Razorback

In a small outback town a child is carried off by a massive wild boar, but the grandfather who was looking after the boy gets accused of killing the youngster. He tells that of a gigantic wild boar killed his grandson, but naturally the town's folk won't hear any off it. But in the trail there wasn't enough evidence to convict him so he's acquitted. Next a American female reporter who's an animal rights activist goes down under to get some interviews with some kangaroo hunters, but instead she comes face to face with the rampaging boar and disappears. The locals believe that she must have fallen down a mine shaft, but her husband Carl thinks otherwise and heads to Australia to dig up any dirt to what really happen.

Da Da.. Da Da dadada... Get out of the water! Oops, wrong film. Sorry about that as I just couldn't get that Jaws theme out of my head. "Razorback" is what you can call Australia's answer to "Jaws", but instead this one is on land and we get one angry looking boar terrorising locals and out-of-town visitors. The two films do share some similar characteristics, but while "Jaws" plays it mostly serious I found "Razorback" the opposite. Well, it would be hard to get anyone to take the story seriously because of how ridiculously stupid it is, but that doesn't stop this stylishly, grim shocker from being entertaining. Well, actually that wasn't the case on my first viewing of this flick as I wasn't particularly smitten over it. Maybe I was in a grumpy mood at the time, but on this occasion I enjoyed the silly experience far more.

The premise might cross into "Jaws", but the beginning also adds to the story - Australia's most infamous case of the baby that was taken by dingo, which still causes controversy today. The fella who penned this particular film Everett D Roche is probably Australian's most prominent screenwriter in the genre with such films like Patrick, Harlequin and Road Games under his belt. While, the story might be highly derivative there's enough imagination and excitement in spots to keep it from being uneventful. But there's one thing I can say about this production is that the thick style is all over thin substance. Who you can thank for that is a music video director making his debut in films - Russell Mulcahy (Highlander, The Shadow). He brought to the table an atmosphere that was visually stunning with its sprawling, desolate backdrop that has never been so eerily caught. Well lately, "Wolf Creek" did a good job on that aspect. But here there's a surreal quality about it with it's vibrant colour scheme and blanket of mist. The lighting composition is well staged with a visual goldmine exploding on screen with the spectacular shots of the horizon. The vacant outback simply spills off the screen that you just think that it's such a great backdrop for a horror flick. The expansive camera-work is swift in it's movement by capturing every frame with a certain amount of panache and the odd inventive angle and POV shot. The electronic score is effectively worked into the piece along with hissing sound effects that added even more to the unsteady, dreamlike texture.

Since there is not much in the way of surprises, director Mulcahy ups the thrills and action in such an unyielding fashion to set the film alight. While, the gore might be lacking, the deaths are unpleasant and also thrown in some animal cruelty. What was surprising is that the since the spot light is basically on the mechanical boar - it doesn't look too bad, well towards the end it might lose some of the effect it created early on. But I have seen far worse.

The performances are tolerable enough even with some eccentric yahoos who generated some agreeable humour. The script is purely senseless dribble, but there's some dry sarcasm, thick slang and a laid back attitude that works its way in because of the culture. Gregory Harrison is passable as Carl Winters. Bill Kerr is excellent as the stubborn boar hunter Jake Cullan who has a chip on his shoulder and who's crusade is to get the giant pig. Arkie Whiteley is lovely Sarah Cameron and Judy Morris is decent as Beth Winters. But the most memorable performances is the cheerful maniac brothers Benny and Dicko who are marvellously played by Chris Haywood and David Argue that add the wild and wacky feel to the flick.

A highly spirited and trashy Australian knock-off that goes down well with a few cold ones.

One striking shot follows the next in this monster B-movie, and the overall tone of the visuals is beautiful, I think. And there is some thick, intense atmosphere. In those departments it's so stunning that the many flaws can't ruin the film. The acting is OK all in all but there are some moments that make you want to put your head through the next wall. The action scenes and especially the ones with the razorback, a huge boar, are more or less comprehensible in that you get the basic idea of what's going on but all the crucial scenes happen between cuts, so the editing is jumpy, kind of like a TV edit. The worst example is the movie's finale and the destruction of the monster, which after an exhaustingly loud, dark, monotonous battle between man and monster plot-wise also ends on a ridiculous and schmaltzy note and so the film leaves you with a bad aftertaste. But those visuals, man, those visuals... It's kinda like a more extreme 'Alien³'. Worse plot, more stunning visuals. What else could I do but consider this a new B-movie favorite?

Plot

As a vicious wild boar terrorizes the Australian outback, the husband of one of the victims is joined by a hunter and a farmer in a search for the beast.

Cast

Not familiar with anyone involved except the ill fated Arkie Whiteley.

Verdict

This was recommended to me by a guy who likes throwing me the absolute most dire and cheesy monster flicks, it's because of him I'm pretty sure I've seen the entire Scyfy original catalogue.

Razorback most certainly comes under that category, namely a dire cheesy monster flick! Set in the outback we see our hapless hero teaming with a grizzled hunter who has history with porky and fending off two local miscreants who are more of a threat throughout than the beasty itself.

Our piggy is barely on screen and when it is it's generally ultra close up shots of its tusks/nose at no point do you really get a proper look at it and I'm sure the reasons for this are pretty obvious.

The plot is bland, it never reels you in. You never feel the threat of this creature, you're more annoyed by the other pair of antagonists who are just dreadful! And our lead? He couldn't have been anymore bland if they tried, awful awful character.

Razorback is not an 80's classic, it's a movie kept afloat in peoples mind by the power of nostalgia.

Rants

Oh Arkie, what could have been? There was a young talented actress with a successful career on the up! What a dreadful shame, so incredibly young, she hadn't even hit 40 before falling. I'd have loved to see how her career would have inevitably blossomed.

The Good

Arkie Whiteley

The Bad

Weak creature effects Awful finale Bland leading man Antagonist humans were simply too annoying Fails to engage the viewer.

It's not that scary with an abrupt ending and features some really annoying characters but Razorback is still overall a good thriller. Gregory Harrison and Bill Kerr are both great. There's a few effectively suspenseful scenes and it's surprisingly extremely well filmed with some really gorgeous shots. There are some laughably bad moments and the music by Iva Davies is really good.

Okay, the plot sounds ludicrous, doesn't it? A giant killer pig? Despite the apparent ridiculousness of the plot, this movie is better than one might expect.

Beth Winters, a Canadian reporter, has come to the small Australian Outback town of Gamulla to shoot a story about the local dog food packing plant, which uses the meat of poached kangaroos in its product. When Beth disappears one night, her husband Carl arrives to find out what happened. Beth apparently ran afoul of the psychotic Baker brothers, who work in the plant. But crusty old Jake Cullen soon learns that Beth was a victim of a giant razorback, the same one that carried off his grandson years before and which he has been hunting ever since.

The Australian Outback becomes an almost alien world - desolate, strange and scary where any form of undiscovered life might exist. You don't get to see much of the giant pig, admittedly, but then they didn't have CGI back in the early 80's. The real menace of this movie lies with the kangaroo poachers, two brothers who reek of malevolence and filth all the way through the film. They were truly terrifying, and the insane laughter of David Argue (playing younger and more dangerous brother Dicko) still haunts me to this day.

Worth watching at least once.