Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre (2009) User Reviews

A different, yet welcome, kind of slasher

[Mister-Creeper · 6/10 · 19 May 2010]

With only 4 reviews at this time, and 3 of those reviews being bad, I have to think that REYKJAVIK WHALE WATCHING MASSACRE is not getting enough praise for what it actually is... a different kind of slasher that is thoroughly entertaining to watch. Does it have its faults? Of course it does, but not enough to take away from the overall enjoyable experience of the film.

One reviewer says the title is good, but the movie is bad. Honestly, I think it's the other way around. I was expecting to be let down by this one because of the title. Another thing... not sure why this is being compared to THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE. It is nothing like it, not even remotely close. I can only guess that it's because "massacre" is in the title? And it is NOT a comedy as one reviewer suggested.

In closing, I must say that I highly recommend this film to anyone that is a fan of slasher films, and most other horror films as well. There are some interesting death scenes with pretty good gore. The acting is overall decent. The setting is used very well to the film's advantage. It's not TCM and wasn't meant to be. Take it for what it is: A different, yet welcome, kind of slasher. A solid 6 out of 10. Watch it!

A very good effort !

[jjdosha · 6/10 · 12 January 2011]

There aren't many horror films from Iceland; however, this one is a very good start. "Harpoon" has all the great elements of a horror film, despite its less than stellar subtitle "Whale Watching Massacre." The director chose all the right performers to bring the characters to life; each actor did a great job at owning the person they were portraying; however, the director left much to be desired in the action department...and the film could've done without the few gasps of ironic comedy with the character Endo and the matriarch of the insane clan. Overall, the gore effects were good and a few surprising moments that the audience may not suspect. I really despised the ending because it disabled me from taking the film seriously overall, meaning the ending was too campy for this type of film. Kudos again to the actors who performed very well.

And the points go to Iceland

[trashgang · 6/10 · 24 June 2010]

So far the only thing we have seen from Iceland are Bjork, Sigur Ros, volcano's and whale hunting. Not many people know that Iceland was ready to deliver their first horror flick called Harpoon (or the longer for some unspeakable title Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre). And I must admit, it is a decent movie. Some people will have difficulties to understand the language used, there is the Icelandic language luckily subtitled but there is also a French guy trying to talk English and some Japanese who tries to talk English too. But you will get used to that. Second, one name is wheel known in the genre, Gunnar Hansen. He's in the movie because he's Icelandic, not as a teaser. The movie itself sometimes becomes really bloody and even gory, there is some kind of suspense and even some nudity. Okay, there are reviewers who pointed out that there are some flows in the story but I wasn't offended by it. It's about the guy who appears with a handicap, but I didn't have any problems with it. Anyway, it's a bit of TCM on a boat. It surely delivers the stuff you need for a horror and remember, it's the first film coming from that country in our genre, well done...

Whoooaa...................this sucked balls.

[ElijahCSkuggs · 4/10 · 21 May 2010]

What a poster! What a title! What a stinking piece of arctic garbage! Simple enough story. Group of unrelated people set off on a whale watching expedition. Something goes awry. Bad family of crazies show up. Tourists think they're being rescued. People start dying. Try to survive. There ya go.

What a stinking horrible summary that was, huh!? And I could give a crap! This flick in no way deserves my cognitive efforts, and if you think you're gonna read a review that cares...get ready for a supriseis!!1

I really don't even know where to start. I suppose starting with the good is the best case here...since anything positive was entirely slim-pickings. The make-up and blood effects were impressive. The ending was grim. That's it.

The bad...which I forbid to dwell upon, encompassed everything else. The acting was amateur, the writing awful, the use of a Bjork song was appalling, the characters were annoying, and the direction....A word...A word...A word......atrocious. Yes! And the entire movie itself....abysmal! Look at me go, Ma!! To be fair to the entire crew and what not, the productions were indeed slick, but when it came down to telling a solid horror story, it not only dropped the ball, it dropped the ball from the top of the Empire State Building into a pile of steaming Orca excrement. Don't let the positive reviews fool you, or the useful/not useful voting. This movie sucks my ass!

Great Title. Terrible Movie.

