The Devil’s Mouth

• Directed by Jeff Wadlow
• July 29, 2026 (Prime Video)

A group of tourists exploring an underwater cave system fights to survive against a bull shark trapped in there with them.

Vacation from Hell movies are a dime a dozen all built around travelling somewhere only to have it all go to poop, they play on a fear we have of something going wrong far from home. The Devil’s Mouth is nothing special in that regard but could have been so much better than what we got.

A bunch of attractive 20 somethings are in Thailand on a trip and you immediately hate these people. It took me seconds. During the 80s you could get away with that since it was an almost expected cliché. Even then it was necessary for there had to be at least something watchable about them and in this film there isn’t. It’s not just that they are all unlikable. You wonder why they’re on vacation together since their niceties towards each other appear very superficial. Comments and kindness sound backhanded.

Characters in The Devil’s Mouth are a veritable stereotype of rich, entitled brats who in the script are only differentiated by names over personality traits. Self-absorbed and interested in partying, the scenery is much more interesting than they are and it is some beautifully photographed environments. Never let it be said nature in Thailand is ugly.

They are a bunch of pushy, bratty people that director Jeff Wadlow never generates sympathy for despite some tragic backstories. Your dad died? So sad, but you’re shallow and occasionally spiteful so who cares. These characters bicker and fight constantly leading to you questioning why these people even hang out. Displayed personal connections are extremely shallow and superficial. At no point do they ever recognize the thin bond they have which would elevated the presented material. Even the best friends Sara (Kathryn Newton) and Max (Lana Condor) don’t seem very close to an objective observer.

Often in modern movies what should be the main threat is not the main and in this case it would’ve been a good idea to have the main story not be the main story. In other words, the hungry shark should have been just a way to look at the characters. Use the threat as a means to work out their problems but the shark is the main story. These characters rarely grow. They largely exist to die but since nothing separates them you lose track of the deaths.

The only one that had some growth was Max’s boyfriend James (Nico Hiraga) who had a rather deep epiphany that he was wasting his life and being immature and he couldn’t disappoint his parents. I got really invested because that was for me a refreshing level of maturity and self-reflection for a character in general. I thought we were on the verge of getting a deeper film but nope. Most of the characters are forgettable. As annoying as they are, they have nothing uniquely annoying about each one that stands out making their deaths unimpactful. You are not even happy they died because you know nothing about them.

Much of The Devil’s Mouth takes place in a dark cave. Darkness is this movie’s friend. It makes the violence and action that occured much more up to the imagination, making it better than anything that can be shown. I appreciate that. Letting the viewer do the work gets them more invested in the film but the trick is to turn up the lights just enough during the down time so the viewer can see the characters interact and Wadlow fails there. Strangely the trailer gets the balance right.

One character survives the entire thing. One presumes the besties will make it out with Sara saving the controlling Max thus proving/demonstrating Max does not need to be so controlling in their relationship. In those brief moments where this looks to be the direction of the climax you feel it might salvage itself but again based on Max’s death it looks to be more that the only way Sara can be free is if Max bites the bullet.

This should’ve been a film where the cast was cleared away early in the movie leaving one character to fight to survive. The people behind this movie couldn’t hand handle multiple individuals that you wanted to watch die or wanted to watch live. It could’ve made a great character driven survival film in the hands of better people.

The Devil’s Mouth could’ve been something good even if it would’ve been one of many shark survival movies. Instead it was just not worth viewing.