Rising stars Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor dive into The Devil’s Mouth, the killer-sh shark thriller whose trailer has just dropped.
Kathryn Newton isn’t even thirty yet, but she already has a substantial television résumé behind her: a recurring role in Supernatural, another in Big Little Lies and a stint in The Society, one of Netflix’s 56 shows canceled this round. On the big screen, the path has been a bit more… complicated? After her breakout in Paranormal Activity 4, she appeared in acclaimed films like Lady Bird and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Unfortunately, she also starred in one of the biggest flops of the 2020s: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. She played Cassie Lang, who will officially return in Doomsday later this year (and really, who isn’t?).
On the horror front, after Lisa Frankenstein, Freaky, Abigail, and Wedding Nightmare 2, the actress will square off with a shark this summer on Amazon Prime Video for The Devil’s Mouth. The film, directed by Jeff Wadlow (Truth or Dare, Fantasy Island), has released its trailer, and it looks as boilerplate as a shark-thriller gets.
The Devil Wears a Shark
Can you get any more generic for a shark movie trailer? It checks every box of the marine thriller. Pals on vacation snapping photos to music? Check. A handful of tense shots and a bogus jump scare to set the mood? Check. A voiceover outlining the stakes? Check. The checklist is long, and we could keep going, but thankfully not everything in this first look is a total loss: The Devil’s Mouth doesn’t look like a total washout.
First off, Netflix’s new darling Lana Condor is a solid actress, and we’re eager to see her stretch beyond To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. On the casting side, sharp-eyed viewers will spot Tayme Thapthimthong, absolutely brilliant in The White Lotus’ third season. This time he plays a guide a bit too eager for adventure, because there’s always one. As for the story, there isn’t a ton to chew on: it’s ultra-classic and initially seems to lack depth (it’s hard to imagine getting attached to these characters and their arcs in a single movie, but we’ll see).
There is, however, a definite trend shaping shark films lately. After the trailer for The Bay (also fairly generic), The Devil’s Mouth likewise seems to probe the role of tourism in environmental degradation. Visitors are described as “guests,” according to the guide, who quickly learns that that label is a misnomer.
From a staging standpoint, it’s still fairly ordinary, though there are a few touches worth noting—the splashes of bright red blood and a blue-tinted mood that contrasts nicely. Beyond that, you can sense the director’s intent after the 45th scream followed by an accidental dip into the water: Jeff Wadlow wants jump scares at every turn.
Who will survive this onslaught? Not many, if the trailer is any guide, which lingers on showing three-quarters of the cast being dragged underwater by the shark. The Devil’s Mouth lands on July 29th on Prime Video and should make for a perfect summer watch for anyone who loves sharks enough to watch basically anything with them (we’ve got a couple in the crew).
