At one point, one of the characters in Prime Video’s The Devil’s Mouth wonders why there’s a shark in a freshwater cave system, even jokes it probably ordered a ride-hailing service. Except that the apex predator — a bull shark, to be exact — isn’t kidding around. It all starts with five friends — Sara (Kathryn Newton) and her best friend Max (Lana Condor), along with the latter’s boyfriend James (Nico Hiraga) and the couple Greg and Adrienne (Gavin Casalegno, Tommi Rose) — on vacation in Thailand. You already know the rest.
What The Devil’s Mouth is about
Earlier in the movie, the otherwise fun vacation nearly goes sideways after Sara, who goes snorkelling, is accidentally left behind by her friends sailing off their chartered yacht. The fact that they are absent-minded almost costs her life following an encounter with a bloom of jellyfish. It also serves as a turning point for Sara, even after Max apologizes for her carelessness. But Max’s apology comes across as insincere, especially given her dominant and narcissistic personality, even as she lacks accountability for what she did.
Then comes their next trip to the titular freshwater cave system, where Wat (Tayme Thapthimthong) serves as a guide. If you are familiar enough with this type of movie, you know where this is going. And it’s only a matter of time before they enter deep into the cave and find themselves surrounded by a bloodthirsty bull shark. Jeff Wadlow, who is no stranger to exploring different horror genres from slasher (2005’s Cry Wolf) to supernatural (2018’s Truth or Dare, 2024’s Imaginary), ventures into the creature-feature territory that ticks all the usual genre boxes.
Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor’s toxic friendship dynamic
We see these characters trapped with no outside help whatsoever, forcing them to find ways to survive the ordeal. The shark preys on them now and then, even resulting in one of the characters becoming the unfortunate victim of bumping against the rocks and cave walls as it aggressively nudges the target with its head.
Although most of the characters here are relegated to expendable fish-food archetypes that I barely care whether they will make it alive, Wadlow, who directs Aja Gabel and Myung Joh Wesner’s 2019 Hollywood Black List screenplay, manages to stir some onscreen tension between Sara and Max’s increasingly toxic dynamic within their friendship. We learn that Sara is pretty much a passive person who has been patient with Max dictating how everything should be, no matter the trip, or which city they’d move to together after college graduation.
Even when the stakes escalate, Max’s insufferable behavior makes things more difficult than they already are. And yet, despite the claustrophobic scenario that they can’t find their way out of the cave, the once-docile Sara gradually emerges as an unlikely survivalist, relying on the map to determine the path that may or may not be leading them back to the ocean.
Their contrasting personalities are what keep me watching the movie, in which Newton does a good job playing a character who transforms from someone submissive to a take-charge survivor, showcasing her underlying resilience after all. Condor, in the meantime, nails the highly egoistic and obnoxious type of person as Max.
The shark action and the movie’s biggest flaw
The Devil’s Mouth equally benefits from filming extensively on location in various parts of Thailand, notably the cave system that combines real cave environments (among them is Tham Lot Cave) and built-in water tank facilities at the soundstages. And to simulate what it’s like to be stranded inside the freshwater cave, Wadlow and cinematographer James Kniest deliberately use low-key lighting with the characters’ headlamps providing minimal visibility.
While it was meant to generate a heightened sense of being trapped in the dark, it tends to be a frustrating experience as I sometimes find it hard to make out what’s going on in the scenes.
The shark-related action is pretty much a mixed bag, and it’s baffling to see a shark movie being rated a mainstream-friendly PG-13 instead of leaning hard on the R-rated territory.
RELATED: Netflix’s 2026 Shark Movie Is Absolutely Fun & Completely Misunderstood
The Devil’s Mouth is now streaming on Prime Video.
The Review
The Devil's Mouth
A creature feature about a few friends trapped in a freshwater cave setting with a bull shark circling underneath sounds like a gripping, fun premise, but Jeff Wadlow resorts to so-called realism, making the action scenes nearly incomprehensible.
Review Breakdown
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Verdict