[Mr_Saxon · 3/10 · 19 May 2010]

Around twenty minutes into this movie I started to wonder if "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" was meant to be a dark comedy. After all, how could this be a serious horror movie when it included scenes such as a traumatised woman singing Björk's "It's Oh So Quiet" over the loudspeakers of a ship whilst a tragedy occurs on the deck? Or the moment in the movie where the scene suddenly changes to a group of people discussing their love for whales? But if it's a comedy, where are all of the scenes designed to make you laugh - or at least smile? It's almost as though the scriptwriter was as confused about the movie they were making as I was about the movie I was watching.

Obviously "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" is a homage to the far superior "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" - the original Leatherface (Gunner Hansen) even shows up here. However, everything that "Texas" did right, "Reykjavik" does wrong and then some. The victims here are some of the most one-dimensional stereotypes you could ever assemble from the loud, drunk Frenchman to the Japanese tourists with their camera gear, and none of them are particularly sympathetic or appealing. The only exception is a young black American man (portrayed by an actor in serious need of accent training) whose sexuality prompts one of the most unrealistic dialogue exchanges i've heard (and that's before you take into account the fact that this exchange takes place whilst the two characters are running for their lives from insane whalers). I'm not even sure who was supposed to be the main character in this movie which shows how problematic the story was.

This already unsteady boat is further sunk by gaping holes in logic which will leave you scratching your head in disbelief. For example, early in the movie we're introduced to a character whose presence seems to indicate that our victims have been lured into a trap. However, their fate actually has nothing to do with him but rather an unfortunate (and highly unlikely) accident. This is indicative of the poorly written script in which strangers suddenly and inexplicably relate their life stories to one another merely for the purpose of giving the audience some back-story, or act out of character to set up a specific plot point (see the crazy sequence of events which begins with the line "Your father was a real kamikaze!" for evidence of this).

There is only one death scene that is of any interest and the villains aren't terribly memorable. Whilst it's exciting to see a slasher movie emerge from somewhere other than America, I can't recommend "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" due to its many, many flaws. You would be advised not to waste your time and to instead watch a movie like 2006's "Severance" which manages to be both funny and frightening - two things which "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" completely fails to be.

Just How Are We to React to This?

[bababear · 31 August 2011]

The best thing I can say about HARPOON is that I watched it to the end (with, I must admit, increasing use of the fast forward button) hoping that it was going to come together. It didn't.

The opening titles are shown over grainy footage of whaling boats. Then we are introduced to an assortment of irritating characters of various nationalities. They go out for a short (presumably about two hours, based on dialog muttered in passing) trip to, well, watch whales.

The captain (the great Gunnar Hansen, the only familiar name in the cast) falls victim to a, well, harpoon. Then the irritating tourists, squabbling among themselves, get on board a "rescue" ship that turns out to be manned by crazies.

This is not a case of watching untalented actors go through the motions. But the tone is so uncertain that we never become involved with these people in their struggle to survive. Is this supposed to be a comedy? If not, why does a scene in which one character's dying act is to decapitate another seem so hilarious in retrospect?

At the very beginning a title card announces that this was a product of the Icelandic Film Company, which I presume to be an entity that encourages the development of that Country's cinema industry, possibly with funding or at least tax breaks from the Icelandic government. It would have been amusing to have been present when this film's producers set up their projector in the company's board room, as in, "You spend our $4 million on THAT?"

Two positive notes about the film, though: 1. It has, oddly enough, some effective use of sound that gave my stereo speakers a chance to shine. 2. Neither the director nor screenwriter has gotten another credit on IMDb since making this turd.

By the way, HARPOON may stink in most aspects but it has a great poster.

Attack of the Fishbillies

[lovecraft231 · 4/10 · 5 August 2010]

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that's the case, then Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" must be a very proud man. Many a movie has tried to imitate that movie for a while now, to the point of it becoming more than a little tiresome. Sure, some have managed to succeed in this regard, but many, many more have failed. Though nowhere near as bad as others, "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" just can't pull it off in the end.

In Iceland, a motley group of friends and strangers decide "Hey, we should go whale watching!" This is all great at first. Then an all around annoying alcoholic Frenchman named Jean-Francois (Aymen Hamdouchi) start's goofing off, leading to the boat breaking down and the captain ("Chainsaw's" own Gunner Hansen, here advertised in top billing yet regulated to a cameo) dying. Fortunately, they end up being picked up by a whale fishing vessel. Too bad that it's run by a group of sadistic "Fishbillies" who have some harsh plans.

