Whalefall (15)

Frightening, surreal and visually extraordinary, Whalefall takes the survival thriller to unexpected new depths.

Scuba diver Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) is searching the Pacific for his estranged father’s remains when he finds himself swallowed by a sperm whale while hunting a giant squid. With barely an hour of oxygen left, Jay must find a way out of the creature’s enormous, suffocating body before time runs out.

As the desperate struggle unfolds, flashbacks reveal the troubled relationship with his father that brought him here. The premise makes for a uniquely claustrophobic experience, with the whale’s interior transformed into a nightmarish landscape of pulsating organs and heaving flesh. The result is part survival thriller, part full-blown body horror, with an immersive soundscape that amplifies every terrifying moment. Abrams brings a convincing desperation to Jay’s fight for survival, while the occasional flashbacks add some needed emotional depth.

Wildly imaginative and unafraid to take risks, it’s a film willing to embrace the bizarre. And it pays off massively. An utterly singular cinematic ride and one of the strangest big-screen spectacles in recent memory