Shark movies have never really gone away, but they have multiplied. From Under Paris and The Shallows to Deep Blue Sea, The Meg and Dangerous Animals, the subgenre keeps swimming forward, and The Devil’s Mouth, directed by Jeff Wadlow and now streaming on Prime Video, is the latest entry. The film currently holds a 68% score on Rotten Tomatoes, a rating that fairly reflects the divide between critics who found it a satisfying genre entry and those who felt it stopped short of its potential.
What makes this one worth paying attention to is not so much the shark—though it certainly shows up—but the complicated, quietly toxic friendship at the film’s centre. Critics are broadly in agreement that this is a solidly watchable streaming thriller that punches above its weight class, even if it never fully reaches the heights it is aiming for.
Five college friends—Sara, played by Kathryn Newton; Max, played by Lana Condor; Greg, played by Gavin Casalegno; James, played by Nico Hiraga; and Adrienne, played by Tommi Rose—head to Thailand for one last adventure before real life begins. They sign up for a guided swim through a remote submerged cave system called The Devil’s Mouth, described as one of the region’s natural wonders. What no one tells them is that a freak storm the previous week flooded the caves with sea life, including a territorial and very hungry bull shark. As oxygen runs low and their numbers begin to thin, long-buried tensions between the friends—particularly Sara and Max—rise to the surface with nowhere left to hide.
Most critics land in roughly the same place: The Devil’s Mouth is a competent, entertaining shark thriller that distinguishes itself from the pack just enough to be worth watching, but never fully commits to the sharper film hiding beneath the surface. Forbes called it a solid addition to the genre, describing it as the kind of mid-tier streaming offering that satisfies the buttered-popcorn craving without asking too much of its audience.
FlickOnClick gave it three out of five and described it as a film that distinguishes itself just enough from the overcrowded genre with a genuinely interesting toxic friendship dynamic at its centre, though the underwater scares are noted as more efficient than truly frightening. The script, meanwhile, is criticised for never developing its strongest ideas as sharply as it should. Variety was more pointed, describing the film as generic but watchable, made more interesting by the human dynamics among its characters than the creature stalking them.
The Guardian was similarly measured in its praise, describing the film as a tense and well-paced thriller that knows exactly what it is and never tries to be anything more, a quality that both helps and limits it depending on what viewers are looking for.
The two leads are where most of the critical conversation lands, and for good reason. The film lives or dies on the friction between Sara and Max, and both Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor deliver. Variety noted that both stars are better than their thinly written roles require them to be. Lana Condor was specifically praised for playing against her wholesome To All the Boys image, leaning into Max’s selfishness and controlling nature with visible enjoyment.
FlickOnClick called Kathryn Newton the film’s greatest asset, saying she rises above the B-movie material with genuine spark and conviction whenever the script gives her the opportunity. Heaven of Horror echoed that sentiment, praising the character-driven first act and arguing that the film earns its survival sequences by making the audience genuinely care who lives and who dies.
The dynamic between the two women is the element critics return to most. Max is described across reviews as controlling, privileged and the kind of person who frames every decision as being in her friend’s best interests while ultimately serving her own. Sara has spent years accommodating that behaviour without acknowledging its emotional cost. That dynamic—the slow unravelling of an unequal friendship under extreme pressure—is what lifts The Devil’s Mouth above a standard genre exercise, at least in its strongest moments.
The rest of the cast—including Gavin Casalegno (The Summer I Turned Pretty), Nico Hiraga (Love in Taipei, Sweethearts) and Tommi Rose (Sweet Magnolias)—are noted across reviews as game and committed, though the script gives them less to work with than it does Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor. Their characters function primarily to raise the stakes rather than carry much emotional weight of their own.
Director Jeff Wadlow made a striking production choice that several critics highlighted: the film was shot almost entirely on soundstages. In an interview with Far Out Magazine, Wadlow revealed that only two weeks of production took place on location. The remaining six weeks were spent on two purpose-built cave sets—one measuring 120 feet long and 70 feet wide, flooded with five feet of water, and another roughly half that size filled with fifteen feet of water. Between those two sets, all thirteen cave environments featured in the screenplay were created. The seamlessness of that illusion has impressed critics familiar with the behind-the-scenes reality as much as audiences who are not.
Thailand serves as more than just a backdrop. Wadlow told Far Out Magazine that the country itself functions as a character in the film, with the cave system proving every bit as dangerous as the shark lurking within it. The film’s visual language makes effective use of its tight, claustrophobic environments, while the PG-13 rating—a deliberate studio decision that Wadlow embraced—means the horror relies more on mounting dread than graphic violence.
Comparisons to Neil Marshall’s 2005 survival horror classic The Descent are unavoidable, and most critics agree that The Devil’s Mouth ultimately falls short of that benchmark. Variety argued that the similarities only highlight the gap between the two films, describing The Devil’s Mouth as a smaller and less fully realised version of what The Descent achieved. The screenplay, written by Aja Gabel and Myung Joh Wesner from a 2019 Black List script, is praised for its strong character foundation but criticised for leaving many of its most interesting ideas underdeveloped. Several reviewers also pointed to moments of unintentional silliness, suggesting the film never fully decides whether it wants to be a serious survival thriller or a knowingly pulpy genre ride.
Wadlow also spoke at length to Far Out Magazine about his approach to the project. He cited Jaws and The Shallows as his guiding influences—two very different shark films—and explained that his goal was to create a story audiences could genuinely invest in beyond the creature attacks. He said he wanted to avoid making what he called a “body count film”, where viewers simply wait for characters to die, and that nearly everything in the first act was designed to prevent that. He also discussed the challenge of working within PG-13 limitations, noting that years of experience had taught him how to balance suspense with restraint.
The Devil’s Mouth is exactly the kind of film streaming platforms were built to support: a mid-budget genre thriller with a young cast and a familiar premise that would struggle to compete in cinemas against blockbusters like The Odyssey and Spider-Man, but finds a comfortable home on Prime Video. Forbes summed it up well: the formula is simple, and the film does not stray far from it, but Kathryn Newton and Lana Condor bring enough energy, while the cave setting creates enough genuine claustrophobia, for it to earn its place in an increasingly crowded yet consistently entertaining subgenre.
It never quite becomes the great shark thriller it hints at, but it remains an entertaining survival story elevated by its characters more than its creature.
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Film Details: The Devil’s Mouth
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Writers: Aja Gabel, Myung Joh Wesner
Cast: Kathryn Newton, Lana Condor, Gavin Casalegno, Nico Hiraga, Tommi Rose, Tayme Thapthimthong
Genre: Survival Horror, Thriller
Runtime: 106 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Platform: Prime Video
Release Date: 29 July 2026
Country: United States
Language: English
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