From the get go, you can tell that "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" wants desperately to be the Icelandic answer to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." To it's credit, it does manage to get a few things right. The movie is rather tongue in cheek to say the least, and some of the humor on display got me to laugh a few times. There's also a great, eerie score by Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, as well as some choice cinematography. Oh, and the kills and gore are pretty fun at times too, with one near the end that made even jaded old me applaud.

But it still comes up short. I know that this isn't going to be the most original movie, but this is an instance in which familiarity doesn't breed contempt, but boredom instead. This kind of horror movie has been done so many times, and here there just isn't enough to make it stand out. I don't care how crazy these sea-faring hillbillies are, it's still rather annoying. From a social standpoint, the film seems to be making some kind of statement about the whaling industry and it's effect on nature and economy, yet the movie likes to have it both ways, portraying anti-whaling types as selfish, unlikable hippies (though that is true in some cases-look as "Whale Wars.")

The biggest problem though, is that it doesn't seem to know who should be the main character. First you think it's going to be Annette (Pihla Viitala), but the next thing you know it's Mary-Anne (Miranda Hennessy) and Leon (Terence Anderson) and then it's a female Japanese tourist named Endo (Nae.) Not only do we have nobody to root for, but we also have no real main character. Films like this need a major character to hope for, and this offers none of that.

I will say again that in the world of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" tributes and rip-offs, this is far from one of the worst. At the same time though, it offers very little else, and feels like a wasted opportunity. Oh well, chalk up another one.

Interesting fact: Apart from writing the screenplay for this movie, Sjón Sigurdsson also wrote songs for Lars Von Trier's "Dancer in the Dark." Quite a difference to say the least.

A doozy of a title and a doozy of a movie.

[eddax · 7/10 · 6 September 2010]

This might be the first solely Icelandic movie I've ever watched and it's not a bad one, really. It's set in Reyjavik, has an international cast, and is mostly in English.

The background story is amusing: A bunch of tourists go whale-watching but are beset upon by Icelandic redneck fishermen who're sore about environmentalists halting their livelihood of whale-hunting.

It's a slasher movie but with some welcome black humor. It's also filmed pretty well, with grainy shots for ambiance. I've two issues with the movie, one being the misogynism at the start of the movie. At least the movie shows it's not homophobic, since it has a heroic non-nelly gay man.

The other issue is the twists in the story. I have no idea how the movie ended the way it did. It has to do with a certain character who does an about-face in the middle of the movie and changes motivations and I'm not sure why... Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, I don't know. Anyway, this was a fun and exotic slasher movie.

Icelandic slasher needs a good dose of style

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 26 July 2014]

HARPOON: THE REYKJAVIK WHALE WATCHING MASSACRE is billed as Iceland's first horror film and their answer to THE Texas CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, with the action shifted to an inhospitable landscape and a ship. Unfortunately, it turns out to be as dull-witted and laughable as many a Hollywood slasher sequel, a film that strives to be horrific and entertaining and yet which ends up a mess.

The first half of the film sets up the cast, which is fair enough, but it doesn't help that most of the characters are intensely irritating (with the exception of the black guy and the Japanese girl). Gunnar Hansen pops up for a worthless cameo, but after that we're mired in a mess of horror film clichés and predictable death sequences. It's all badly written and quite badly directed, two things which sap enjoyment from the production.

One thing HARPOON does have going for it are some explicit gore sequences, although these aren't quite as grisly as you'd expect, with the emphasis being on the staging of each effect rather than going all-out to gross-out the viewer. But such moments aren't enough to save what is another forgettable, lamentable horror yarn.

Crazier than Björk.

[BA_Harrison · 7/10 · 20 October 2011]

Iceland's equivalent of Texas Chain Saw Massacre's Sawyer clan, a family of ex-whalers with a hatred of foreign tourists, 'rescue' a boatload of people from a disastrous whale-watching trip and subject them to a night of horror.

Given the silliness of its title, a playful riff on Tobe Hooper's classic 70s shocker, Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre is clearly not intended to be taken very seriously—there's a delightfully dark streak of humour and a delicious sense of irony running through the entire film (such as the girl who unwisely goes off with a total stranger at the start of the film staying perfectly safe, whilst her more sensible friend winds up facing danger). Keep this in mind when watching, and the chances are that you'll have lots of fun with this film, Iceland's first splatter movie.

