In the spirit of a sea-going suspense film like DEAD CALM comes HARPOON. When a boat is known as ‘The Naughty Buoy’ – and one of the trio of lead characters is prone to Vesuvius-sized fits of rage, you sense that this film is going to go down a dark sea channel.
Jonah (Monro Chambers) is not having the best time after a recent car accident involving his parents who were on a trip of vineyards thanks to their considerate son. Things get even worse when his best friend Richard (Christopher Gray) calls on him and proceeds to knock seven bells out of him due to allegedly having sex with his girlfriend Sasha (Emily Tyra) behind his back. Sasha then reveals that the texts that led to the fracas were related to the purchase of a harpoon for Richard’s birthday.
To appease the situation, Richard agrees to take the others out on a day trip by boat, but as the boat moves further out into the isolation and unpredictability of the Atlantic Ocean wave, it is here that a more brutally honest truth is about to manifest itself within the trio….
Sometimes all a film needs to be truly effective is a simple cast and location – and HARPOON, which was one of the stand-out films at the 2019 London Frightfest, has it in abundance.
This is one of those exceptions when reviewing a film that you want to just allow the readers to discover and embrace it for themselves – and merely set the film up for a hugely enjoyable experience. It is deliciously noirish – not to mention occasionally brutal and bloody and profane in equal measure.
Thanks to three excellent performances in this three-way affair (interpret this how you wish), coupled with a smart and acid-tongued script which laces dark violence and vicious humour courtesy of writer-director Rob Grant (with additional writing by Mike Kovac), HARPOON is a masterclass in acting and tone.
A big mention must also be in hand for co-producer Kurtis David Harder, who has already cemented his status as one of the most in-demand and talented film-makers with two absolute gems, his directorial effort INCONTROL (2017) (tapping into the dark side of virtual reality) and another gem of a horror-suspense film that he produced., WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE (2018) in which a lesbian affair yields shocks in the woods.
Book your ticket for strife on the ocean wave.
You can pre-order the Blu-Ray, available from October 2019, here:
https://epic-pictures.com/merchandise/harpoon-blu-ray
