Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre (2009) Gunnar Hansen, Pihla Viitala, Nae, Terence Anderson, Miranda Hennessy Movie Review

Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre (2009)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Gunnar Hansen in Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre (2009)

Gunnar and the Whalers

A group of tourists board an old fishing ship to do a bit of whale watching under the guidance of Captain Pétur (Gunnar Hansen). But their trip goes bad when having radioed a group of whalers to get directions to where some whales might be there is a serious accident on the boat and they have to be rescued by the whalers. But being rescued is not on the cards as these whalers have gone bust and blame the Americans and tourists for their economic downfall and now want to exact revenge.

Well I suppose a boat out at sea breaking down is different to a van or car breaking down in the midst of nowhere but the end result is remarkably similar. As such "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" has been compared to many a horror movie including the original "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" which I am sure is more down to old Leatherface, I mean actor Gunnar Hansen, having a part in this as the old captain leading these tourists on the whale watching trip.

The thing about "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" is that when it isn't feeling derivative, such as when a woman running late leaps on to the leaving boat of course she hurts her knee as she lands, it is being weird with a woman singing "It's Oh So Quiet" over the ships tannoy system as a person on the boat is dying due to the accident. I am keeping that bit sketchy as it is one of the movies highlights for fans of visual horror.

The thing is that "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" had potential thanks to the storyline of aggrieved whalers taking revenge on a bunch of tourists who represent to them the reason why they no longer make a living. But it never manages to create that electrifying sense of danger which this sort of movie needs to hold your attention especially when at times we are served up subtitles. It also fails to generate any audience empathy towards any of the tourists so when they start falling foul to the whalers in a variety of blood thirty ways you don't care. And so in the end "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" becomes a routine horror fest where people die thanks to various pieces of whaling equipment such as harpoons.

What this all boils down to is that "Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" ends up one of those movies which should have been so much better but only ends up derivative and lacking in atmosphere with what there is frequently punctuated by some unnecessary quirky.


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