Plotwise, the film is undeniably a bit random, with the action lurching all over the place like a ship in a storm, but even though certain aspects of the story are a little hard to fathom out (the ending still has me baffled), the sheer verve and insanity of the piece, combined with lots of well executed violence and some commendable performances from an international cast (Pihla Viitala's Annette makes for a likable heroine; and Gunnar Hansen is surprisingly good as Icelandic sea-dog Captain Pétur), should provide most fans of gory craziness with a solid hour and a half of bonkers entertainment.

Next up: Iceland Volcano Eruption Spectator Massacre?

[Coventry · 4/10 · 19 April 2010]

At the moment I'm writing this user comment Iceland is world famous, not so much for unleashing this particular horror movie upon the world, but because an active volcano started to erupt and the subsequent spreading of thick clouds full of damaging ashes makes any type of aviation impossible all over Europe. Perhaps this is another good idea for an Icelandic horror movie after "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre"? Spectators of environmental phenomena traveling to Iceland to climb the volcano get brutally killed by local villagers who refused to be evacuated before the eruption and became irreparably damaged maniacs? How about that? I could be rich writing this nonsense instead of joking about it on the internet.

Anyway, about the actual movie "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre", I regret to announce that I rarely ever witnessed a movie that used to little of its own massive potential. The title is terrific, the setting and scenery are astonishing, the basic concept is ideal horror material and the opportunities to go berserk with gore and bloodshed are immeasurable … And yet, unfortunately, RWWM is a mostly dull and derivative slasher imitation of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", with bland villainous characters, suspense-free rampages and uninspired murder sequences. A group of tourists of different nationalities, though including most stereotypes like photographing Japanese people and an obnoxious French guy, go on a whale watching trip in Icelandic waters. The captain (played by THE Gunnar Hansen of the original TCM) dies in a banal accident and the tourists get picked up by a wandering family of whale hunters. They're unemployed and quite frustrated due to the whale hunting prohibition, so they decide to relief some anger by slaughtering tourists.

I must admit I was quite disappointed after finishing RWWM. I was truly hoping for a deeply grim, sardonic and raw slasher, but the ambiance was not even half as disturbing as it could (and should) have been. The opening sequences are quite unsettling; with genuine whale hunting archive footage guided by eerie tunes, but the film almost immediately reverts to familiar slasher territory after the credits. The tourist characters are all insufferable beyond belief (although admittedly, people do become selfish bastards in hazardous situations) and the demented whale hunter family members are not the least bit menacing. There's only one kill that is truly worth mentioning (involving a harpoon, duh!) and the climax is a huge letdown. Naturally there are also references towards Iceland's most famous musical export product Björk and her tiresome song "It's oh so quiet". A missed opportunity.

Horror Fans Rejoice

[talfulano · 8/10 · 23 October 2009]

Just saw this "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" at the ScreamFest 2009 Film Festival and it was fantastic. A very droll and bloody film, "Massacre" follows a whale watching expedition that goes all kinds of wrong. The synopsis makes it appear like it will be "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" on a whaling vessel, but it's much more than that. Plenty of splatter to go around, but made with great humor.

My wife and I briefly chatted with director Julius Kemp who was extremely polite and revealed that they indeed created the movie after coming up with the title as I guessed. The film is currently hitting the film festival circuit, so catch it if you can. There's no current distribution for the U.S., though it has been sold overseas in the U.K. and other countries.

With "Let the Right One In," "Dead Snow," and now "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre," Scandinavia is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the world of horror film making. Bravo.

A different kind of slasher ruined by illogical twists.

[peng88 · 7/10 · 20 October 2014]

This Icelandic film is a much better movie than the title suggests. In fact the title is a lurid and stupid one. The original title is closer to the truth. (promoted in Iceland as "Tryllir" meaning something between Thriller and Horror) More a Thriller than a straight up slasher film, it is well acted and has the grace to add some truly interesting moments into the mix: a girl suddenly getting on a ship's intercom and singing IT'S SO QUITE when a character dies in a freak accident, a mousy Japanese tour guide becomes Ninja smart, and a black, gay man ascends to be a true action hero. It is also shot well.

However, the ending twists are highly confusing, illogical and unsatisfying. You find yourself saying "WTF?" a hell of a lot in the last 20 minutes, where characters suddenly shift motivations with no apparent reason just to satisfy the public's stupid need for stupid twist endings. I do appreciate that most of the bad guys (a racist whaling family) get it worse than their victims and that the violence and gore, while brutal and bloody, is not overly extreme or pandering. (but only in the R-rated version, the uncut version is gorier) To me though, that ending translates to: doesn't matter if you are a good person; brave, strong, sympathetic to other humans, or that you have been through a lot already BEFORE the psycho family decided to hunt you down, you will still most likely die and greedy people who weren't good people will get away alive. It may be life, but it ain't entertainment in the Book of Jaimes.

