Blu-ray Review: Harpoon: Whale Watching Massacre
Harpoon – Whale Watching Massacre (Unrated Blu-ray)
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: December 7, 2010
Distributor: Image Entertainment
Directed by: Júlíus Kemp
Starring: Gunnar Hansen, Pihla Viitala, Nae Yuuki, Miranda Hennessy, Terrence Anderson,
Review by Marc Patterson
I’ve always been a strong proponent of the idea that if you put the word “massacre” in the title of your film it really just knocks your project down a notch. It’s such a limiting word and screams of unoriginality. However, when coupled with “Whale Watching”, all of the sudden things change. Over the years we’ve seen our fair share of horror on the high seas, but whales? And specifically whale watching? Okay… I’m game.
While we’re talking about “Massacres”, a little word to the wise: Never, under any circumstances, get on a boat captained by Gunnar “Leatherface” Hansen. Okay? You do that and well… do I really need to spell it out for you?
Harpoon: Whale Watching Massacre (originally titled Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre) takes your typical, formulaic approach to a backwoods hillbilly slasher flick, but provides an interesting setting in the blue whale fishing grounds off the coast of Norway. Substitute dilapidated shacks replete with moonshine stills in exchange for rusted out fishing vessels infested with rats, shotguns for harpoons, and, well… you get the idea.
Captain Pétur (Hansen) is taking some tourists out on a routine whale watching trip in his clunky old fishing ship when a particular drunkard causes a horrifying accident on board. In need of help, they are able to raise the assistance of a nearby whaling vessel, except this vessel is occupied by a fiendish family with a penchant for tearing tourists apart limb from limb. Coincidence? I’ll never tell!
I don’t want to give away plot details any further because – and I might as well just come out and say it – I LOVED this film. And I mean loved it! It was simply lots and lots of fun. It’s not a perfect film, and sports its fair share of problems (all of them rather minor), but it’s what we like to call a “pitch perfect” film.
The first thing I loved is that it’s a fresh setting. Totally original from top to bottom. The atmosphere of the fishing culture comes through crisp and clearly, and as someone who grew up in coastal Maine amongst fishermen and lobstermen I can attest to the authenticity. The characters are equally original. Discarded are the sex starved high school dummies jacked up on hormones. Harpoon stocks the roster with the kind of monsters we turn into later in life – selfish, ignorant, prejudiced, and just nasty adults. When shit hits the fan we don’t band together to help each other survive. No, it’s every man and every woman for themselves. Damn the rest. There were times in the film where I wondered who I might just be rooting for.
I also thought the film did a great job presenting some heavy sub-text regarding environmentalism, especially in regards to whale hunting. Without spoiling too much a line is even said amongst our murdering family, “Greenpeace, I call them ‘Green Piss’.” The only downside to this commentary is that whatever statement the filmmaker might be alluding to is never really made. Here’s a family pissed off at foreigners for softening up their government and turning the government into a bunch of “whale lovers”, essentially killing their livelihood. But I’m not sure that’s enough to turn this family into a raving mad, murderous bunch that would kill without any sort of regard. This is a slasher flick though, so I’ll try not to dwell on that so much. On the other side of the spectrum is the lead “final girl” Annette (Viitala) who exudes this purity of character. She’s damaged, but has an odd connection with nature and the whales in particular that comes into play later in the film. And so we get the full yin and yang. It’s a popular topic in these “man vs. nature” films. Are we a part of nature, or something more alien? Whale Watching Massacre certainly explores this theme superficially, being that it’s an easy theme to run with in a film of this sort, though does little to actually come out and make any sort of clear statement.
Minor gripes aside, the film was a total treat to watch. In most slasher-derived films you never have much sympathy for the victims. However, again, here are some really despicable human beings and they are fleshed out rather well. And these aren’t cookie cutter characters. Gunnar top-lining the cast list will definitely pique the interest of American viewers, though he plays a rather minor role in the grand scheme of the film. We have a male chauvinist embodied in a rich Japanese husband who treats his wife like a dog. They are accompanied by his assistant, a cold as ice Japanese woman who I can’t tell was his daughter, or what the relationship quite was. She’s one to watch though! Then we have a Rastafarian hunk who has more going on than meets the eye and clearly Annette (pictured above) will win our hearts and sympathies for what she has to endure. Again, I don’t want to give too much away. I will say this, though: I was only mildly disappointed as not everything is ultimately explained and the film ends in a sort of odd, though satisfying, way in regards to some of these characters.
Simply put, Harpoon: Whale Watching Massacre is an immensely fun film, though slightly screwy, but different enough to be memorable. I’m not sure it’s got enough of what it takes to be a future cult classic or favorite, but it does something new and interesting with the genre and lately – that’s really been the key for me.
