Razorback (1984)

Director: Russell Mulcahy
Warner Archive DVDr

This debut feature from Mulcahy (Highlander fame!) is a pretty excellent monster movie set in the Australian outback. The monster, in this case, is a giant boar that stealthily shows up periodically and mauls/eats someone. But, eating humans is just in the razorback's nature and we soon find out the the ultimate evil is ... MAN!!! I mean the razorback is pretty bad, his first victim is an infant, but man is worse! The story follows an animal activist named Bath Winters (Judy Morris) who heads to Australia to expose the hunting and processing of kangaroos. That's when she meets the grandfather (Bill Kerr) of the first victim and gets caught with the boar through a series of events that leads her husband (Gregory Harrison) to fly to Australia to search for her. The film is atmospheric, using stylized lighting, fog, and low angle shots that give the outback an eerie feel. The script is unpredictable and often witty. This is one of the better films I've seen from the Warner Archive so far and it's a little disappointing that it is also the worst transfer I've seen from them. Certain shots have hazing and pixelation and the opening credits looked fuzzy. I also had to turn the sound up to "11" on my TV to hear the dialog. It's still a fun way to spend 90 minutes.

7/10