The Devil’s Mouth

Vampire Owl: At least the devil is doing better than the humans these days, I think.

Vampire Bat: Maybe the devil should go to Earth and leave hell for the humans.

Vampire Owl: Isn’t it where most of the humans are going sooner or later?

Vampire Bat: I am expecting the angels of heaven to be very lonely.

Vampire Owl: Do you think that there will be space in hell for this many humans?

Vampire Bat: Hell is infinite and eternal, and with separate circles.

Vampire Owl: So, it is the same as what Dr. Frankenstein had discovered.

Vampire Bat: Mr. Frankenstein is a man of infinite circles of nonsense.

Vampire Owl: When did infinity start coming in circles of Frankenstein?

Vampire Bat: He has always needed them as he would be going to hell as a human too.

[Gets a paneer paratha and three cups of Darjeeling tea].

What is the movie about? :: Five friends from the United States, Sara (Kathryn Newton), Max (Lala Condor), Greg (Gavin Casalegno), Adrienne (Tommi Rose) and James (Nico Hiraga) are on a trip to South Asia, now visiting the beaches and going through underwater journeys in Thailand. As they are enjoying the open tropical waters off the coast, they do not realize that Sara is diving in the water, and as they ask for the boat to be moved to the land as Max feels that she is in the shower. Left alone, Sara is swarmed, and stung by aggressive jellyfish in all parts of her body, rescued later, but is left in pain. Max is supposed to be the one in control of the trip and also the one who said that everyone was aboard before the boat was taken forward, which leads to some tension, but Sara and Max are back together as best friends in no time. The friends are back together, and as they continue to feel that something is in the saltwater of ocean due to seeing dead fish and turtles cast ashore on beaches, they sign up for a guided swim through a fresh water remote cave system known as The Devil’s Mouth.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: This early incident leaving Sara as damsel in distress does manage to keep a rift between them right before they enter The Devil’s Mouth cave network, and despite Sara trying to keep up with the excited team against her pain and in spite of Max trying to tip the guide to take better care of her friend, there is some disagreement. While Sara asks for the easy way through the tunnel without that much of it submerged in water, Max who has always been the leader opts to go for the highly submerged red route, and Sara, despite her fears, agrees to the same. The team is led through a path which had its water level only somewhat come down from being fully submerged in a previous storm. They go through different caves which are interconnected through passages flooded with water, some of them even having salt water from the nearby ocean. But they soon find one of the divers who went before them dead, and within minutes finds themselves hunted by a shark which seems to have come in from the ocean during the flooding with nowhere to go as the tunnel lost its connection with the saltwater. Now, can they survive the creature sensing blood all around?

The defence of The Devil’s Mouth :: With the tide rising and oxygen levels dropping inside the cave system, the friends left on the isolated rock shelves where the shark cannot reach, do not find it to be a long-term option, but have nowhere to go in the maze-like chambers – this is perfectly shown here with each scene, and we have an environment which is so well created and maintained with danger all around the corner. The cave diving horror and shark survival are combined nicely here, as the subterranean setting makes it a different battle against the creature. The tight underwater struggles, internal disagreements, secrets and grievances within themselves, all add to the further tension here. The movie is also never really that long, and this length feels perfect for the total run-time. The signs of the same was established early enough, and that too in open water, with the attack of the jelly fish as much as being left alone in the middle of the sea – these are also basically the kind of horror which are scary enough even without huge fangs.

Positives and negatives :: The movie’s caves are among the best that you might ever see, and when you put a shark in there, it is just glorious. One then remembers that some fine foreshadowing has always been there, and all would lead to just disaster. The final moments when the protagonist lures the shark with herself as a bait is among the best of the movie, and when the characters try to escape from the shark at a ledge, and when they move through tight tunnels, we are all kept in the highest level of tension. We see that the situation places us in a world from where escape is almost impossible by logic with water all around, and the shark being able to thrive in both freshwater and saltwater settings. This also means that there is less visibility, and we can keep feeling the need to have more light around – keeping on looking at the darkness is not the best thing we can do around here. There is some repetition here and there with what the characters are doing, even though the same remains enjoyable.

The performers of the soul :: Here, we have Kathryn Newton once again doing what she does the best, and that is to survive against all odds, as she already did in Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, and had managed to get out of that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania level which was rather lower in comparison to where she stands now as a grand scream queen in the making – she seems to be surviving everything in a convincing manner, and here, she remains a lovable character, and it is her for whom we keep rooting for, as she knew that something bad was going to happen all the time, and in her senses, tries to avoid the worst, even though she has to finally give in to her friends. She is the survivor whom we would all love to have, maybe in a sequel to The Shallows. She is one young actress who seems to be bringing a certain amount of completeness. Lana Condor whom we would best recognize from Alita: Battle Angel, Pretty Lethal and X-Men: Apocalypse, also comes up with a memorable role, and it is another work that we are going to remember here. Tommi Rose also has some work that we will remember. Nico Hiraga as James might be one selfish character which is done well. Then, Gavin Casalegno also comes up with the needed.

How it finishes :: It can be seen that the movie maintains a certain amount of balance around here with a shark attacking in a flooded cave with nowhere to go – the horror gets more of the strength here with the same, while tensions also run related to the past among the characters. We have already seen the sharks and friends running strong in 47 Meters Down, Deep Blue Sea, Killer Whale and more, but this one takes a divergent and interesting approach with the same. Anchored by strong performances from Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor, the movie also focuses on the deteriorating, toxic friendship and further focuses on the terrifying situation rather than the shark. The predictability does not push this aquatic survival flick that much down, as the tension never leaves us and the lovely leading character always have us rooting for us, with the empathy right there to be taken home. I would consider this to be a surprise charm as one of the best shark movies in some time, and its release on Amazon Prime Video has left the same accessible to more of us who choose OTT over the theatres.

Release date: 29 July 2026
Running time: 104 minutes
Directed by: Jeff Wadlow
Starring: Kathryn Newton, Lana Condor, Gavin Casalegno, Nico Hiraga, Tommi Rose