''Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre'' is a 2009 Icelandic

comedy-horror Comedy horror (also called horror comedy) is a literary, television and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as having three types: "black comedy, parody and spoof." Comedy horror can a ...

film directed by Júlíus Kemp and written by Sjón Sigurdsson.

Premise

Tourists in Iceland on a

whale watching Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins (cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. ...

expedition off the coast of

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

are stranded when their ship breaks down, but are rescued by a nearby

whaling ship A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Jap ...

crewed by "fishbillies" who are not as friendly as they first seem.

Cast

Pihla Viitala Pihla Viitala (born 30 September 1982) is a Finnish actress. She studied acting at the Helsinki Theatre Academy. Personal life In 2004, Viitala married musician Kerkko Koskinen; the couple divorced in 2008. She married Kazakhs, Kazakh-Germans ...

as Annette * Nae Yuuki as Endo * Terence Anderson as Leon * Miranda Hennessy as Marie-Anne *

Helgi Björnsson Helgi Björnsson (born 10 July 1958), often referred to as Helgi Björns, is an Icelandic actor and pop/rock musician. He has released several albums with his own band Helgi Björns Og Reiðmenn Vindanna. He was also a lead vocalist for the Icela ...

as Tryggvi * Guðrún Gísladóttir as Mamma * Stefán Jónsson as Siggi * Aymen Hamdouchi as Jean Francois * Snorri Engilbertsson as Anton *

Gunnar Hansen Gunnar Milton Hansen (March 4, 1947 – November 7, 2015) was an Icelandic-born American actor and author. He played the mentally impaired cannibal Leatherface in '' The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'' (1974). Early life Hansen was born in Reykja ...

as Captain Pétur * Thor Kristjansson as Björn *

Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir (born 29 April 1981) is an Icelandic actress and television presenter who is the assistant director of RÚV, the Icelandic national broadcaster. She is a former Miss Iceland. Life and career Ragnhildur was born ...

as Hannah Traschle * Carlos Takeshi as Nobuyoshi *

Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir (born 12 October 1968) is an Icelandic actress and musician. In the 1990s, she was also a saxophonist and vocalist of the group Reptile. Biography Halldóra graduated from the Iceland University of the Arts in 1995. ...

as Helga *

Hanna María Karlsdóttir Hanna María Karlsdóttir (born 19 November 1948) is an Icelandic actress. She is best known for her stage roles but also for her roles in '' Trapped'' and ''101 Reykjavík''. Early life and education Hanna graduated from the Icelandic Drama S ...

as Signý * Björn Nygårds Kers as Captured Bird Watcher

Release

The film was released in Icelandic cinemas in September 2009. Due to the lack of Icelandic horror films and the film's

grindhouse A grindhouse or action house is an American term for a theatre that mainly shows low-budget horror, splatter, and exploitation films for adults. According to historian David Church, this theater type was named after the "grind policy", a f ...

feel, many audience members could not take it seriously and mistakenly thought it was unintentionally funny as opposed to purposely comedic; advertisements that started with the words "the first Icelandic thriller" were removed in favour of new advertisements stating that the film "should only be seen if you have a sense of humor". E1 Entertainment picked up distribution rights for the UK, where the film was released on 10 May 2010 as ''Harpoon: The Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre''.

References

External links

* * {{Facebook page, id=RWWMfilm, name=''Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre'' 2009 films 2009 horror films 2000s English-language films 2000s Icelandic-language films 2000s survival films English-language Icelandic films Films about vacationing Films with screenplays by Sjón Icelandic horror films Seafaring films Icelandic splatter films 2000s slasher films English-language horror films English-language adventure films