A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Devil’s Mouth”. (2026, 2*, ’15’).
Released on Prime Video on July 29th, “The Devil’s Mouth” is both descriptive of the geological cave feature shown and the chief protagonist. It’s about the cleverest thing about this pretty tiresome addition to the ‘shark’ movie genre.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
A group of five teens on holiday in Thailand go cave diving in a cave complex. But they are not alone.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: PG-13. (The film has not been rated by the BBFC but it is rated as a 15 on Prime Video for violence and gore.)
Talent:
Starring: Kathryn Newton, Lana Condor, Nico Hiraga, Gavin Casalegno, Tommi Rose, Harrison Luna, Tayme Thapthimthong.
Directed by: Jeff Wadlow.
Written by: Aja Gabel & Myung Joh Wesner.
Running Time: 1h 46m.
Review:
Positives:
- The Thai locations are pretty and the caves impressive. While some of the film was shot in specially-constructed sound stages, some footage was filmed in actual Thai cave systems, normally reserved for rescue-diver training. The cinematography is pretty good.
- The finale, from the final shark victim (satisfying!) to the denouement, is well-done and even borders on being a tad exciting!
Negatives:
- The number one requirement for me in these types of shark movies is that you have to at least care about the potential victims. With Brody, Quint and Hooper: I cared. With Nancy in The Shallows: I cared (with or without the cute orange bikini). But here, I did not. Indeed, I was cheering the shark on! Because here we have five of the most obnoxiously American teenage tourists that you would ever have the misfortune to meet. Loud, disrespectful of the locals, sacrilegious when it comes to respecting holy sites: they are the sort of group that if you were to arrive in the morning for a boat trip with them, you would quietly agree “Ah, no, I think we’ll take the next boat instead”. In a league table of dislikability, Max (Lana Condor) takes the prize, being by far the loudest, most opinionated and unpleasant of the quintet: one of the most annoying characters in this year’s movies so far. Even the one real star of the piece – Kathryn Newton (Abigail; Ready or Not 2), clearly set up to be the ‘Last Girl’ and the one you are meant to root for – is not immune from some tarring and feathering. For example, she just sits there meekly giggling as the abysmal Max carves their initials into the walls of a religiously significant cave. I just wanted the snappy, snappy shark to just munch them all and get the film over with.
- The script is all over the place. Instead of starting with the cave expedition (and keeping the film to a much more palatable 90 minutes), we get an initial jellyfish encounter and a turtle evisceration that bear absolutely no relation to the plot, other than establishing the general incompetence of the group (which is more than evidenced by the later arrival in the cave). These are five Darwin Award candidates: as the film progresses we see ridiculous decision after ridiculous decision. One in particular – following a ‘floor collapse’ incident yards from safety – is about as ridiculous as Odysseus shooting that arrow into the Cyclops in “The Odyssey“!
Summary Thoughts:
I know my Flickering Dreams colleague Scott Forbes quite liked this film (a 7/10). But I’m afraid it really rubbed me up the wrong way. Tiresome, loud, screamy and with a bunch of characters I would not wish to spend 5 minutes with, let alone 105 minutes.
The recent shark abomination Thrash on screaming managed to earn 3*s because it tipped over from being ‘plain bad’ into being hilariously ‘so bad its good’. I’m afraid this one never rose above ‘plain bad’ for me. I couldn’t wait for it to end.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bp4Viru6Xc.
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