Sara is understandably annoyed with her “friends,” because they accidentally left her behind, swimming in jellyfish infested waters. Hey, they came back for her. Hence her bad mood and numerous welts during their cave diving excursion. However, Sara had her heart set on seeing “the devil’s mouth,” the cave opening ringed by teeth-like stalactites and stalagmites, so she soldiers on.
Their guide, Wat, wants to take the easy route, because of recent typhoon activity, but, instead, Max, the group’s bossy queen bee, insists on taking the black diamond trail. As always, everyone defers to her. However, when the storm raised the water levels, a bull shark swam into the caves, where he now remains stuck, angry and hungry.
This is one of those sharkploitation movies where most viewers will root for the shark. Sara represents the logical final girl candidate, who must learn to trust herself and reject Max’s bad judgment to survive. That could be a credible dramatic arc, but the young shallow cast are mostly good for one thing: chumming the waters.
Frankly, what most stands out during Devil’s Mouth are the stunning location shots. If it weren’t for the shark attacks, Wadlow’s film would be a highly effective PSA for Thai tourism. Wadlow, who previously helmed several Blumhouse horror releases, including the hot unruly mess of a guilty pleasure, Truth or Dare, so it isn’t surprising he helms some satisfyingly gory feeding frenzies. However, character development is thinner than dictionary pages.
