A closer look at “Whalefall Review: Austin Abrams Faces Grief and a Sperm Whale’s Gut in Brian Duffield’s Ha”, exactly as the source publishes it. Austin Abrams delivers a career-defining performance in Whalefall, the new survival body horror from writer-director Brian Duffield, based on Daniel Kraus’ 2023 novel. Abrams plays Jay, a young man who dives into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monterey, California, to recover the remains of his father Mitt (Josh Brolin), who died by suicide a year earlier.
But the emotional quest turns nightmarish when Jay is swallowed whole by a sperm whale, trapping him inside its stomach with limited oxygen and a ticking clock. Duffield, known for No One Will Save You, crafts an intense dual narrative: flashbacks reveal the fraught relationship between Jay and his demanding, hyper-masculine father, while the present-day struggle inside the whale becomes a visceral metaphor for confronting grief, guilt, and inherited trauma. The full version stays on the original page, which this listing opens directly.