Harpoon: The Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre

Dont be put off by the strange sounding title of this movie, its not a documentary about whales! This is very much a hardcore horror film in the tradition of the Texas chainsaw massacre and such films. Being set in Iceland and on a large whaling vessel makes it rather fresh and interesting! There is a good assorted cast of characters who are all very good and easy to get used to, dont get too attached to them though as you know they are going to meet a grisly end!! The gore is evenly spread but has some very cool gross moments with plenty of blood! Will anyone survive? Its certainly worth checking out if you love horror, best DVD release in a while!

I bought this film on the strength of the reviews below, which is something I usually do every so often.

Er, guys...were we watching the same film?

Throwing every nationality and the kitchen sink into this film, and building upon such childish stereotypes they're borderline racist at some points, this movie is as bad as they come.

The acting is truly diabolical. I mean, seriously, some of the worst acting I have ever seen, and the majority of the film is in subtitles, varying from Japanese to Swiss, to French and English. When it's not in subtitles, it's practically unbearable, the acting is that bad. You will want this lot dead. And fast.

They die, of course...but most of the death scenes are lacking in imagination. Add to that the bad guys are taken out fairly quickly, and you're left with a film that just rambles on for the last 20 minutes or so.

But let's get back to the acting...cos it really is so bad, I had a hard time enjoying some of the kills that didn't overly suck. The French guy is a walking joke; the American couple deliver their lines with all the gusto of a dead goldfish; and the bad guys are a pale imitation of hillbilly families from better horror films.

The setting isn't all that new either, if you've seen the likes of Triangle. Just...avoid...please...this won't even sustain as a guilty pleasure, it really is that bad.

Any redeeming qualities? The lead actress (in such a thankless role) walks away with a semi-decent performance, although given how wonky the script is, that's a miracle in an of itself.

What a great title for a film. Sadly that is the best thing about this slasher. A group of unrelated people set off on a whale watching expedition. There boat is high jacked by a family of crazies and they are stalked and killed one by one. Apart from the setting, there is completely nothing any slasher fan hasn't seen a hundred times before. The gore and deaths are boring and uninventive. Only one death scene has a truly wow moment. The characters are boring and egotistic. You route for none of them. I would give this film an award for the one of silliest endings to a film ever! Fair play for the filmmakers having the balls to tack on such a ridiculous ending. Gunner Hansen is yet again reduced to a cameo roll. Why he keeps whoring his name out to these low budget films is beyond me? What a waste of what could have been a truly original slasher movie. Shame.

While a lot of horror movies riff on Texas Chainsaw Massacre, few are quite so honest about. With a script that transports a large chunk of the plot to a rusted Whaling hulk floating off the coast of Iceland, an extended and gruesome cameo by Leatherface actor Gunnar Hansen and a title that pretty much spells it out, the movie had the potential to be a damp squib, recycling tired horror tropes.

Fortunately, thanks to the gory effects, off beam atmosphere, a cast of nicely unlikeable tourists/victims and the novelty of it's origins, Harpoon turns out to be a joy. Instead of an inbred family of redundant slaughterhouse workers, our family of cannibal psychos are disgruntled ex-whalers, reduced to hunting humans when Iceland outlaws their livelihood. There's a boatload of eco-tourists just waiting to be offed in imaginative ways and the film doesn't disappoint as their dispatched one by one...

Well above the usual standard of generic stalk 'n' slash hokum, Harpoon impresses with it's pacy thrills, knowing references and a moving title sequence using stock images of the hunt, slaughter and quayside butchery of a whale. It's unsettling, ancient footage that, while disturbing, sets the scene for the film and elevates it above the usual creaky sub-Halloween nonsense.

'Caught' this at Frightfest and revelled in its new take on the classic slasher film, with many references (largely obvious) to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It maintains a cold, gritty and nostalgic feel, which runs through many of the characters, the dialogue and the acting. Nicely tense in its build-up and it swiftly turns into a nutso slash fest with some amazing and imaginative kills that make great talking points. Great fun, gutsy and gleefully knowing of the genre which it both acknowledges and advances. At sea, no one can hear you Bream. (sorry).