Dangerous Animals

Directed by Sean Byrne, Dangerous Animals follows Hassie Harrison’s Zephyr as she finds herself in a progressively precarious situation after encountering Jai Courtney’s menacing Tucker. Byrne, armed with a screenplay by Nick Lepard, does a terrific job of capturing the viewer’s interest and attention right from the get-go, as Dangerous Animals kicks off with a spellbinding pre-credits interlude that packs a heck of a visceral, surprising punch – with the picture, beyond that point, seguing into a compelling narrative that benefits from the underlying mystery surrounding Courtney’s creepy figure. It’s clear, too, that the film benefits from its recurring emphasis on sequences of a decidedly gripping and enthralling nature (eg Zephyr finally discovers what Tucker is up to), with the impact of many of these moments heightened by an often mesmerizing turn by Courtney that remains a continuing highlight within the proceedings. And although the movie admittedly does stumble in its far-from-streamlined third act (ie there are a few too many cat-and-mouse-type digressions), Dangerous Animals does, for the most part, come off as yet another superb effort from a filmmaker that should be much more notorious and prolific (ie this is only Byrne’s third movie in sixteen years!)

***1/2 out of ****