Harper's Island

Harper's Island is a fun-to-watch and enjoyable limited series from 2009. The story is really a mix and resemblance of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" and the "Scream" franchise with too many twists and turns in each episode. It is fast-paced, suspenseful, and intriguing, with too many different characters and, of course, too many murders. This TV series's genre can be described as a teen slasher and thriller with some soap opera elements. Besides serial killings and horror elements, you can also watch too many betrayals, secret and extramarital relationships, some kinky master-slave sex games between some characters, and too many tragedies, secrets from the past, and dramas. Harper's Island also successfully and equally blends and presents likable, charming, and unlikeable, suspicious characters each episode. The script also gives you too many red herrings about characters, so this makes it difficult to guess who the actual killer is until the last episodes. Overall, it's not definitely an Emmy award-worthy TV show with some amateurish dialogues, so-so acting from some unknown TV actors, and nonsensical scenes that don't make too much sense. I'm sure some people find this TV series quite cheesy and corny, but overall it's ideal for binge-watching for a boring night with its intriguing premise, and I can recommend it to horror and thriller fans. I also like the gloomy island setting, which perfectly fits and elevates the general atmosphere and suspense.

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.

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.

Good show!!!! Actually very good up until the last few episodes. I had the killer figured out from the beginning.

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!