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A Movie A Day: RAZORBACK (1984)
He’s only got two states of being: Dangerous or Dead, nothing in between.
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the next installment of A Movie A Day: Halloween 2010 edition!
[For the entirety of October I will be showcasing one horror film each day. Every film is pulled from my DVD shelf or streamed via Netflix Instant and will be one I haven’t seen. Unlike my A Movie A Day or A Movie A Week columns there won’t necessarily be connectors between each film, but you’ll more than likely see patterns emerge day to day.]
Welcome my fellow Samhainers on this festive holiday! I’m closing out this run of A Movie A Day on a real high note, boils and ghouls!
Razorback is Australia’s answer to JAWS, but instead of a giant shark we have a giant boar.
If you’ve read me for any length of time you’ll probably know that I’m a big fan of Jaws rip-offs. Not all of them, of course, but I like more than I don’t.
Razorback has risen to the top of the Jaws-inspired movies stack next to Piranha and Alligator. You know why? It’s not cheesy. How the hell you make a movie about a killer giant pig and do it without camp oozing off the screen is beyond me, but Russell Mulcahy (who later went on to direct Highlander) did it.
The opening of the film has an old, grizzled outback hunter guy watching after his grandson. And fuck-off giant truck sized boar shows up, gores the old man and breaks down walls to snatch up (and presumably eat) the small child.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
This poor bastard, played by Bill Kerr, is then tried and nearly convicted for the disappearance of his grandson. For some reason the “he was taken by a giant killer pig” excuse doesn’t seem to fly with the authorities.
But he’s let go due to lack of evidence and we see the birth of Ahab, the origin of Quint as this man devotes his life to hunting and killing this mythic beast.
And Kerr is fucking great in this role. He’s old enough and his lived life shows clearly on his face, giving weight and gravitas to his lines later in the movie.
Mulcahy also pulls a bit of a Psycho on us with the introduction of a pregnant American animal rights reporter who is flown out to Australia to cover the mass killing of kangaroos by the hunters in the region, paid for by a local pet food factory that uses the meat for its dog food.
Of course since it’s Australia we have a few key things that have to happen. There has to be at least one weird punk asshole character, a pimped out car or truck and nudity. Go ahead and check all three off your Aussie film list because this flick has ‘em. And boy does it have ‘em.
The punk asshole characters, one step away from Mad Max, are Dicko and Benny Baker (David Argue and Chris Haywood) employees of the pet food company who, of course, don’t like American reporters sticking their nose in where it doesn’t belong and chase her down one night. Things are looking grim for her, then out of nowhere this giant killer pig attacks.
But just when she thinks she’s safe, the punks flee, leaving her with the killer pig who proceeds to eat the shit out of her. It’s a rather horrific death, doubly so when you remember that she’s pregnant.
I thought that was going to be the main character! Thank God it wasn’t, by the way. Judy Morris is all well and good, but the reporter isn’t all that exciting of a character. Her answers seeking husband, Gregory Harrison, is a much stronger character.
Of course at some point the grieving husband and grizzled hunter team up, but to make an already great movie better the grizzled hunter is shacking up with an incredibly hot blonde (Arkie Whiteley, from The Road Warrior). And I’m not just throwing around the term incredibly hot. Good lord is she adorable in this movie. Think of Grease-era Olivia Newton-John and you’re close to how cute this girl us. And thank the movie gods the nudity box is checked whenever we first meet her. She’s taking an outdoor shower, bless her heart.
So you have two guys with grudges going out in the brush hunting a giant killer pig with some crazy Aussie punks wrecking havoc whenever they can.
Oh, I almost forgot. Both the punks and the grizzled hunter have reinforced rides, trucks plated with steel and hooks and guns and all sorts of macho men gizmos. You can check that off the list now, too.
The pig effects are quite good. Not flawless, of course, but Mulcahy does a good enough job setting up the world and shooting around the effect that it never really gets embarrassing (I’m looking at you ManBearPig from Prophecy).
In fact, Mulcahy deserves a lot of credit here. There’s a lot of style to this movie and if there’s anything I like it is a little theatrical flare in my supernatural horror stories. This isn’t our reality, really. It’s recognizable, but one step removed. Not all the light sources make sense, but they sure look cool and set the mood perfectly.
