Whalefall Review: Inside-the-Whale Thriller Falls Flat — SkimNews
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- "Whalefall" is directed by Brian Duffield and adapted from Daniel Kraus's 2023 bestselling novel of the same name, with Variety finding the adaptation "thuddingly literal-minded" thriller kitsch.
- Austin Abrams stars as Jay Gardiner, a scuba diver swallowed by a sperm whale off Monterey's Monastery Beach after getting entangled with a giant squid, spending most of the film inside the creature's stomach.
- Josh Brolin co-stars as Mitt Gardiner, Jay's late father — a gruff diver who committed suicide after a mesothelioma diagnosis ended his diving career, portrayed as an abusive macho dad in flashbacks.
- Abrams also fought fleshy tentacles in "Resident Evil" this month, per the review, which notes the indie-hipster charm he showed in Zach Cregger's horror hit is missing here.
- The film includes an "ecological" subplot referencing how sunken whale carcasses spawn rich marine ecosystems — a concept the reviewer says the film embodies in reverse, as "a carcass of a thriller that never rises."
Why it matters: Acclaimed novels don't always survive the leap to screen: Kraus's 2023 book drew widespread praise, but Variety finds Duffield's film version too literal to generate dread — making it a cautionary case of high-concept source material needing more than premise to work. For Abrams, who had a banner month between this and "Resident Evil," the film squanders the raw-nerve appeal he showed in Cregger's breakout.
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