Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram) Click here for an audio version.

Look, if you’ve been wondering whether you should watch ‘The Devil’s Mouth’ after seeing its trailer, the first thing you should do is not expect any science-based behavior from the shark. That’s not how horror films work. So I would definitely not deduct any points for the wacky shark going full psycho-killer mode against a group of annoying American tourists in Thailand. Sure, I did occasionally wonder, “How much can this damn shark eat?” But whatever.

Directed by Jeff Wadlow (‘Kickass 2’, ‘The Curse of Bridge Hollow‘), ‘The Devil’s Mouth’ stars Kathryn Newton, Lana Condor, Nico Hiraga, Tomi Rose and Gavin Casalegno as a group of college friends trapped in a set of submerged caves with an apex predator determined to devour all of them. The gang is so unlikable that their tour guide Wat (Tayme Thapthimthong) scrams the second he realizes their lives are in danger. Will the friends be able to find their way out by themselves? Obviously, the suspense is over who survives the jaws of death.

The opening minutes of ‘The Devil’s Mouth’ first establish the group dynamic, with Lana Condor’s charming Max convincing a Thai boat operator to take them out on a yacht for a steal. Kathryn Newton plays her best friend Sara, who believes in ‘Max magic’, the power to get people to do her bidding, which, as the runtime progresses, reveals itself to be more of a manipulative, rather nasty trait. Nico Hiraga plays Max’s mostly compliant boyfriend. Tomi Rose is their red-haired friend Adrienne, who brings along her new boyfriend Greg (Gavin Casalegno), a total mama’s boy.

Max and Sara’s unhealthy friendship forms a crucial ingredient of ‘The Devil’s Mouth’, since the group’s survival depends on making collective decisions, and even when Sara might have a better plan, Max often coerces her friends into following her. Lana Condor’s biggest claim to fame might be playing the sweet romantic lead in Netflix’s ‘To All the Boys…’ trilogy, but it seems she can play a selfish, bratty jerk even better (think ‘Pretty Lethal’). Max is one of the more entertaining elements of the film because her behavior is very triggering and bound to make viewers hate her character, which is exactly the point.

Kathryn Newton, on the other hand, plays the more ‘goody-two-shoes’ Sara, although, as another character points out midway through the film, she isn’t necessarily much better than Max, since she 100% enables her behavior. In fact, the first half of ‘The Devil’s Mouth’ might even lead some viewers to think that Sara is in love with her best friend. She lets Max bulldoze her at every turn and even allows her to make her consider giving up her dream job offer to follow Max to a different city. Even during the cave visit, she allows Max to push their guide into taking them on a riskier trail through the caves to see the famed ‘Devil’s Mouth’.

But well, this is not a film about twisted friendships or unrequited love, but about a fun holiday gone completely wrong, with a cray-cray shark trying to bite these college kids to death. With their guide gone, the bickering group must cooperate and figure out how to escape the predator lurking in the water. The cinematography is pretty great for the most part, especially when capturing Thailand’s scenic beauty. As a horror fan, I think more gore would’ve made it a lot more fun.

The second half gets increasingly cumbersome, with twists that could’ve been handled differently. And the climax is so extremely predictable that it actually made me think about how the 2024 Netflix shark film ‘Under Paris’ was more memorable. A film that I had actually almost forgotten about.

My biggest takeaway from ‘The Devil’s Mouth’ was this: American tourists can be a pain in the ass. But, like, if you’re up for a bunch of stupid college kids being terrorized by a shark, this could be fun.

Watch ‘The Devil’s Mouth’ Prime Video.

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