Why? Well, as astute readers may know, I have a soft spot for horror movies that try to at least take a step into scientific reality. And compared to sharks, bears or many of the other animals Hollywood has made into horror movies, hippos are a far scarier threat to people in real life.
The death toll of hippopotamus is very high
To be clear, the hippopotamus (hippopotamus amphibian) is far from the deadliest animal in the world. Those would be mosquitoes, whose bites can spread many dangerous diseases. According to the World Health Organization, malaria alone could kill more than half a million people worldwide in 2024.
However, once you exclude disease-related animal deaths, the hippos are not in decline. They are estimated to kill about 500 humans per year in their native Africa. These deaths were not caused by hunting, as hippos are herbivores. But these giant animals are incredibly territorial, and they are not afraid to use their powerful bites to destroy anything they perceive as a threat to their homes, including humans.
The hippo’s annual death toll is far higher than that of many other animals villainized by Hollywood, including the beast’s feared father, the shark. For example, last year there were 12 shark deaths recorded worldwide, slightly more than normal. Grizzly bears, another popular scary villain, can kill two to three people a year in North America.
And there’s no shortage of horror movies made about animals that also have low mortality rates, such as octopuses (probably only three known deaths overall, all linked to the highly venomous blue-ringed octopus), orcas (zero deaths in the wild, though four involved captive whales), and piranhas (very rarely, though they were linked to a series of four deaths in 2022). Hey, people have made movies about killer rabbits, slugs, and sheep before they made movies about hippos.
shout out to Lake Placid However, the franchise and its deadly crocodiles, since real-life crocodiles kill approximately 1,000 people a year.
hippo terror
Now be fair, hungry This is actually not the first hippo horror film. It looks like the honor will be given to an Australian-based hippo’s revengeReleased last December. However, given its lack of attention and its mediocre IMDB reviews from the few people who have seen it, I think hungry will attract a lot of attention (its trailer released last week has already received millions of YouTube views).
Like sharks and many of the other animals mentioned above, the hippopotamus is also very afraid of people. The common hippo (and its pygmy cousins) have experienced severe habitat loss and widespread poaching over the last century, and they are currently classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). So don’t let any movie magic distract you from the reality that we are far more dangerous to these animals than they are to us.
Still, for those who want some real-life inspiration behind their horror movies, you could do worse than the destructive potential of a raging hippopotamus.
hungry Written and directed by James Nunn and produced by Signature Entertainment. It will be released direct-to-video in the US and other countries on June 23.
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