When Ian arrives in the highlands for Johnners', his soon-to-be brother in law's, stag do and finds nobody there to meet him he should have got the idea that he was going to have a terrible weekend
he couldn't have guessed how bad though. He manages to get a taxi to where the others are and finds them to be a bunch of obnoxious city wide boys who quickly start picking on him. They have hired a local gamekeeper to take them stag hunting but due to the weather he advises them against it; they are determined though and he drives them into the woods
then abandons then. The group is understandably annoyed but this turns to terror when one of their number is harpooned and dragged into the trees! As the weekend progresses their numbers are whittled down in a variety of ways. They are convinced that the gamekeeper is hunting them but could it be somebody else; or even somebody within the group?
This was advertised as a comedy but if you are expecting lots of jokes or wackiness you are in for a shock; the humour is as black as pitch and there is genuine tension once the mystery killer starts killing off the members of the group. Apart from Ian the characters are fairly unsympathetic at first but over the course of the series we get to know them better and learn that some of them aren't as bad as we thought just before they die. The remote highland location and the oppressive weather combine to create a great atmosphere where the tension is rarely broken and when it is that often means something bad is about to happen. The identity of the killer can't be guessed but the person they are working with is mildly surprising only mildly because by the time it is revealed there aren't many people left. The cast, which includes several familiar faces, does a fine job making us believe in the situation but just because a character is played by somebody is played by somebody familiar doesn't mean they will last very long. There are of course some clichés and silly moments but not enough to spoil this viewer's enjoyment. Overall I found this to be tenser than I expected and well worth watching.
This was advertised as a comedy but if you are expecting lots of jokes or wackiness you are in for a shock; the humour is as black as pitch and there is genuine tension once the mystery killer starts killing off the members of the group. Apart from Ian the characters are fairly unsympathetic at first but over the course of the series we get to know them better and learn that some of them aren't as bad as we thought just before they die. The remote highland location and the oppressive weather combine to create a great atmosphere where the tension is rarely broken and when it is that often means something bad is about to happen. The identity of the killer can't be guessed but the person they are working with is mildly surprising only mildly because by the time it is revealed there aren't many people left. The cast, which includes several familiar faces, does a fine job making us believe in the situation but just because a character is played by somebody is played by somebody familiar doesn't mean they will last very long. There are of course some clichés and silly moments but not enough to spoil this viewer's enjoyment. Overall I found this to be tenser than I expected and well worth watching.