Harper’s Island a guilty pleasure

First published 3 August, 2009 | 2 Comments

On the weekend I think that perhaps I became the only person in Australia to have watched Harper's Island through to its conclusion. I have to say, Harper's Island became a guilty pleasure for me, and once it drew me in, I was hooked. In Australia, the series started out in the 9.30pm slot on Sunday nights, but only lasted a couple of episodes before being given the shaft. I believe it ended it's run

For those that don't know, Harper's Island is a 13 episodes thriller/mystery/horror series that can probably only be described as a cross between Scream and Beverly Hills 90210.

It begins with a large group of family and friends arrive at Harper's Island for the wedding of Henry Dunn and Trish Wellington. It continues with a bloody rampage by a serial killer, and ends with only a handful of guests surviving the wedding from hell. Somehow, the killer is linked to the main character Abby Mills, who is the typical 'girl next door' type, who is also best friend of the groom.

I could try and explain it more, but in doing so I'd probably either a) spoil it, b) do the show an injustice or c) both. If you want to know more, watch the trailer from CBS below.

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Harper's Island seemed to really struggle to find an audience, which I think is kind of sad, as it is one of those rare shows that comes along that isn't either set in a hospital, courtroom, medical clinic or police department.

To be fair though I guess the first three episodes did require a little patience on behalf of the viewer, and were by far the weakest of the series. From there on in though I found Harper's Island to be guiltily addictive viewing. In my opinion the show really kicked up a gear with episode five, with the death of one of the more prominent characters.

I get the feeling that Harper's Island will be one of those shows that garners a strong little cult following, and will probably find itself an audience among the DVD box set crowd. If you want to watch a series that doesn't outlive it's welcome and that will keep you guessing until the last episode, give Harper's Island a shot... if you can find it out there.