Beast of War is the latest film to ask how we might behave in the apocalypse. The Australian World War II-set shark-based horror is primarily set atop a floating piece of debris in the middle of the Timor Sea. Overcrowded, underfed, and hunted by a hungry shark, the men try to survive despite a total lack of resources and an abundance of misplaced anger. There’s a lot right now in the zeitgeist about the ability to survive with a dearth of resources, and Kiah Roache-Turner’s is a pretty bleak entry, suggesting we’re already ᴅᴇᴀᴅ in the water. We’re just waiting for nature to take revenge.

A low-budget film whose lack of finances is, unfortunately, viewable in most frames, Beast of War is nevertheless a sometimes enjoyable, pulpy, bloody horror. Roache-Turner’s ability to direct effectively despite his budget is admirable. By leaning on the limited confines of the space, he milks significant tension from his setup. But the film loses steam fast for the same reason: the stagnancy only highlights how little room there is to move, how few places it can go.

Beast Of War Is Both Aided & Hampered By Its Small Confines

The film is “inspired by actual events,” a self-serious announcement which belies the forthcoming absurdity. The event in question was the attack on the HMAS Armidale, which sank after an aerial attack by Japanese forces in 1942, but the creature-feature aspect is pure invention. Beginning at training camp, Beast of War follows a band of officers as they train to enter the European theater. Leo (Mark Coles Smith) is despised by most of his company for the sole virtue of being Aboriginal. But Leo is fit and brave, and his commitment and strength is awarded despite his comrades’ prejudice.

The first act is mostly an extended training montage. In an opening, rain and mud-soaked exercise, Leo is presented as a selfless, strong, and brave soldier when he saves Will (Joel Nankervis) from drowning, but otherwise, the first 20 minutes or so are exceedingly generic and useless in intent. Their sergeant (Steve Le Marquand) is so ridiculously over-arched as a ball-busting authority figure that his dialogue is inadvertently comedic.

Nonetheless, Roache-Turner has a strong flair, and the film has many enjoyable, stylish sequences. Leo is plagued by a recurring nightmare that implies he once lost someone to a shark attack, and those dreams are colored in vibrant hues. The training sequences are textured, caked as they are in dirt and sweat.

Once at sea, the young men are bombed quickly by a surprise Japanese aerial attack. Casualties are high, and what’s left of the ship is destroyed. Leo is once again in the position of saving Will from certain drowning, and the two of them pull themselves onto a makeshift raft. In the dark, their vision is plagued by fog and smoke. Scanning the wet graveyard around them, they pull in what resources they can. Resident racist Teddy (Lee Tiger Halley) and five others are the lone other survivors, who all join Leo and Will in desperation. And then the shark arrives.

This is classic B-movie creature-feature stuff. It delights in its many hats, but it does seem pulled between its desires to be frothy and to be taken seriously. The crew has very little in the way of supplies, no water, and only one can of peaches for sustenance; as a mirror to a world with dwindling reserves, Beast of War is moderately interesting as a social allegory. It is more interesting as a pared-down, hunter-and-hunted seesaw ride. Regardless, it’s a good thing the film is short, because it is just very, very limited.

In this tiny little society with limited resources, Beast of War ponders, how do we cope? Would we just fight each other until death with no hope of setting aside differences to survive? Would people just eat their rations selfishly, or would we find a way to band together? Or does none of that philosophy matter when nature is poised to fight back? Whatever the case, moving forward will require some sacrifice. And what’s left of the world after that seems even bleaker in Roache-Turner’s hands.