‘Dangerous Animals’ Star at Texas Premiere Describes Scary Bull Shark Encounter During Filming

This past Saturday, Rolling Roadshow brought the Jaws on the Water experience to IFC Films and Shudder’s Dangerous Animals, the shark horror meets serial killer thriller from The Loved Ones director Sean Byrne, and we lived to tell the tale.

Dangerous Animals swims into theaters on June 6 and follows a rebellious surfer caught by a serial killer who feeds his victims to sharks.

It’s a perfect plot, considering that Dangerous Animals’ Texas premiere had attendees watching the film while floating in themed inner tubes on Lake Travis at Volente Beach Waterpark.

While Lake Travis may not have actual sharks, those brave enough to venture into the water were vulnerable to divers moving under the water to deliver the perfect scare throughout the intense film. Quiet moments were often punctuated by an unexpected yelp from those grabbed by divers, ahead of collective cheers and gasps at some of Dangerous Animals’ more brutal surprises.

Ahead of the screening, Volente Beack Waterpark offered a variety of water slides, shark themed beverages and snacks, shark bite temporary tattoos, and photo opps that included hand painted posters, a shark sand sculpture, and a diving cage. 

Byrne and lead star Hassie Harrison, who plays nomadic surfer Zephyr, were in attendance to introduce the film.  

When asked whether they’d encountered any marine life when filming in Australia, Harrison didn’t hesitate with an intense anecdote. “Alright, we’re not supposed to tell this story, but one of our stunt guys, while we had actors in the water, got pulled off the back of a jet ski. A bull shark bit his flipper, ripped him into the water, and death rattled him. That was the very first day of doing any of the stunts in water. I was like, ‘Holy crap, I’m in Australia now, baby! Let’s go!'”

“Something like that hadn’t happened for forty years on the Gold Coast. It was obviously trying to get cast as an extra,“ Byrne added.

For the record, real bull sharks do make an appearance in Byrne’s latest, but not quite in the way they encountered during production. The filmmaker previously explained to Bloody Disgusting that they employed real sharks but acquired footage that was composited.

“There are makos in there, bull sharks, tiger sharks, and the gray nurse as well. They’re all real sharks. Anytime you go underwater, it’s a real shark.“ Byrne stated. “Sometimes, we had to roto real sharks and put them in the water that we created. But the majority of the time, we’re actually using 4K footage of the water that the real sharks are in. We’re blending that with the real footage and making sure that the water matches in the grade. The only CG is the fins, which, originally, was going to be real footage as well.”

The immersive event concluded with a fireworks display, wrapping up an evening of communal shark horror fun. While Dangerous Animals on the Water was limited to its single screening on May 31, fans have multiple chances to experience the original event, Jaws on the Water, as well as the special 50th-anniversary event, Jaws in Concert on Martha’s Vineyard, later this month.

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