‘Dangerous Animals’ and ‘No Way Up’ Make a Splash on Lionsgate Play
Shark movies have a special place in pop culture. They tap into our deepest, primal fears: the vastness of the ocean, the unseen dangers below, and the split-second moment when fun in the water turns into a fight for survival. They’re thrilling, terrifying, and a little addicting, and they keep us hooked even when we know the predator will strike again. No matter how many times we’ve seen them, we still find ourselves yelling at the screen, gripping our seats, and swearing we’ll never go swimming in the deep again.
This month, Lionsgate Play takes the fear factor up a notch with two shark thrillers that will leave you gasping for air. And thanks to Lionsgate Play’s partnerships with PLDT Home, Smart, and Cignal Super, diving into the terror has never been this easy. All you need is a screen, a steady stream, and nerves of steel.
Dangerous Animals
Shark cage diving is supposed to be the ultimate thrill, but in Dangerous Animals, the real predator isn’t in the water – it’s at the helm. Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), a free-spirited drifter, is lured aboard a boat run by an unhinged captain who secretly feeds tourists to sharks for his own twisted pleasure. Chained alongside another captive with the ocean churning below, Zephyr becomes the unwilling star of Tucker’s gruesome “experiments,” captured on tape for his sick collection. As she plots her escape, her friend Moses (Josh Heuston) begins searching for her, unwittingly stepping into the same nightmare.
Director Sean Bryne describes the film as a fantastic mash of genres, “a fusion of shark film and serial killer film”, but one that doesn’t just make sharks the villains. “We don’t shirk on the shark drama, but it’s not sharks just hunting people. It shines a light on man as the real monster,” said Byrne
For actor Jai Courtney, who plays Tucker, the key was finding the humanity beneath the horror: “Tucker’s a hurt boy with a bit of arrested development, stuck in a part of his life where he was abandoned, and victim of a terrible [shark] attack… People who suffer traumas, you can get locked in a place of blame, almost… Hurt people hurt people.”
Bloody, unflinching, and mercilessly tense, Dangerous Animalsis a shark thriller that blurs the line between human evil and nature’s fury, making you think twice about booking those so-called “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences.
No Way Up
A plane crash is just the beginning of the nightmare. No Way Upstrands a mismatched group of survivors inside the sinking fuselage of a passenger jet – including Ava (Sophie McIntosh), the daughter of a prominent politician; best friends Jed (Jeremias Amoore) and Kyle (Will Attenborough); and young Rosa (Grace Nettle) and her tough-as-nails grandmother Mardy (Phyllis Logan) – clinging to a fragile pocket of air as the Pacific closes in around them.
Every second is a countdown as the oxygen runs out, the wreckage slides deeper into the abyss, and a relentless shark circles just beyond the torn metal. As tensions flare and fear sets in, the survivors are forced to choose between impossible risks – to stay put and suffocate, swim and drown, or face the predator waiting in the dark.
Equal parts disaster movie and shark thriller, No Way Up is a claustrophobic and nerve-shredding survival movie, the kind that keeps you holding your breath until the very last scene.
Ready to dive in?
Whether you’re in it for the jump scares, the suspense, or the sheer adrenaline rush, shark films remind us why we love these thrills – best enjoyed from the safety of our couch. Catch Dangerous Animals and No Way Up, streaming this month only on Lionsgate Play.
