Movie Review: KRAKEN

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: June 12th, 2026 / 10:03 AM

KRAKEN movie poster | ©2026 Samuel Goldwyn Films

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Sara Khorami, Mikkel Bratt Silset, Ingvild Holthe Bygdnes, Øyvind Brandtzæg, Jenny Evensen, Steiner Klouman Hallert, Filip Bargee Ramberg, Hans Morten Hansen, Jon Erik Myre
Writers: Vilde Eide and Kjersti Helen Rasmussen and Natasha Arthur, story by Pål Øie and Sjur Aarthun
Director: Pål Øie
Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Films/Nordisk Film
Release Date: June 12, 2026

Given the English-language joking about “unleash the Kraken” and “release the Kraken,” this KRAKEN is surprisingly and pleasingly non-campy.

True, KRAKEN does have a sonic transducer as part of its plot, but no one mentions or even hums a bar from THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW. It’s unironically serious, and it almost always works.

This KRAKEN is set mainly in and around the (real) Norwegian town of Vangsnes on the shores of the (also real) Sognefjord, estimated to be one of the deepest fjords in the world. In the movie, at least, its main industry seems to be a salmon farm. (We will leave discussion of the ethics of fish farming for another time.)

After introductory black-and-white footage of an old documentary about a giant “shadow” that appeared in the fjord, we see a pair of tourists on a jet ski in the water between the fjord’s mighty cliffs. They are oblivious to what’s in the water beneath them.

Marine lice are real. They can sicken and kill fish and other animals. Marine biologist Johanne (Sara Khorami) was instrumental in developing a sonic device for delousing the fish farm salmon, but she left Vangsnes seven years earlier to work for the Institute of Marine Research.

Johanne has multiple reasons for not wanting to return to Vangsnes, but her boss orders her to go. Something is causing the salmon to beach themselves and it may be related to the sonic transducer.

Almost everyone is delighted to see Johanne again, including local police officer Henriette (Ingvild Holthe Bygdnes) and Henriette’s teen daughter Maria (Jenny Evensen).

Henriette’s husband/Maria’s father Avaldnes Jostein (Øyvind Brandtzæg) pretends to be happy about Johanne’s arrival, but he’s actually less than thrilled, especially at her timing. Jostein runs the fish farm, and Japanese investors are here for his presentation.

Johanne’s former colleague and possible former boyfriend Erik (Mikkel Bratt Silset) is just plain shocked. On the one hand, he’s hurt that she abandoned their project (and him) partway through. Still, he acknowledges he needs help in determining whether there is something wrong with the sonic transducer.

Johanne and Erik are both mystified by some enormous parasites and evidence of their even bigger host in the fjord. As they try to figure out what these are and whether they’re related to the delousing equipment, things go very bad, very fast.

KRAKEN turns out to be a lot more like JAWS (people trapped in a scary aquatic-adjacent environment by a terrifying creature) and ALIEN (scientists pushing sternly forward in the face of dangerous bureaucracy while trapped in a scary environment by a terrifying creature) than CLASH OF THE TITANS or DEEP RISING.

There are a couple of unfortunate shots (one of a person in the grip of a flailing tentacle, another of the Kraken’s eyes), but most of the special effects are solid, especially on the big parasites.

Pål Øie, directing from a screenplay by Vilde Eide and Kjersti Helen Rasmussen and Natasha Arthur, from a story by Øie and Sjur Aarthun, keeps the tension rising steadily without going for histrionics.

Khorami and Silset in particular are admirably contained and sober as they examine evidence and react to their discoveries. Brandtzæg demonstrates both a hearty salesman exterior and a spot-on American accent during negotiations with the Japanese; in a nice detail, conversations between the Norwegians and Japanese are conducted in English, as that language is common to both groups. (The rest of KRAKEN is in Norwegian, with English subtitles.)

As movies about people trapped by cephalopods of unusual size go, KRAKEN is largely satisfying. For those who care about such benefits, there’s also some great footage of the Norwegian landscape, as KRAKEN was shot on location.

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