The Devil's Mouth

Image credit: Wikipedia

While it’s not always the case, we know that there is an allegorical element to monster movies. In many horror films, the monster is a metaphor for something, be it war, global warming, generational trauma, whatever. While curling up with Partner for another bad shark movie on Friday night, it occurred to me that sharks have become a bit of a metaphor for that exciting but uncertain time between adolescence and adulthood. Think about it, so many of these film centre around a group of high-school or university graduates celebrating a bout of absolute freedom before entering the future grind of civilised maturity: the future is both exciting and scary and the severity of dumb actions and dumb decisions hasn’t sunk in yet. I had this realisation recently, while watching The Devil’s Mouth. 

For Sara and her friends, a holiday in Thailand before embarking on the next chapter of their lives seems like the perfect way to unwind after college. Beautiful beaches, scenic boat tours, and magnificent marine wildlife, what could possibly go wrong? The group finds out during a scuba exploration of the labyrinthine network of caves known as the Devil’s Mouth, where they discover that a massive shark has been brought in with the floods. As a series of incidents leave them stranded, lost, injured, hunted, and panicky, old grievances start coming to the surface and the fight for survival becomes even more fraught with danger. 

 At this stage there is not a lot to say about these types of small, under-the-radar shark movies that has not already been said before. The Devil’s Mouth ticks all the boxes of the coming-of-age eco horror subgenre, but I guess where it pulls ahead from other films such as Maneater is in its exploration of the resilience or fragility of relationships when put under pressure. That, and one of the characters’ deaths is not by being chomped. 

While there’s about as much narrative as you can squeeze from a group-of-people-being-hunted-by-shark movie, the film does manage to succeed in creating an ebb and flow of suspense, despair, and hope. Of course, there are a lot of instances where you’re openly telling the TV, ‘well that’s a dumb idea’, but more often than not there are pivotal story moments that you don’t see coming and I think this is what brings the film ahead of others like it, as it subtly forces you to become (ever so slightly) emotionally invested in these otherwise predictable and generic characters. 

Image credit: Pedestrian TV

There are ample amounts of gloomy, underwater shots with something large drifting in the shadows, as well as jump scares, and believable but not realistic shark behaviour that bring a good level of suspense, and the performances are solid enough to make them memorable for at least a couple of weeks after watching the film. If you’re looking for a mindless shark movie to watch, you could do worse that The Devil’s Mouth. 

Director: Jeff Wadlow, 2026 

Cast: Kathryn Newton, Lana Condor, Nico Hiraga, Gavin Casalegno, Tommi Rose, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Tayme Thapthimthong, & Harrison Luna