John’s Horror Corner: The Devil’s Mouth (2026), this is not the shark movie you’re looking for…

MY CALL: When you don’t ask for much, keep expectations low, and still find disappointment, your director probably didn’t care about your experience. Sorry, not sorry. MOVIES LIKE The Devil’s Mouth: Instead of The Devil’s Mouth, go check out The Cave (2005) or Deep Blue Sea (1999).

A group of twentysomethings (incl. Kathryn Newton; Paranormal Activity 4, Ready or Not 2, Freaky) in Thailand charter a boat for some vacation adventure. The tourist fun montage ensues complete with water slides, super soakers, nice candid moments, and splashing in the water. But Thailand makes its ocean’s dangers apparent when a jellyfish incident befalls a snorkeler and a sea turtle washes ashore with a giant shark bite deleting half of its body from existence.

The group books a guide (Tayme Thapthimthong; The White Lotus, Alien: Earth) to kayak and then swim into The Devil’s Mouth, a freshwater cave system that is definitely very safe. There are millions of bats, a charming Aussie scuba-diver, submerged bones of a long dead tribe, a freshwater fish graveyard, and absolutely no sharks or eels or jellyfish. The really good news is that a recent storm surge has made the tour path a bit more dangerous. But not so dangerous that the guide would say no at the behest of a pushy entitled girl.

The group advances almost all the way in when it is discovered that a shark is in the waters with them… and shortly thereafter their number drops by one. And then another one. And then… you get it.

I’m not a fan of PG-13 horror, and this movie is strong reminder of why. It seems that any punch thrown is pulled punch, or worse, a punch with crap execution. The shark attack deaths are pretty basic, and the “suspense” of pulling someone out of the water just in time is both played out and realized poorly. It seems like every single rock that could inconveniently break or collapse does, and almost every time the shark attacks underwater it somehow doesn’t quite fit between/through whatever rock formation is between the shark and its intended prey. There’s a word for this: stupid. And before you go saying so many other horror movies are stupid, this is especially stupid. It’s almost exhausting. But it’s definitely boring most of the time. Maybe even somewhat watchable… on a purely bad movie basis.

Director Jeff Wadlow (Imaginary, Fantasy Island, Truth or Dare) has done much better in the past. Nothing outstanding. But way better than this. I’m not sure what happened here. Although maybe this was just a paycheck at the end of the day.

Want a second opinion, check out this review. CLICK HERE.