Killer Whale

by Mike McGranaghan

If you’ve seen The Shallows, then you’ve already seen Killer Whale. The only differences are that there are two women instead of one, and it’s a whale rather than a shark. Come to think of it, you’ve also seen Killer Whale if you’ve seen Fall. Both movies are about female besties who go on an adventure following a tragedy, find themselves trapped in a life-threatening situation, and have their friendship tested by the revelation of a betrayal.

Virginia Gardner, who starred in Fall, plays Maddie, a twentysomething mourning the murder of her beloved boyfriend during an armed robbery. Pal Trish (Witchboard’s Mel Jarnson) suggests they travel to Thailand to see Ceto, a famous whale who has been in captivity at a water park for years. They get stranded in a lagoon, and Ceto – who has gone berserk from all the mistreatment – begins terrorizing them after being released back into the ocean. To survive, the women must swim to a large rock protruding from the water, then figure out how to make their way from the rock to the shore.

Naturally, Ceto goes after them repeatedly. Whales may not have the speed or the teeth of a shark, but they’re a lot bigger. A single tail slap creates waves strong enough to nearly drown Maddie and Trish. Other perils include getting bitten, cutting themselves on rocks, and dehydration. Director Jo-Anne Brechin doesn’t skimp on whale attack sequences. We see Ceto swimming ominously below the women and springing out of the water to catch them off-guard.

Movies where animals go nuts often provide a certain level of mindless fun. Killer Whale is no exception. Two attractive women in bikinis fighting a pissed-off whale isn’t exactly going to be boring. The sheer silliness of the concept provides mild amusement.

Where the movie trips up – aside from its thoroughly derivative plot – is that it’s undeniably clear huge chunks of the picture were shot against a green screen. Much of it has a fakey look that undermines the suspense. Maddie and Trish are supposed to be stranded on a rock in the ocean, but Gardner and Jarnson obviously filmed their scenes in a swimming pool somewhere, with the backgrounds added in later on. Because the visuals don’t look real, the danger doesn’t feel real, either.

In an ironic twist, Killer Whale arrives one week after the psycho chimpanzee flick Primate. That film used a human “motion specialist” to play the chimp. The difference in impact is astronomical. If the audience doesn’t fully buy into the presentation, everything unravels. Although the lead actresses here are good, the budget wasn’t big enough to pull off the desired effect, leaving them every bit as stranded as the characters they’re playing.

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