In a summer dominated by a retelling of history’s most well-known monster-plagued sea voyage, “The Devil’s Mouth” may seem like a mere bagatelle, a non-Imax drop in the brine ‘n’ blood-splattered hero’s journey.

Like Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” this ultimate vacation nightmare features a fearless leader, known for cleverly getting the team out of all sorts of jams, who refuses to heed any cautionary advice (Why not follow the tried and true way back to Ithaca? Why not listen to the tour guide when he says it is time to go now?) to the disastrous detriment of all.

Unlike “The Odyssey,” however, “The Devil’s Mouth” features a mondo and super-hangry shark (honestly, how did Homer miss that one?).

And not just any shark, a mondo, super-hangry bull shark that’s able to survive in salt and fresh water.

As a member of the generation permanently turned into ocean-phobes by “Jaws,” I want to thank director Jeff Wadlow and screenwriters Aja Gabel and Myung Joh Wesner upfront for this bit of piscine trivia; now I have to worry about rivers and lakes too.

In a cheeky bid for “Shark Week”-adjacency, “The Devil’s Mouth” (which made it onto the 2019 Black List) debuted Wednesday on Amazon Prime Video, right in the middle of Discovery’s annual weeklong paean to the dead-eyed predator we all love to fear. Like pretty much every good, bad and ludicrous shark film ever, “The Devil’s Mouth” opens with carefree revels. In this case involving a quintet of carefree, Jägermeister-loving young folk who are celebrating their college graduations with a trip to Thailand.

While negotiating a boat cruise, the group dynamics become instantly clear: Max (“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’s” Lana Condor) is the leader/risk-taker/decision-maker; flanked by Sara (Kathryn Newton from “Big Little Lies”), her admiring and more cautious bestie; and James (Nico Hiraga), her devoted and occasionally exasperated boyfriend. Their friend Adrienne (Tommi Rose) and her very non-permanent boyfriend Greg (Gavin Casalegno) are just along for the ride (and anyone familiar with shark movies knows what that means).

There are no villains here, just a group of super-fit college grads. And if the personalities are painted in broad strokes, the performances, particularly by Condor and Newton, create a resonant enough emotional palette. In an early conversation about Max’s decision to move to L.A., despite their long-held plans to live in New York (where Sara already has a job), it becomes clear that Max’s leadership is mostly based on “I’m adventurous” vibes and Sara needs to start being more assertive.

Especially when, after telling Max that she is going snorkeling, Sara gets left behind amid a bloom of jellyfish right out of “Finding Nemo.” Though stung, physically and emotionally, Sara carries on with a trip to the Devil’s Mouth caves because her recently deceased father visited them. And, as she is assured repeatedly, they are freshwater caves so she doesn’t have to worry about pesky ocean critters.

This, of course, makes literally no sense. Thailand’s freshwater caves are inland; the coastal caves are saltwater. But whatever, it’s a shark movie.

Though Sara had originally chosen the “easier” path through the caves, Max demands that their guide Wat (Tayme Thapthimthong, from the third season of “The White Lotus”) take them along the more challenging route. He is reluctant — a bad storm had recently caused water levels to rise along that route — but Max wears him down.

Their headlamps piercing the watery dark, the group swims along (only Sara has accepted a life jacket), admiring the bats and stalactites while Wat reminds them to respect the caves. Adrienne cuts her leg on a rock, but Sara tends to it immediately with her handy dandy first aid kit. All is well.

Until, of course, it isn’t. Moving deeper, they are suddenly surrounded by dead sea creatures forced into the cave by the storm. As they debate turning around, it becomes very clear that at least one of those creatures — namely an enormous bull shark — is very much not dead.

Because, as we all now know, bull sharks can survive in salt and fresh water.

Wat directs them to leave immediately but Max starts to argue about the exit plan and soon enough those crazy kids are on their own.

The always-prepared Sara has a waterproof map, but her advice — that they head out now high and dry though the hole in the cave wall that allowed the shark in — is vetoed by Max, who thinks some narrow side caves will be better. (Travel tip: Maybe listen to the person who thought to bring a first aid kit and a map.) Meanwhile the shark is popping up just about everywhere.

Shark films are essentially horror movies (although with its subtext of profit versus science and safety, “Jaws” owes as much to Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People” as it does to “Dracula”) and the cave setting of “The Devil’s Mouth” makes it the ultimate haunted house — a maze of rooms in which there is little or no protection from the monster that suddenly appears from the darkness, teeth flashing.

As Sara emerges as the ever-dwindling group’s heroine, Max goes from being the bossy but lovable Alpha Friend to She Who Must Be Obeyed, even as she makes the worst decisions possible. Condor, Newton and Hiraga do their best to make Max’s actions believable, but her stubborn stupidity eventually requires more suspension of belief than a highly vindictive shark prowling a freshwater cave right next to the ocean.

Still, in a glutted genre, “The Devil’s Mouth” offers a clever twist, a powerful setting and, through Sara, enough character transformation to give it a toehold in Joseph Campbell’s hero-journey territory. Which is pretty good for a shark film.

More important, it’s great fun to watch. At a time when cataloging travel woes have become such a big part of the cultural conversation, it offers the ultimate escape. No matter how awful it was when your luggage was lost, your flight canceled or your accommodations were less than ideal, at least you have never been chased through pitch-black caves by a giant bi-hydro shark.

Not even Odysseus had to deal with that.

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'THE DEVIL'S MOUTH'

MPA rating: PG-13 (for violent content, bloody images, some language and suggestive material)

Running time: 1:46

How to watch: Prime Video

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