Title – Beast of War (2025)

Director – Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead)

Cast – Mark Coles Smith, Joel Nankervis, Sam Delich, Lee Tiger Halley

Plot – A group of Australian soldiers find themselves battling a ferocious Great White shark when the vessel they are traveling on is destroyed and they are left in the middle of the ocean while World War 2 rages on around them.

“Survival is the mission”

Review by Eddie on 19/11/2025

I’m convinced that one day Australian director Kiah Roache-Turner is going to make a truly exceptional feature film, while appearing close at time that day hasn’t yet arrived.

Debuting with his fantastically inventive DIY zombie film Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead in 2014, over the past 10 years Roache-Turner has been churning out a high rate of films that includes a Wyrmwood sequel, sci-fi Nekrotronic and last year’s creature feature horror Sting, with his latest offering the shark infused WW2 film Beast of War another close but so far offering that shines at times and falters at others.

Not to be confused with the cult 1988 tank film of the same name, Beast is an inspired by true events tale that follows a rag-tag group of Australian soldiers in a life and death battle of survival fighting off a vicious Great White shark after they are stranded at sea during the World War 2 period.

Reportedly budgeted under $10 million USD, in many ways what Roache-Turner does with his limited budget and filmmaking confines are to be admired with the toothy adversary ever present in Beast’s runtime a genuine technical marvel that becomes one of the more memorable big-screen fishes of recent times but despite clocking in at under 90 minutes, there’s multiple times where Beast treads water while Roache-Turner’s script struggles to match the bloody carnage that surrounds it.

Featuring rising star Mark Coles Smith as the movies main source of people power, portraying the capable and determined Leo with the Mystery Road origin TV series actor supported by the likes of Boy Swallows Universe breakout star Lee Tiger Halley and Narrow Road to the Deep North cast member Sam Parsonson, Beast has some solid human participants but the films limited setting and high-concept narrative asks a lot of them and when saddled with Roache-Turner’s often stilted script there’s no doubt there’s components clearly holding Beast back.

Flaws and all, when weighed up against other shark infused competition from recent years and a floundering local marketplace of feature films that seems intent on purely making easy win family films with animals or weepy middle-aged aimed dramas, Beast is somewhat of a minor miracle and while its unfortunately terrible run at the local box office is a sad sight to see, one feels there is a market out there that just might make Roache-Turner’s labour of love a new cult favourite.

Final Say –

Rough around the edges and clearly held back by budget limitations and a lack of refinement with its character development and interactions, Beast of War is a long way from perfect but there’s enough here to once more suggest Roache-Turner is close to achieving something great sooner rather than later.

3 refreshing drinks out of 5