Whalefall: So WTF, this review is all questions, answered

Sometimes a movie comes along that is so bizarre that a traditional review of it seems beside the point.

Will audiences go to see Whalefall because they expect masterful cinema? Or will they go because the premise is so batshit nuts that you need to see it for yourself? Or maybe people will go because they've developed a crush on Austin Abrams or Josh Brolin? Whatever your totally valid reason for being interested in Whalefall, here's what you need to know with only minor spoilers.

SEE ALSO: Best movies of 2026, and where to watch them now What is Whalefall about? It's a tale as old as the Bible, sort of: man gets eaten by a whale.

Specifically, college student Jay Gardiner (Abrams) is grappling with the suicide by drowning of his gruff scuba-diving father on the one-year anniversary of the tragic event.

The body of Mitt Gardiner (Brolin, brawny, tan, and covered in nautical tattoos) has never been recovered.

So, to bring some solace to his sisters (Jane Levy and Emily Rudd) and widowed mother (Elisabeth Shue), Jay decides to go on a secret dive to reclaim at least some of his dad's remains from the ocean. ("Just one bone!" he says to psych himself up before taking the plunge.) With one hour of oxygen in his tank and a lot of hard-won lessons from the bellowing, abusive Mitt, Jay sees this as an opportunity to prove his manhood to his deceased dad.

However, his quest becomes a self-rescue mission when he gets snagged in a battle between a giant squid and a sperm whale.

Austin Abrams swims away from squid tentacles in "Whalefall." Credit: 20th Century Studios Like the squid, he's swallowed by the whale.

And now, he has under an hour to get out before he'll suffocate.

Of course, a whale's innards are not hospitable to humans, which Jay learns the hard way as he falls from its mouth to its stomach and beyond.

Is Whalefall based on a true story? No.

It's based on the novel of the same name by Daniel Kraus.

The author collaborated on the adapted screenplay with writer/director Brian Duffield, who's previously helmed the dark comedy Spontaneous and sci-fi horror movie No One Will Save You .

The former is a teen-centered movie about what happens when high school students begin to spontaneously combust.