A new Australian horror film, Dangerous Animals – described as a ‘tense thriller’ – is coming to cinemas this June, and we’ve got the first trailer to prove it.
Directed by The Loved Ones‘ Sean Byrne, who hails from Hobart, Tasmania and has not had a feature release since 2015’s The Devil’s Candy, Dangerous Animals follows a savvy and free-spirited surfer, played by Hassie Harrison, who is abducted by a shark-obsessed serial killer played by Jai Courtney (The Suicide Squad).
Held captive on his boat, the surfer must figure out how to escape before the killer carries out a ritualistic feeding to the sharks below.
The only person who realises she is missing is new love interest Moses (played by Heartbreak High‘s Josh Heuston), who goes looking for Zephyr, only to be caught by the deranged murderer as well.
Watch the official teaser trailer for Dangerous Animals below:
Dangerous Animals in produced by Brouhaha’s Lum and Andrew Mason, Pete Shilaimon, Mickey Liddell for LD Entertainment, Chris Ferguson for Oddfellows Entertainment and Brian Kavanaugh Jones for Range Media Partners. Dangerous Animals is supported by the Queensland Government through Screen Queensland’s Production Attraction Strategy.
‘With a storyline that is set on the Gold Coast as well as being made on the Gold Coast, Dangerous Animals is an exciting genre film that joins a slate of local screen stories including Gettin’ Square sequel Spit, Audrey, Black Snow and How to Make Gravy,’ said Jacqui Feeney, Screen Queensland CEO.
ScreenHub: ‘Tense thriller’ Dangerous Animals commences production on Queensland’s Gold Coast
Shot on location on the Gold Coast from a script by Nick Lepard, and produced by the team behind Netflix’s hit series Boy Swallows Universe, Dangerous Animals comes to Australian cinemas on 12 June 2025.
Dangerous Animals is distributed locally by Kismet Films.
See more: Best Australian horror films – top 20
The Well (1997)
The Well. Image: Southern Star Xanadu.
Based on the 1986 Elizabeth Jolly novel of the same name, and starring Miranda Otto and Pamela Rabe, Samantha Lang’s film is technically a drama but is chilling and moody enough to qualify as a horror, depending on your taste. Hester is a loner whose life is upended by the arrival of a troubled younger woman, Katherine, the new house help at her father’s isolated NSW farm. Flush with money after her father dies and she sells the farm, Hester wants to travel to Europe with Katherine – until tragedy strikes and all eyes turn to the farm well.
It has plenty of detractors, including those who wanted more scariness, but was also praised for its examination of female relationships and sexual repression. As Maitland McDonagh wrote for Film Journal International:
This sublimely creepy, low-key film is not for all tastes. But The Well casts a haunting spell. –Rotten Tomatoes
Wake in Fright (1971)
Wake in Fright. Image: United Artists.
Outback Australia is back to frighten you, this time via Ted Kotcheff’s film about a young schoolteacher who finds himself stranded in Tiboonda, NSW, where he is forced to work to pay back the financial bond he signed with the government to do his teacher-training. Losing all his money in repeated games of two-up, he falls into a life of alcohol, debauchery and self-loathing, feeling ever more contempt for the townspeople. It’s based on Kenneth Cook’s 1961 novel (same name) and stoked controversy for, among other things, a hunting scene that saw real kangaroos being shot and killed.
It has a 97% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus that:
A disquieting classic of Australian cinema, Wake in Fright surveys a landscape both sun-drenched and ruthlessly dark. –Rotten Tomatoes
The Loved Ones (2009)
The Loved Ones. Image: Madman Films.
Sean Byrne’s 2009 debut starring Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy and John Brumpton, comes with a central message we’d all do well to heed: don’t turn down your classmate’s invitation to prom night, especially if she’s called Lola Stone … chances are you’ll be kidnapped by Lola and her dad, Eric, and will have to attend a party with Lola anyway, but it won’t be nearly as good as the prom and you’ll spend the whole evening contemplating how much better it would have been to be drinking punch with your peers than the horror that’s unfolding.
Shot in Melbourne, including at at Box Hill Secondary and Kew High School, the film serves up comedy, sadism and a satisfying twist. It has an almighty 98% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Eric Kohn writing for IndieWire that:
It’s a terrifying masterpiece that turns high school drama into a literal dead zone. – IndieWire
