Harper's Island

This series has moderate acting talent, a constraint that scenes need to be viewable on a mainstream channel, and a budget that doesn't allow much (any?) CGI.

It is about relatively attractive people dying 'one by one'.

So if this were a movie it would likely end up with a 5.2 rating.

Instead it is an entertaining series that very successfully keeps the basic premise ticking along nicely for thirteen episodes. There are sufficient plots twists and they keep flowing all the way through to the last episode.

In a series of this nature there is no point trying to plug EVERY possible hole in the script, but they do an admirable job. If you are prepared to go in with a positive viewpoint you will find this great fun.

I watched the show a 2nd time after 10 years, and i liked even more, probably because the genre of slasher isn't so much aprecciated today, or maybe because the shows have been so bad in the last years that i've learn how to aprecciate these classics.

Harper's island is a true slasher, nothing more, and nothing else, and for those who love movies like Scream or I Know What You Did Last Summer, you'll definetely love this show, it has all a good slasher has to have, a serial killer with a past and motive, mistery, final girl, paranoia, always misleading, more than one kill per episode, this is a classic.

When I saw the previews I was hooked, despite my reservations that it was being shown as a series. Usually there are tonnes of side plots and involvements that are so stupid that it takes away from the main plot. But one of the plus points for Harper's Island is that it stays true to the premise. The intrigue builds from the first episode with the first grisly death and then you start to try and figure out who the killer is. Is it John Wakefield, the original killer, or is there a new player? A copycat and pretender to the throne.

But then all the tension and terror that had been building with each episode unravels in episode twelve and completely undone by the thirteenth. In fact the last episode is a lesson in utter stupidity, something that would not be out of place in a soap opera or some teen series. Even the reason for all the killing are quite absurd, as if the script writers were so thrilled with coming up with the idea of the deaths that they must have looked at each other when it came time to justify the deaths and drawn a complete blank. Watching Harper's Island is very much like getting a huge shiny Christmas present and when you finally get past the wrappings and layers to the gift it's noting more than a gift card for stationary. I haven't felt this let down for a long time.

But this is my personal rant. I'd still recommend this for the first half of the series which was excellent in building tension. The setting's very creepy and it lends credence to the terror that the characters feel. Watch it at night for the full effect!

Actually I'm not that big on dramatic TV series and the market is awash with them lately - monsters, serial killers, vamps, islands etc. However I am strangely drawn to Harpers Island, aided not a little by the fact that the BBC shows two episodes back-to-back so we don't have to wait a week between them!

Elaine Cassidy is a pretty face and manages to hold the story together, although there are no real stars and no real passengers here - it's just an all-round competent show, which is how I like it. The events may be predictable in the sense we know there's a killer on the loose, but they are sufficiently disguised to provide some nice (or nasty) surprises. Young Cassandra Sawtell's chilling portrayal of the very odd child Madison Allen is particularly entrancing.

I'd have preferred more humour and maybe a pinch of salt, but overall Harper's Island is a worthwhile diversion from the usual humdrum TV.

The Harper's Island is an Island where 7years ago sociopath John Wakefield brutally murdered 6women. Now, Henry comes back to the island where he spent his whole childhood with his fiancée to get married there. The guests include the family from both sides, best friends and especially one, a woman whose mother was one of those 6women, then. She's the main character of the show. Soon, people are starting to get brutally killed in various ways...

As in the title, if there's one thing true about this series, it is that is totally addicting, and NO MATTER what you think of some characters and their stupid moves, no matter what you think of some twists and how predictable you may find them, no matter what you think of some of the screenwriters' ideas - you will watch it right to the end. And you will watch REAL FAST!

As the film-making goes, it's flawless, great climatic cinematography, and some special effects when needed.

As to the characters, they're all believable which is good, and all the actors do a great job, which is nowadays not that easy to find on TV.

Some great music and songs used, too!

A the plot goes, it will keep you guessing to the very end, your predictions may probe to be wrong, OR right, but the sure thing is, you will be fooled a few times before you know what's going on. And the majority of you, me including here, will be shocked by the ending. And of course, lots of twist all the way through.

It will keep you on the edge of your sits, doesn't matter if its, people becoming missing one by one, them figuring out that they're getting killed, murderer's hunt for the rest of them, or their hunt for the murderer.

It's not perfect, but it's still a very good television!