Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

RyanTheStoryteller Back in 1939 Agatha Christie published a book called And Then There Were None. In this book a group of people are trapped on a deserted island. Even though they are quite sure that they are the only people on the island one by one they start to be murdered. There was a great deal of fear in the hearts of each of the characters because they knew that the most likely scenario was that one of them was the murderer. But there was also the nagging fear that there might indeed be someone else on the island that they didn't know about. And Then There Were None is considered to be one of Agatha Christie's best novels and is by far her most financially successful. As a result of this fame there have over the years been numerous horror movies made based on the same premise of a group of people trapped on an island being killed off one at a time with no way of getting off.In 2009 CBS aired this single season, 13 episode show called Harper's Island. When I first heard of this show it looked like just another cheap carbon copy of the template Christie employed in her classic novel. However, it turned out to be a very different and interesting take on the trapped-on-an-island-with-a-nutcase-killer story. The story is set on a fictional island off the Washington coast and features a previously supposed dead, serial killer named John Wakefield. The difference that I found so fascinating about this was the fact that this was not a deserted island. Harper's Island was an inhabited island with hundreds of people with all the normal stuff that one would find in any other town.I found that way of doing things interesting because this type of story has so often depended on the fact that the characters are cut off from any help or escape. The way the creators of the show were able to make it all work was by keeping the first several murders secret from the characters. The people that were killed early on in the show were people who were supposedly about to leave the island anyway, flighty people who had a habit of taking off suddenly and without warning and people who most of the characters didn't know were on the island anyway. One murder was even disguised as a suicide. Of course, eventually people start realizing what is going on and, like any good mystery, suspicion falls on several people before it is finally revealed who is behind it all.In the end, in addition to John Wakefield there was also a bad guy among the main group of characters that was committing some of the murders himself. Though this was a pretty good show, there were several things that I didn't really like that much. First, when our crazy man finally shows his face and starts killing people openly you have one of the most annoying horror flick clichés. That is the whole thing where five people with loaded shotguns can't seem to kill one kook with a long ugly knife even though he is standing ten feet away from them. The other thing that bugged me was in the second to the last episode when we found out who Wakefield's accomplice was. I know with these types of reveals it is supposed to be a huge surprise but when Henry turned out to be Wakefield's son and accomplice it was so unexpected and such a big surprise to me that it didn't really seem plausible.

zkonedog When I started watching "Harper's Island", I was looking for a great mystery. However, based on reviews from various sources, I was a bit concerned that it would turn into a slasher series. Unfortunately, it indeed turned into more of the latter than the former.For a basic plot summary, "Harper's Island" tells the story of a wedding party held on an island community where some gruesome murders occurred many years ago. With friends and family all ready to party and celebrate a holy matrimony, some strange goings-on (e.g. killings) begin. Are they related to the old murders?Basically, "Harper's Island" is a murder-mystery with a HUGE emphasis on the murder. I will confess that I only watched the first three episodes of this show (so judge away, if you must), but that was all I needed to discover that the only real "mystery" in the series was going to be who was going to die next and what gruesome way it would happen. There is nothing intellectual about this storytelling whatsoever.Thus, I was an early exit from this disappointment. It tries, so I'll give it two stars, but it is clear from the get-go that this is a horror/slasher show. The "mystery" is just lip service.

supermaggie I knew who the killer was from episode one. So much for "really entertaining/thrilling/you do not see it coming". I am just reviewing this because I thought Harper's Island was a big disappointment and expected everybody to see it this way, but it turns out many see it as a benchmark in thriller shows and so I had to throw in my opinion. No, not everybody sees it as a successful thriller show, and all the viewers bitching about other shows like American Gothic (2016) should be tolerant/ be aware that there are people out there who disagree, see it the other way round. I do not think that American Gothic (2016) is the greatest show (esp. with a psychopathic kid running around mutilating poor cats - put the damn kid to sleep or into a cell before it does worse!) but neither is Harper's Island. It is okay that both shows exist, but in my opinion Harper's Island is NOT the better one. Just wanted to give a different opinion.

Ruud Moret It does. So please read this, lest you waste your time watching this crap.Harper's Island is so bad you just keep watching in utter fascination. How much worse will the next episode be than the one before? Which characters' heads will be on the block this time? Why do all these people get killed anyway, and why can't they stop this sociopath when he comes at them with only a (big) knife while they're all wielding shotguns? Why do they shoot at him without taking proper aim? And why don't they shoot him when he's only a few feet away from them? And worst of all: where's the FBI? Two police officers come to investigate and are promptly shot. Won't it be noticed in their Seattle police station that they're absent the next day? But why do they show up only after at least a dozen people on the island have been killed? Surely two murders should have sent investigators over to have a look.The cast is okay, and would have been perfect in a Scream! clone. I love the Scream! movies, because they're funny (inbetween the gore - unlike the Scary Movie crap). Apart from Christopher Gorham I liked every actor. Elaine Cassidy is a very nice young lady, and Katie Cassidy is absolutely gorgeous - at least with make-up. The other actresses are excellent, and so are the actors. Problem is, each time one of them gets butchered you'll think, Oh, no, not him/her! But in a moment you'll just shrug and say, Oh, well. Apart from the Cassidys' characters and the kid and her mother you don't feel the slightest empathy with these people. I'm not a bad person. I wouldn't even swat a fly (only mosquitoes). But these are all cardboard characters running around like chickens waiting to be slaughtered. Oh, well. The story goes on and on, more and more people get killed. Then, suddenly, in the eighth or ninth of the thirteen episodes the (main) killer shows up. So what if his name was mentioned from Episode One? You don't introduce a new character near the end of your story, least of all your killer.As for suspense, I didn't feel any. There was a killer on the loose, and he had an accomplice. It was so plain that it couldn't have been Jimmy, as he was the #1 suspect, and Abby's sweetheart. Certainly not the token Brit either, or one of the girls (even though the brat was rather creepy). None of the young male guests either. Even Sully, despicable in the beginning, turned out to be a nice guy once under pressure. It couldn't but have been Henry, whom I had disliked from the very beginning. How can a silly git like him - poor for starters - win the heart of such a sweet rich girl like Trish?I have yet to watch the ultimate episode. When I do, I'm sure I'll feel as frustrated as I was after watching Alcatraz or The Event, two series that were discontinued after just one season. I have one comfort: at the end of Harper's Island there will hardly be anyone left, so there can't be a second series. Thank goodness for that!(Unless they start over like An American Horror Story. Hey, there's a great series to watch!)