scars, the same way that humans have kind of scars, because you never see that in Shark films. They’re always video game slick. Even though the film was very meticulous with its framing, we wanted the sharks to have a nature documentary feel. We used real 4k footage, had a shark researcher, and we kept looking for stuff that matched our storyboard. So everything you’re seeing underwater is real shark footage, and it’s only above water that any CGI is used. That’s for the shark fins because that requires such kind of intricate blocking. It had to be CG.
We have seen a rise in animal attack horror again – from sharks to spiders, dogs, snakes, and more. Why do you think we’re seeing that again in the 2020s?
It’s always cyclical, I guess, but I also think it’s just kind of fun. It’s kind of like a creature feature but not supernatural. Anything to do with spiders, snakes, and sharks is realistic enough that it cuts close to the bone in a way that maybe a film about the Yeti or something similar maybe wouldn’t. There’s also the way that the rest of the world views Australia, that as soon as you get off the plane, a spider or a snake or something is going to get you. It’s kind of fun to play into that. Thematically, the film represents the truth that these things that they’re not killers. When they do something, it’s because they’re manipulated by man. That’s what I’m really proud of. There are moments where the sharks are just shown in their true, majestic light, which I’ve never seen before in a shark film.
Dangerous Animals is released in cinemas on June 6