Another name for Scandinavian horror?

[Rattler2000 · 3/10 · 18 May 2010]

One that's not worthy of remembering is the honest answer.

The name and storyline had me eager to watch this film, coming out of Scandinavia which has had a few recent horror films come out. Unfortunately this one does nothing for it's cause.

It certainly had potential, an interesting setting and storyline but it just didn't deliver. Ihe acting was average and the gore was, well poor and unrealistic. A comparison to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was nothing more than an insult to a film that as we all know is a genre classic.

I have not much more to say about this really apart from I'm hugely disappointed that such a promising plot was made into quite a poor film.

Worst movie I have ever seen

[stetsonmedley · 2/10 · 15 March 2016]

I can overlook the bad acting. I can overlook the horrible pacing. I can even overlook the generic kills. But one thing I can't overlook is an ending that does not pay off or leave me satisfied. Without spoiling it. I will just say this. They couldn't have ended the movie any worse. You don't care about any of these characters, and most are complete douche-bags and stereotypes. This is about as garbage as a movie can get. I gave it a 2 because there is one kill that was wee executed. A movie I will keep in my collection just to tell visitors, "hey you wanna see the worst film in my collection?" To me it was a slap in the face to filmaking. If you want movie that has terrible acting, horrible pacing, and a lazy and underwhelming ending, this movie is for you. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this one.

R U Kidding Me!

[tfun6 · 24 July 2011]

Are You people kidding me?

I watched this piece of crap because Chiller Channel mentioned it for 2 months.

It sucked. Period! No arguing. Just plain bad!

They get on the whaling boat all 7 of them and don't group together to attack the lame killers. And the whole "Your father was a kamikaze" so load up for a suicidal attack was stupid. This movie sucked in so many ways, it wasn't even funny bad, just bad. I can't believe the number of positive reviews for this piece of crap. You guys must've liked Blair Witch Project, another non-scary piece of crap.

Avoid this movie, it will only give you a headache and 2 hours you can't get back.

RWWM = Rubbish, Wooden Waste of Time Movie.

[kobrakai1975 · 3/10 · 2 June 2010]

After being huge fan of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre took an interest in this movie (the Title did it) especially considering the review splattered across the cover.. Yeah thanks Bizarre are you sure you were watching the same movie. The Opening is not too bad, spooky music and old footage of chopping up minke whales or whatever then cuts to present day usual set up young girls club etc.... Up until this point all seems the norm. It all goes pear shape when you meet the rest of the fodder (I wanted to press mute every time the french guy spoke) as previously said very cliché type mixture but the acting and dialogue is atrocious. The one interesting character (bleached blonde hair) vanishes never to be seen again. When they eventually end up stranded and rescued - NOT! by the Whalers and taken to the ship it all kicks off pretty quickly. Now this makes a welcome change but thats as far as it goes. You can see why they relate it to the TCM i.e Odd family weird shot away brother with squeaky voice but it just not on the same level. The Deaths are not up to scratch effects wise as you would of expected. Harpoon scene is by far the best and to be fair is actually a good scene. As the movie progresses the dialogue gets a lot worse (in case of the gay bloke he's more wooden than Pinocchio) and the blonde eye candy at the beginning start to get on your nerves ( poor dialogue ) and you end up begging them to get killed. In fact all the characters annoy you by the end if its not the dialogue, acting or plain stupidness ( you shout at the screen for Christ sake finish him lol ). Overall was disappointed with this movie as could of been much better and should of been. I know when a movie sucks when you wishing it to hurry up and finish plus your thinking what a load of balls.

Was Brought Down By A Confusing Plot

[gavin6942 · 5/10 · 5 March 2011]

A group of foreigners gets a ride on a whale-watching boat in Iceland. Things get really bad. But upon getting rescued, things find a way to get tragically worse... getting killed or lost at sea is the least of their worries.

Let me say this film's strength: it has plenty of good gore shots, and some gross-out moments with vomit and open wounds. If you like a film that has blood splattering every few minutes, this is a good choice (though not the best of recent years, I assure you).

