“The Devil’s Mouth” follows five friends who set out on one last adventure along Thailand’s stunning coast. After signing up for a guided swim through a remote cave, a deadly sea creature begins to hunt them.
The shark movies don’t stop coming. With every new film featuring the apex predator comes my updated 2026 list: “Thrash,” “Deep Water,” “Chum,” “The Bay” and now “The Devil’s Mouth.” To some degree, each of these creature features has an “I’ve seen this before” vibe.
This is especially true here, following a near rinse-and-repeat formula from Johannes Roberts’ “47 Meters Down: Uncaged” (2019). This includes initial group tensions, ignoring locals, inexperienced cave diving and of course… trapped sharks. Or in this instance, just one. Rather than featuring blind great whites, “The Devil’s Mouth” contains a lone bull shark.
What (or who) those films don’t have is Kathryn Newton (Sara). She has become a staple in the horror genre, starring in “Freaky” (2020), “Lisa Frankenstein” (2024), “Abigail” (2024) and “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” (2026). Typically eccentric, this is one of her more tame performances. Alongside her are Lana Condor (Max), Nico Hiraga (James), Tommi Rose (Adrienne) and Gavin Casalegno (Greg).
Once it crosses the midway point, “The Devil’s Mouth” falls into a rinse-and-repeat cycle. This isn’t atypical for genre entries, but that doesn’t make it any less noticeable. Characters climb or swim, one of them gets injured and in comes the shark. As the ensemble ticks away one by one during the middle act, it proves difficult to become invested in the emotional angle that Aja Gabel and Myung Joh Wesner’s script aims for.
When the movie nears its conclusion, this changes. As with any shark entry, there is a survivor — or several. Rather than treating everything like a “happy ending,” director Jeff Wadlow acknowledges the trauma that will follow after watching so many perish.
“We’re still here. And once we get out of here, we can do whatever we want and go wherever we want, and we will have all the time in the world… to figure out how to live with this.”
Director of photography James Kniest captures action above the water and below the surface. Some of the best moments in the film are over-under shots, where both worlds are visualized simultaneously. Sean Albertson’s editing also aids in this, transitioning up and down between the two realms.
With minimal lighting, “The Devil’s Mouth” shifts between flashlight-lit visuals and complete darkness. Through long stretches of the 106-minute runtime, the imagery is especially difficult to distinguish. While many viewers will grow frustrated looking at a virtually all-black screen, it does benefit the film more often than not. First, it keeps anxiety levels high. As characters move aimlessly, you’re left wondering when the shark is going to abruptly appear. Second, it hides some of the CGI flaws. Physical props were used to aid water movement and physical interactions, but the shark is largely created digitally. As the beast quietly lurks or violently thrashes, the bleak aesthetic makes it blend right in. Still, there’s no doubt that the obscurity grows increasingly taxing on the eyes.
It does reach a point where the bull shark is brought fully into the spotlight, though. The effects are at their best when partially masked, like swimming behind rocks (or through them) and leaping from the water with only half of the shark visible. Once the full body is shown, however, the quality noticeably “sinks.”
“The Devil’s Mouth” traps people in a cave with sharks. Heard that story before? While derivative, the film treads water with its balance of creature feature and human resiliency.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