Final Thoughts: Warner Archives put this out on DVD and it’s a must have for any genre fan. My only wish is they would have been able to remaster it like they have some of their more recently releases. It’s a fine print and the best anybody’s ever been able to see outside of a movie theater, but there’s still some artifacting that was noticeable. But the movie’s great, a ton of fun and has a pretty crazy finale that delivers on the set-up. Like I said at the beginning, it was definitely a good pick to send off Halloween AMAD 2010.
Currently in print on DVD: YES
Currently available on Netflix Instant: NO
Well that’s it. Hope you guys enjoyed following along as I crossed yet another 31 movies off my “haven’t seen” list. Some good flicks, some not so good flicks, but an adventure the whole way.
Since it is Halloween and I’ve made you fine folks read about some pretty horrible horror movies I figured I’d run through some really decent horror flicks that are available to stream via Netflix Instant. Of course you have to watch The Walking Dead tonight on AMC, but for other good horror flicks you can fire up the old video game consol or whathaveyou and stream some of these great flicks:
PEEPING TOM (1960)
BLACK SABBATH (1963)
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978)
THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE (2001)
THE ORPHANAGE (2007)
FRIGHT NIGHT (1985)
THE EVIL DEAD (1981)
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984)
KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE (1988)
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981)
BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974)
SHOCK WAVES (1977)
THE NEW YORK RIPPER (1982)
CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980)
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)
THE BURNING (1981)
BURNT OFFERINGS (1976)
PHANTASM (1979)
SUSPIRIA (1977)
SESSION 9 (2001)
PATRICK (1978)
THE BEAST WITHIN (1982)
CREEPSHOW (1982)
CARRIE (1976)
SCANNERS (1980)
THE FLY (1986)
THE FLY (1958)
CANDYMAN (1992)
JD’S REVENGE (1976)
TERROR TRAIN (1980)
CHILD’S PLAY (1988)
THE TOOLBOX MURDERS (1978)
AUDITION(1999)
That’s not a full list of the horror available, but a damn good selection of horror flicks that get the Quint stamp of approval.
Happy Halloween folks!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
Previous AMAD 2010’s:
- Raw Meat (1972)
- Ghost Story (1981)
- Two on a Guillotine (1965)
- Tentacles (1977)
- Bad Ronald (1974)
- The Entity (1983)
- Doctor X (1932)
- The Return of Doctor X (1939)
- The Tenant (1976)
- Man in the Attic (1953)
- New Year’s Evil (1980)
- Prophecy (1979)
- The Other (1972)
- The Mummy (1959)
- The Gorgon (1964)
- Mad Love (1935)
- Repulsion (1965)
- The Church (1989)
- The Black Cat (1981)
- The Black Cat (1934)
- The Comedy of Terrors (1963)
- Dolls (1987)
- The Silent Scream (1980)
- Scream of Fear (1961)
- The Mephisto Waltz (1971)
- Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981)
- The Evil (1978)
- The Devil-Doll (1936)
- Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981)
- Scarecrows
Click here for the full 215 movie run of A Movie A Day!
Readers Talkback
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Oct. 31, 2010, 7:37 p.m. CST
I wish 'Silent Night, Deadly Night 2' got covered this month
by Sigourneys_Beaver
I mean there's been some god-awful films covered this month, but that would take the cake. "Garbage Day!" BANG! HAHAHAHA" you really should check that shit out on youtube. Funniest. Thing. Ever!.
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"There's something about blasting the shit out of a razorback that brightens up my whole day."
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Now I will finally buy this giant pig movie. At least it's not a cop kaiju.
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Anybody that hasn't seen it needs to check it out asap, fantastic Australian flick.
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the imagery is fantastic. The scenes of Carl walking through the dryland/desert is just amazing. This film is a guilty pleasure since growing up watching it.
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I think you mean Student Bodies was the forerunner of Halloween spoofs like Scary Movie. It is funny every now and then (I still remember some of the more bizarre gags), but mostly bad and very low budget.
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Place your bets here. <p>Lord knows it's not a good movie but it isn't nearly as bad as his first impression of it. Personally, a movie could be on par with Howling 7 and I'd STILL watch it to the end if it featured chainsaws and a cursed television that emits real zombies. But that's just me.
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Shock Waves right now. I've never seen it. Based on the first couple minutes, I'm skeptical. Yesterday I watched Razorback. Earlier today I watched A Nightmare Before Christmas as well as Carnival of Souls. I had seen both of those before.
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Like many other talkbackers, I believe it isn't THAT bad. I watched it after Quint posted his "I couldn't take it" article for the movie. The Video Dead is nothing compared to some of the shit I've sat through. I actually enjoyed some of The Video Dead.
