'Whalefall': Mixed-to-good reviews for survival horror inside a whale
Brian Duffield's 'Whalefall' opens in Germany today. Early reviews are mostly positive – one critic calls it the best film about a person being swallowed by a whale.
Archive image · Photo: Siebbi / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped and resized)
The first reviews of 'Whalefall' have arrived shortly before its release. According to Dark Horizons, on Wednesday the film stood at 79 percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes (43 reviews) and 64 out of 100 on Metacritic. Brian Duffield ('No One Will Save You') directs, adapting the novel by Daniel Kraus. Austin Abrams plays a diver searching for his late father's remains off the California coast who is swallowed by a sperm whale and has one hour of oxygen to find a way out.
Liz Shannon Miller (Consequence) wrote that it is "without question the best movie I've ever seen about someone being swallowed by a whale." Barry Hertz (Globe and Mail) called it "an absurdly entertaining mix of family melodrama, survivalist thriller, and exceptionally gooey horror flick." Variety's Owen Gleiberman was considerably more critical.
The 20th Century Studios film opens in German cinemas today and in the US on Friday. Alongside Abrams, the cast includes Josh Brolin, Elisabeth Shue, John Ortiz, Jane Levy and Emily Rudd.