CBS, often considered the weakest of the major networks, may have found a way to attract more than the reality TV-loving crowd with its newest show, "Harper's Island." Though the show relies on cheesy characters and inane dialogue, this new murder mystery/horror series is undeniably irresistible.
"Harper's Island" feels like a combination of an Agatha Christie novel and a film out of the 1990s gory-horror genre like "Scream" (1996) and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1997). The show centers on the members of a wedding party returning to their hometown of Harper's Island. The main character, Abby Mills (played by Elaine Cassidy) has not been back to the island since her mother was killed in a gruesome murder spree years before.
Abby's best friend since childhood, Henry (Christopher Gorham), is marrying the extremely wealthy Trish (Katie Cassidy). The fact that Henry does not come from a wealthy family bothers Trish's father (Richard Burgi) so much that he invites Trish's old boyfriend, Hunter (Victor Webster), to the island. The show features many other characters including the bride's sister and her creepy daughter, plenty of slutty bridesmaids, drunken groomsmen and various townies.
In the opening scene, as the guests get ready to take the ferry to the island, a young man, assumed by viewers to be Trish's cousin, Ben, because he is late for the ferry, is shown strapped to the bottom of the boat with an oxygen tank and his head dangerously close to the boat's propeller. When Trish decides that they aren't waiting for Ben any longer and the ferry starts, Ben's head is chopped off.
What follows is a stereotypical horror plot with plenty of red herrings to scare viewers and heighten suspense. All of the weird, scary moments add up to one gruesome death a week. After its of 13 weeks on the air, the show will end with most of the guests dead and the killer revealed.
In this economic climate, it's definitely a prudent move on CBS' part to run a series with a defined end date. It's also smart because the show will avoid dragging out the identity of the killer. This brevity makes "Harper's Island" like a mystery novel, and viewers will be more likely to keep watching, wanting to find out the killer's identity. The suspense is immediately established and never lets up because everyone is both a suspect and a potential victim.
The show also stands out from its competition because it features a level of gore usually seen only in R-rated films. Corpses hanging from trees, decapitations and bodies cut in half are repeatedly shown in the premier episode. Viewers who get queasy at the sight of blood and guts should definitely steer clear; much of the scare factor depends on the creatively disgusting deaths, something akin to the "Final Destination" films.
The show moves away from Agatha Christie and toward cheesy horror films through the characters. Many of the women are cookie-cutter beauty queens, clearly only present in order for producers to kill them off in interesting ways involving their own stupidity, and all the men are either constantly drunk or have mysterious pasts. Except for the almost disappointingly plain Abby and her dorky best friend Henry, the characters seem to have been pulled straight out of a Wes Craven film.
Every character is given some sort of secret from their past in order to ensure that the viewer is kept guessing about the true identity of the killer. Though there are plenty of contrived moments meant only to scare or trick audiences, it is nearly impossible not to get sucked into the guessing game of who will be next and who is the killer.
For viewers who can get past the sometimes silly dialogue, the show will certainly entertain. "Harper's Island" might not be thought-provoking, but it is definitely more entertaining than most of what's on television.
