Whalefall review
By Joel Humphries · Watched 10.17.26
★★★★ 4 / 5
Spoiler-free review
Whalefall commits to its outrageous survival premise with unnerving conviction, turning a man trapped inside a sperm whale into a visually stunning, gross, claustrophobic gauntlet that’s hard to watch and harder to look away from. Austin Abrams carries the film as Jay, while Josh Brolin’s chilling portrait of a domineering father adds a bruising emotional undertow that explains Jay’s worst choices without excusing them. The creature work, especially a memorably hostile squid, is inspired; the staging inside the whale feels tactile and ingenious. I came in braced for joyless body horror and left impressed: uncomfortable, gory, and beautifully executed—absolutely recommended.
Full review — contains spoilers
I was skeptical about Whalefall going in. A guy gets swallowed by a whale and engages in a gory fight to survive. That didn't sound like something I particularly wanted to watch, since I'm not a fan of the body horror, mutilation, and general unpleasantness the premise would likely involve. But this movie is exactly what you think it is, and it's actually really very good.
Austin Abrams plays Jay, a young man who goes diving in search of his dead father's remains and ends up inside a sperm whale. From there, much of the movie is him trying to work his way out while dealing with the whale's internal systems, its movements, and everything else competing to make this the worst possible place for a human being to be. There's also a squid that takes a particular dislike to him. Their personal rivalry becomes quite an experience.
The inside-the-whale material is exceptionally well done. Visually and artistically, I thought it was amazing. It's gross, claustrophobic, and frequently painful to watch, but the filmmakers make that environment convincing enough that I stayed completely involved. I don't want to describe the individual ordeals, because discovering how much worse his situation can get is part of the fun.
Josh Brolin plays his father, a deeply unpleasant man who raised his son around the ocean and wanted him to follow in his footsteps while repeatedly making him feel incapable of doing so. He undermines him, interferes with his relationships, and seems more comfortable with the ocean and its animals than with other human beings. I read him as narcissistic and delusional, and the father-son relationship as destructive.
That history gives Jay's trip another layer. He had gotten away from the family situation, and now he's back in the water trying to recover his father's remains, still responding to the demands and expectations of a man who isn't even alive anymore. I didn't always think his decisions made sense, but I understood the hold his father continued to have over him.
The whale internals are the attraction, though, and the movie delivers on them. I went in thinking this might be an ordeal I didn't want to put myself through and came out thoroughly impressed. It's gory, it's uncomfortable, and it's beautifully done. Definitely recommended.