It’s been a whole decade since Australian genre director Sean Byrne graced the screens with his unique brand of horror with The Devil’s Candy. But proving the wait has been worth it, he has unleashed a series of Dangerous Animals into theatres with his latest outing – a relentless, edge-of-your-seat survival horror starring Hassie Harrison, Jai Courtney, and Josh Heuston, about when a rebellious surfer, Zephyr, is abducted by a shark-obsessed serial killer and held captive on his boat, how she must outwit her captor before she becomes the next offering to the predators circling below.
As Dangerous Animals arrives in Australian theatres this week (you can read our review here), Peter Gray spoke with the director about what the Trojan horse inside the film was him in exploring deeper emotional and social issues, the extent of Courtney’s charisma in portraying “the dark side of Steve Irwin”, and his plea to audiences who want to keep the Australian horror genre alive.
I know you’ve said before that horror is like a great Trojan horse for exploring deeper emotional and social issues. What was the Trojan horse inside Dangerous Animals for you?
I think it’s about the difference that love or absence of love can make in a life as a sort of central throughline. I think (the characters of) Zephyr and Tucker both have had an absence of love. For her, we suggest there is a way to fill that void. For Tucker, that absence of love and parental neglect and a warped socialisation kind of drives him off a cliff. I think there’s a similar theme to The Loved Ones, in a way, for the protagonist. Your pain can ultimately be your saviour. It can give you strength. I think there’s an allegory there about the type of masculinity that we don’t really want in society anymore, and that’s what Tucker represents and how that needs to be demolished. The sharks work underwater, whereas he’s controlling the population on the land, and it’s pretty toxic. That philosophy needs to be quashed. Ultimately it asks the question, “Who is the most dangerous animal?” I don’t think it’s the sharks. A lot of people read it as Tucker being the most dangerous animal, but you could also read that Zephyr is the most resourceful dangerous animal. If you watch the film closely, the ocean decides the way forward.
It was funny talking to Jai, and we spoke how if you took all the killing out of it, Tucker is just this cringey uncle. He said how you just want to have a beer with him. That’s the power of how charming Tucker is, and you can understand why people let their guard down. The film is having so much fun with its audience. It’s a real testament to how well you craft tension and comedy at the same time. I was quite shocked at how funny this was.
Oh, thanks so much. The comedy can be situational and absurd, but it’s still got to be rooted in truth, and Jai’s charisma…I mean, that’s how the spider catches the fly. It’s like the dark side of Steve Irwin or something. (Tucker’s) not unlike Ted Bundy to a certain extent, where there’s this mask of charisma that lowers the victim’s guard. That’s how he catches them. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with it at the same time. Horror is quite theatrical. When you think of the villains that stick in your mind, be it Hannibal Lecter, or Kathy Bates in Misery, or Jack Nicholson in The Shining. It’s a real chance to take centre stage.
I feel like we should also include Robin McLeavy in The Loved Ones in that conversation. My God, that was a performance for the ages!
Yeah, I mean, this conversation would have to go on for 10 hours for me to say how much of a director’s dream she is. I usually do quite a few takes, because I just want to make sure that I’ve nailed it, and I’m not reasonably hard on actors. Robin actually came up to me and told me how she wanted to go again. I told her that she’s incredible, and if she wants another take, say so. She goes pound of pound. Toe to toe with anyone in the world. She’s incredible.
Talking of talking with your cast, are there psychological subtext or thematic ideas that you discuss with them? Or do you let them find that through the physicality of their roles?
I do character breakdowns for all the actors, along with the heads of department, because otherwise I don’t actually know how to prepare and storyboard. I need that foundation. But this talented cast and crew just elevated (the film) to another level. Everyone is very different. Hassie liked to talk through the text and break it down. Jai is a far more instinctive actor. He didn’t want to do that so much, so he would go to the boat and visit the set of the main cabin. He was amazing. He would just stalk the space, and we’d talk about the character and he’d start to find (him). You just see him walking and it was incredible to watch, because you see Tucker appearing in his eyes.
Robin, she had all the character stuff (for The Loved Ones). There was a lot of Jeffrey Dahmer, but it was starting to give her nightmares. It wasn’t working for her. She read Oliver Sacks’s “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat”, and watched Kathy Bates in Misery, and that really clicked for her. She realised that it could be fun, but character driven.
Yeah, Jai was saying it was one of those performances he tried not to live in too much. We see it on screen, but then once you yelled “Cut”, he made sure to wash Tucker off. Didn’t want to bring him home. And when you’re crafting something like Dangerous Animals, is there an image or a moment that comes to you when the film starts to form? A character? A situation? Or is it something more abstract than we think?
Yeah, there was an image the first time I read the script, where Zephyr faces off with the great white, and it felt like the two queens of the ocean coming face to face. It’s almost like the shark makes a moral decision on the part of the audience, and that was instantly unlike any other shark film. It was operatic and majestic. And it was the same for Pete Shilaimon, the head of LD (Entertainment), who financed the film. That was the moment. This is what’s different about this film. We’re not demonizing the shark. It’s actually got some beautiful moments. The other moment was “Ooby Dooby, motherfucker”, which having grown up on Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger films, the opportunity to subvert those classic one liners just felt like the film knew it was fun.
You can tell how much fun is being had. You have this elevated concept and you just ran with it. And it continues to show just how good Australians are at making genre films. I think people forget how good we are at it. Hopefully we see more come through, and that we don’t have to wait another 10 years for the next Sean Byrne movie! This was absolutely worth the wait, but with this, The Loved Ones and The Devil’s Candy, we need more Sean Byrne movies. So, thank you for coming back with this, because it really is so much fun.
Thanks so much, Peter. And I couldn’t agree more about Australian genre. We’ve got so many great Australian genre filmmakers, and if we want the genre to survive in Australia, audiences have to turn up opening weekend. Films live and die on opening weekend. We don’t usually have the marketing budget of your Mission: Impossible, or whatever, and you just gotta show up! That’s the only way these things survive. It’s a fun night at the movies. Deranged fun.
Dangerous Animals is screening in Australian theatres from June 12th, 2025.
