Rawhead Rex (1986) - I have long been a fan of Clive Barker's work. In fact, it was Clive Barker who first introduced me to horror literature. He's the intellectual horror author, writing horror for the thoughtful person who likes a little substance with their scares. His Book's Of Blood are incredibly entertaining and are ripe for movie fodder. In fact, many have already been turned into films including Dread, Book Of Blood, Midnight Meat Train and even Candyman.
Rawhead Rex was the first of these, however, being adapted back in '86. Mr.Barker wrote the screenplay himself though he's stated he wasn't very pleased with the results. The source material on the other hand, is quite fantastic. I was quite excited to have located a copy of this super hard to find film as I loved the original story. Anyhow, onto the film.
The premise is as follows: Ireland will never be the same after Rawhead Rex, a particularly nasty demon, is released from his underground prison by an unwitting farmer. The film follows Rex's cross country rampage, while a man struggles to stop it.
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, the special effects here are pretty bad. The visual effects are clearly outdated and the work done on the creature leaves a lot to be desired. That being said, the movie in and of itself is not terrible.
Now, being a product of the mid eighties, the performances here are varied. Sure, there are a lot of campy performances and some questionable dialogue delivery. Also, the police take ineptitude to a whole new level here. However, the lead actor/protagonist played by David Dukes is quite solid. He plays his role without taking it too seriously but manages to sell his character (particularly after suffering a tragedy.)
The gore here is.... pretty nonexistent. We don't see much in the way of killing as the creature tends to obstruct most of the view. We witness mostly the aftermath, but that is pretty well done, all things considered. Also, kudos for having the balls to have a child get killed on screen back in this day.
Clocking in at under 90 minutes, the film does move along pretty nicely. When you consider that this was based off a short story this is all the more impressive. Surely the fact that it was written by Barker is largely to factor here.
Now, what makes this movie truly enjoyable is the solid story, the daring moments (child death, urinating on a priest, trailer park massacre etc.) and the pure camp value. There are moments here that truly are so bad it's deliciously enjoyable. You won't be able to help yourself from laughing! The fact that the whole mystery here is embedded on stained glass windows, yet no one ever seems to notice is ludicrous!
Regardless, this is a movie worth checking out. If you can find it I recommend watching it. It's more than worth it for Barker fans as well as anyone who loves some good old fashioned cheesy horror of days past!
Highlight Scene(s) - The scene where Rawhead tears through the trailer park is pretty cool. Cheesy, sure, but still cool
The scene where we saw Rawhead "baptising" Deacon is a sight to behold....
Lastly, the abduction of Dukes' son is something we didn't expect them to go through with.
Highlight Quote(s) - After no one would believe Dukes and his son ends up dead...
Policeman: "Would you like some tea in the meantime?"
Dukes: "Go fuck yourself."
Policeman: "I'll pass that suggestion along."
No comments:
Post a Comment