Unfortunately, it has plenty of flaws. The blend of languages (English, Icelandic, French and Korean) make it a bit hard to follow, there are a few characters who are hard to tell apart (none has a back story at all), and the overall plot is so complicated, I actually do not even know what happened (and have little motivation to see the film again to find out).

The draw of the film for American audiences is Gunnar Hansen. Gunnar is an awesome guy and a great actor, but his part is small here -- so do not rent or buy this just to see him. Not worth it. Also, among recent Scandinavian flicks, this one is not top of the heap. Check out "Next Door" for a real mind bender.

If you get all the way to the end, you will hear an obnoxious band. And, believe it or not, it is not Bjork or the Sugarcubes or Quarashi. There is also a lengthy list of thank yous, including Brad Pitt and Clint Eastwood. I am unclear how they are in any way related to this film...

In short, I am not endorsing this film. Maybe if I watched it again and actually understood it, but the fact it was only 84 minutes, I was paying attention, sober, and still not clear on half of what was going on, that does not bode well for this film. In the case that I give it another try, we will see...

Not that bad first time Horror effort from Iceland

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 6/10 · 20 September 2012]

While on a whale-watching trip in Iceland, a group of tourists find themselves under attack by a fanatical bunch of whalers protesting the recent whale-hunting ban and must escape before they're all killed.

Overall, I wouldn't say it's all that bad, and it definitely has it's good moments, including the initial sweep of the boat where they take over, as it's pretty creative and unexpected, making for a pretty nifty sequence, the gore is definitely good enough when we get to see it as far too often they attack with some object that forces the victim out of the camera's eye-view and then we turn to see the aftermath, at least giving us something but the majority of the time, it's not really much of anything good. Unfortunately, the plot makes very little sense or features way too much filler in a plot not made to be stretched out. Why'd we spend ten minutes in the opening music club when they're not important to the plot, no one we met there is involved in the rest of the film or why we've been wasting that time to start with? Even more puzzling is why they're going out to kill them, as the answer isn't given and overall makes for a very jarring experience overall.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity and violence-against-animals.

Worth a look

[Tender-Flesh · 5/10 · 15 December 2010]

Here in the States, my rental was called Harpoon and not Reykjavik. The film certainly doesn't go for the same old setting in a slasher film. I'm not sure if the rest of the title, Whale Watching Massacre, helps or hinders prospective viewers from picking this up for a boring Tuesday night. Anyway, the story revolves around several people from different countries who board a rusty old bucket for some supposed whale-watching. Things go awry, and one of the crew is killed, which leaves you to wonder exactly how things would have proceeded had he not died, albeit accidentally. After that death, another small craft rescues the passengers and motors them off to another vessel waiting some distance away. Now, it seems like the crew of the second ship are cannibals or something, but we never get down to that because they aren't known for restraint and almost as soon as the passengers all board the Cannibal Cruise Line, one of the villains, who appears to be a rather dim bulb, attacks them. This sends people scattering in all directions, including one guy swimming away(which I'm sort of surprised they all didn't do) only to be harpooned! His body hangs off the side of the ship for the remainder of the film.

The harpoon gun kill aside, there is also a hand-held harpoon kill, a "suicide bomber," a flare gun face-shot(reminds me of Dead Calm), a beheading, and a final and hilarious off-screen death that would make Richard Harris very proud(or very ashamed).

My biggest complaint about the film is the sound. Those who could speak English either didn't speak it very well or the sound-mixer was drunk. Still, Icelandic horror films are rather rare, and those set aboard whaling ships are rarer still. Could it be setting a precedent for a new genre, similar to the much-loved or much-maligned Nazi Zombie film? Thar she blows.

ICELANDIC HARPOON MASSACRE

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 3 December 2018]

This is Iceland's attempt at a slasher/ horror type film. It is in English or subtitled where not. A group of tourists go whale watching, but there are no whales to watch so the captain radios for help. He is lured to another vessel location under the ruse of seeing whales. Along the way, an obnoxious drunk Frenchman (Apparently Icelanders have the same respect for the French as the British)accidentally shish kabobs the captain of the boat. As the captain lays there dying, the first mate, damages the boat, takes a small craft and leaves them stranded. The adrift group is "rescued" by a family who used to whale, but can't because of international treaties etc. They hate whale watchers and foreigners. Once they are on board their ship, a woman's cell phone starts to work. She is quickly killed by one of the family as the rest of the rescued group scatters about the boat playing a deadly game of hide-and-seek, with the pretty blond tied up by a religious member of the family who wants to sacrifice her for the lord- go figure. Contains blood, killing, and nudity.

