In reality hippos are pretty far down the list of the most dangerous animals with 500 kills a year, but it’s safe to say that getting mauled by a hippo is a far worse fate than a nibble from THE most dangerous creature, the mosquito. No big deal, but mosquitos lay waste to nearly a million people each year — but that’s a different story.
No matter where your fears lie, you probably didn’t see this one coming. It’s a killer hippo in this year’s animal-focused feature, HUNGRY, that’ll have you rethinking the Louisiana swamp tour. According to the good folks at IMDB, HUNGRY follows a group of holidaymakers who become lost in the Louisiana swampland and must fight for their lives against a rampaging hippo on the loose. A story so compelling that the Scariest Things, Eric Li, even put in on his list of films that he’s looking forward to in 2026.
To the uninitiated, hippos appear to be rather docile oaf-like creatures who, if we’re being honest, look awfully similar to the Moominpappa in the children’s classic, The Exploits of Moominpappa. However, one viewing of this trailer and you’ll be singing a very different story. This hippo is pure fury. To make matters worse he’s stuck in the bowels of the darkest and dankest depths of Louisiana swamplands.
Whether it was director James Nunn’s ( Shark Bait) intention to purposely create a linkage to the 1978 children’s game, Hungry Hungry Hippos, it’s definitely out there in lurking in everyone’s brain. Here’s to hoping the song featured in the marketing of the 1978 game makes an appearance, because it’s awfully prescient:
Hungry, hungy hippos
We’re hungry, hungry hippos
We love to feed our face
We’re hungry hungry hippos
We’re in an eating race
While you get in your own wayback machine and ponder this marketing earworm, here’s the trailer for a film that sure to turn a head or two in 2026. Hungry (Hungry Hippos) hits the theaters on June 23.