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...and a very nice way to end this run of reviews...
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razorback was a fun watch.
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Maybe time to give it another go...can't really remeber much about it except one character gets electrocuted
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especially given that it was directed by Michael Ritchie under a pseudonym (or so I've been told). But I do still remember one line from it that I liked: when the Class Tease parks in the handicapped zone and is called on it, she replies jauntily, "Great physical beauty can also be a handicap." Amusing, nails the character, and even true in a sense (just ask Marilyn Monroe). The rest is pretty dire, though.
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a friend and i used to go see Ghost Story every weekend for what seemed, to a junior high school brain, forever but then one weekend it was gone. The Beast Within was showing (no kids were allowed without a parent but we were regulars... and bought dope from the manager) and I had the flu. When the cicada started to pop through the kids back like an over inflated football i got tunnel vision and ran the bathroom to puke... and puke... and puke. I've not seen it since but i'm about to hit play on the netflix.
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Those are some really awesome posters/box covers. Too bad most posters and DVD art these days feature nothing more than the actors in them.
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...thanks for doing this, Quint. My taste in horror is pretty vanilla compared to many who post here; I just don't have a thirst for gore and "kills" (although suddenly remembering that I enjoyed The Abominable Dr. Phibes makes me pause on that last one; let's make that gore. And even then, I concede the disgustingness of Cronenberg's Fly is absolutely necessary and defensible, so let's just say, I _almost_ never appreciate stuff that makes me want to hurl). But stuff that scares me is a different story entirely, and I can honestly say I love some of the movies discussed this past month, and even on the ones I'll never see, Quint's enthusiasm is contagious and fun to read.<p> And though I thought I knew all the Seventies TV horror movies, I'd never even heard of Dark Night of the Scarecrow; so special props to Quint for cluing me in, and the rest of you for seconding him. (And though it's the wrong tb, I'll second Beaks on Of Unknown Origin and Road Games).
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Rah rah rah ah ah!
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Oct. 31, 2010, 9:38 p.m. CST
Hammer's Hound of the Baskervilles is a must for next year
by JuanSanchez
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You're right, there are a few other funny bits, but as I recall, they're all in the early going (like arrows pointing out the errors characters make like unlocked doors (IIRC). The first 15 minutes should probably be enough. <p> Someone should do a "One Decent Line" list of movies that are such almost-total wastes of time (or threats to sanity) that you cling to one decent line in them like a life preserver. One coming to mind is the deeply mediocre My Science Project, which fortunately has John Vernon (Dean Wormer from Animal House) arresting the young Fisher Stevens while asking him why he's wearing sunglasses in the dark. Fisher's reply: "Because when you're cool, the sun shines on you twenty-four hours a day."
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I totally concur. Meanwhile, avoid at all costs the alleged comedy version with Peter Cook & Dudley Moore. You'd think one of them would say something funny, but you'd be wrong. Dreadful, and not in a good way.
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..for the first time. I was doing other things while watching it, and it didn't often grab my attention. The movie is low budget, and it seems to rely a lot of its synth score. There are some good shots despite the movie's low budget, yet it seems odd to have Nazi zombies in a movie and then reduce them to being like water creatures. Their strategy seems to be to walk underwater, grab and pull people under water, and drown them. There are a lot...and I mean a lot...of shots of the Nazi zombies' heads rising out of the water. I don't know...they're well done shots...but I don't think it's good enough to give the movie the cult following it seems to have gained based on what I've read online. It was good (at best) but certainly not great.
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I'm taking Quint up on his list today.
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She was the daughter of Australia's most famous/infamous modern artists Brett Whiteley. She died tragically young from cancer. BTW- one of my mates was an editor on this film - said he had a blast!
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Which goes a long way toward explaining it's pretty amazing look. It may have been a very B-movie, but Semler shot the fuck out of it. Great looking film.
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who's watching what?
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Oct. 31, 2010, 11:04 p.m. CST
Razorback is Australia’s answer to JAWS - nuh, that'll be Bait 3
by foovo
Was recently in Coolangatta and they were filming the tsunami scene from Mulcahy's new film "Bait". Supposedly the survivors get stuck in a flooded shopping mall with FRICKIN tiger sharks. In FRICKIN 3D. This will top Razorback for awfulness.
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"I told you to get his Keys not his Cheese!"