This movie is certainly better than many of the low budget B horror flicks, but fails to generate any real tension. This is perhaps I have seen so many of these things I have grown numb to people being harpooned or burned alive. The Japanese are stereo-typed with their taking photos, male chauvinism, and kamikaze ability. The Frenchman is obnoxious, you want him dead.

Yes, Gunnar Hansen,native of Iceland, (Leatherface) is in the movie. He plays kindly old Captain Petur and dies early in the movie. I didn't recognize him without someone else's face on his head.

Best movie you will ever see in your gad damn life

[traustileifureyjolfsson · 4/10 · 30 August 2019]

The movie is pretty good but the end credit song is the best thing you will ever hear

Ha Ha Harpoon! I had a whale of a time.

[Greenzombidog · 9/10 · 9 October 2010]

A load of tourists go on whale watching sea trip. There's an accident the captain is injured and they call for help. Help comes in the unlikely form of a family of backsea fisherman or fishbillies as the DVD blurb refers to them. I say unlikely because they don't help.

This has to be one of the best European slasher films I've seen. It has some good gore done with practical effects and a couple of inventive kills but the thing that raises this above other movies like cold prey (which was good) and trackman (which was bad) is the characterisation. Yes, some of the characters may be a little one dimensional but at least they have some character. You have the down trodden Japanese PA who finally has enough. The three middle aged women on the hunt for young men and the French tourist who says just about every French cliché you can imagine. from oohlala to sacre bleur.

Also this movie has some laughs. Some of the dialogue is funny in a very surreal way mainly from the hunchback fishbilly. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to and i'm sure on further viewing I'll see more things in it to make me laugh and squirm.

Icelandic gore flick entertaining by spurts

[Groverdox · 7/10 · 1 September 2020]

Here is an entertaining little splatter flick from "Iceland", with some pleasing low-brow humour.

A group of mostly pretty horrible tourists - and some natives - go on a whale watching trip in the dismal Icelandic sea. There's an alcoholic, bullying Frenchman, three horny women in late middle age, a kindly man with bleached hair who is not what he appears, a misogynistic Japanese man with his cowed wife, and an African American tourist with a generic final girl.

After the idiotic Frenchman causes an accident that leads to the injury of the captain, the whale-watching expedition attracts the attention of a group of psychos who welcome them on board, looking to help continue the bloodshed.

I enjoyed the movie, though it frequently dragged. The filmmakers were mostly unable to find a common thread to string the movie together; it felt disconnected much of the time. The characters also never really develop, and a lot of the gore looked pretty cheap, including one of the least realistic decapitation scenes I have seen since the heyday of '70s exploitation.

Not a Hidden Gem

[vilafire · 1/10 · 1 October 2022]

I thought it was possible I was about to watch a hidden gem of a slasher! The first ten minutes weren't perfect but they were serviceable. Typical slasher setup. I had no idea what to expect, which is a great feeling. The characters were a little weird, true. Some were ok but more than a few were extremely broad. Including a fake Corky person, a group of bitter old ugly ladies, and a wicked annoying Drunken "Frenchman." Not to mention a curious young blonde and an old black guy both riding the English-speaking country/countries accent carousel, the latter of which the old ladies act like he's God's gift but he's just average. And they're acting like cougars on steroids. I think they'd be called sexist and these days maybe even racist. (Do German woman really use African men for a few years before they replace them with younger African men? Geez.)

And then there's a really stupid rape scene. I can't imagine anyone thought it was believable to have a man rape someone at his place of work, on a boat filled with tourists, who will all know exactly what happened. Immediately. It's clearly there for thematic purposes because it's shoehorned in and makes no sense. Surely the Captain needs his second in command at this early stage of the voyage. So dumb. And then to make it worse they have one of those "broken girl cry/sings a happy song." It's actually a great Bjork song but it was just cringey here.

Really, I'm not sure if this movie is a critique of men or women or both. I thought it might be about predators in general but I didn't stick around to find out once the cat was let out of the bag. By cat I mean Crazy Murderous Hick Family Trope. My interest disappeared completely. I'm not into this kind of flick. Pure survival from maniac. It needs mystery to hold my attention. Which is a shame because I liked the Japanese characters and the setting and the captain. This one reeks of too many cooks in the kitchen.