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Great review! But lest we forget the haunting soundtrack that fits the mood of this film brilliantly by Iva Davies. He did the soundtrack for 'Master and Commander'. The music in Razorback helps takes this Aussie flick a step away from most of our embarrassing over acted pieces. It's annoying that most successful Aussie films HAD to fly in an American actor to do some role.
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Next year... <P> Video Dead. You had to see it when it came out. Plain and simple. When we had less TV channels, no interenet, and kids would see the fucked up poster and beg dad or mom to rent it along with some nes games for them and their friends to kill the weekend with. You didnt rent something back then and give up on it, no matter what it was a big deal. You paid for it in choirs, you and your buddies convinced yourselves that this would kick ass, You had to see it then in this mindframe to understand it, to appreciate it. Seeing it now with older eyes, all alone with out your band of bros kinda ruins it, I'm sure.
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Just cause I'm a horror movie fiend. Good job as usual Quint and if the print for Razorback is decent I'm going to pick that sucker up. It's a lost classic so far as I'm concerned.
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died of cancer ten years ago. In that light, your comments on her nudity, however, well intentioned, are a bit tasteless.
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more looking back at shit from ages ago topics, than news.
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News? Like remakes and sequels?
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That was fun. I looked forward daily to the column and filled up my que with some movies I'd never heard of before!
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BAIT 3D HERE I FUCKING COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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That Paul W Anderson working with Russell on Res Evil 3 was like a dream come true for Paul?
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I love The I-nterracial R-o-m-ance! It is so nice. My boyfriend and i both think so. He is a s-e-x-y black man,lol. I know him via *** (SeekInterracial)* .*{C00M} *** a nice place for black white singles, to interact with each other…no bounds or extremes in front of true love. . …@love it ★★★★★★ ;)
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I'm going to miss these.
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Comparisons to TROLL 2 are in no way out of line. Quint's loss.
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is fucking awesome. Believe me, I talked shit about that device to no end when it came out, but I recently got probably the best deal I've ever gotten on craigslist and can't say enough good things about it. Of course, I jailbroke mine and so am doing a lot of things it wasn't intended to do (like background apps and offloading/watching 1080p/24 dailies from my Canon 7D with ifile), but it has made it so much more useful. <p>Anyway, back to netflix's ipad app... the picture sometimes looks considerably better than it does on a regular television. Not sure if it's the size that leads to a perceived extra sharpness or if it's the way it streams. The horror selection on there is AWESOME... and it seems like they add new stuff every day. The television section isn't so great yet but they're making strides. The sci-fi section isn't bad either... finally caught Dennis Quaid in Dreamscape the other night and couldn't believe that at one point, George Wendt literally says the entire plot of Inception. Also, the movie looked a lot better (if a bit dated) than I thought it would. Fucking love instant streaming!
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Fareal, you have to admit that Ratpack has a point. I actually love all the 'looking back' with BTS pic of the day and these columns. But it seems like anything that requires a bit of extra effort falls by the wayside. I wished they had continued cinematic shrimp. Some of the shorts they put up weren't that good, but it provides a great point of entry for discussion. And I'm sure a good amount of AICN's readers are filmmakers themselves. Plus, there have been so many great genre shorts recently and it would have been nice to get updates on those that are progressing to feature films. Mama, supposedly to be produced by Guillermo del Toro, comes to mind. This is just one example of a column that involves some work (viewing the films, selecting the best, and then interviewing the makers) and fell by the wayside. In truth, AICN could be so much more but chooses not to be and I can't figure out why other than laziness.
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GIANT PIG IS HUNGRY AND WISHES TO DEVOUR YOUR FLESH WHILE YOU SCREAM FOR MOMMY!!!
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Dean Semler, Mulcahy at the top of his game...... I FUCKING LOVE RAZORBACK!!!
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as a little kid, that scared me like nothing else ever did..that fucking evil chauffeur!
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Forgo that Warner Archive version and get the most excellent release out of Australia from two years ago. It has audio commentaries and a great 70-minute behind the scenes doc. The lush widescreen transfer is perfect too. Razorback is my guiltiest of pleasures!
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I like the red one.
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Quint, i have to say i'm a little shocked you haven't seen the 70s invasion. Get to it!
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NEW YORK RIPPER ftw! Thanks for that great list of Netflix streamers. And thanks for the Halloween-centric BTS pics AND AMAD column. Much appreciated.
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never forget...
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...for December what don't you do a seasonal AMAD column?
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I really enjoyed your horror-movie reviews. I'm looking forward to next year's batch. Well done, Quint!
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