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Razorback (1984)
Released By: Warner Home Video   Rating: R   In Theaters: N/A
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Studio: Warner Home Video
Genre: Action-Adventure
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Language: English
Official Website: N/A
Theatrical Release: N/A
Home Video Release: N/A
Cast: Arkie Whiteley, Bill Kerr, Chris Heywood, Gregory Harrison
Published ID: 2631
UPC: N/A
Plot: Before he directed the cult classic Highlander (1986), music video creator Russell Mulcahy adapted this stylish, tongue-in-cheek horror film from the novel by Peter Brennan. Gregory Harrison stars as Carl Winters, a grief-stricken American husband who has come to a remote corner of Australia to seek answers in the death of his wife, a TV journalist who was investigating a story on kangaroo poaching. Carl meets Jake Cullen (Bill Kerr), a man obsessed with hunting down what he says is an enormous razorback boar that consumed his grandson. Although he was acquitted, most of the locals believe that Jake murdered the boy himself and invented the crazy story about a giant pig. Jake tells Carl that he believes the razorback is also responsible for his wife's death. At first skeptical, Carl becomes a believer when he encounters the beast. He and Jake track it to a dog food processing plant, where the owners are illegally butchering kangaroos for industrial use. The factory operators are also feeding the dog food to the gigantic razorback, increasing its size and carnivorous appetite. Joined by farmer Sarah Cameron (Arkie Whiteley), Carl and Jake set out to kill the powerful mutant. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
IDDateTimeTitleReviewHelpfulVotesTotalVotes
EH-EHEHEHEH-EH-EH-EH-EH-EH
Added 3/27/2009

Surprisingly effective porcine Australian HORROR version of JAWS. With great acting flashy directing from rock video vet Mulcahy, funny and entertaing script ( you ever want some fun mate stop at their house for a little eh-eh-eh know what I mean! I'm sorry?? Yeah mate come to think of it you would be sorry eh! ) excellent pacing and welcome homages to Hooper-Spielberg-Romero-Argento and Hitchcock, and a briefly glimpsed, though well executed, title monster make this a true HORROR treasure.
A must for HORROR fanatics like me ;)

1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
From Tusk 'til Dawn
Added 8/23/2008

'Razorback', apart from 'Return of Captain Invincible' and maybe 'Performance', is likely the cultest film ever made.
Its credentials are crackling; mad, bad killer pig, desert lunatics, animal rights protesters, camels, abattoirs, negligible special effects, arty direction, and a delicious ideal of senseless cruelty and insensitivity.

''Jaws' in the outback' just about sums it up, but with notable additions. It has two of the bestest, grotesque villains ever portrayed on film.
Benny and Dicko work at the extremely unpleasant Petpak Cannery, a big, clanking, kangaroo slaughterhouse, around which, much of 'Razorback's action occurs. They enjoy their work WAY too much, live in a cave underneath the plant and insist on 'mystery bags' for their nutritional essentials.

Into their environment bristles Carl Winters in a borrowed old banger, looking for his missing eco-journalist wife Beth. Benny and Dicko know what happened to her but tell him porkies. He goes 'roo hunting with the rinds and is so enamoured with the proceedings, he vomits on their heads! Yet again; every-one's a critic.

After a WILD trippy walkabout, he begins to realise the ghastly truth - there's a giant pig making salami out of the locals. From there on it's a battle between the (happily vicious!) titular giant gammon and the small band of good apples, loins girded and resolute;
Carl, Jake Cullen, a local ham-hammerer who's grandson was smoked by the beast, and research scientist Sarah - (played by lovely, died-MUCH-too-soon Arkie Whitely)- each with a very different point to prove.

Intellectually (mercifully) 'Razorback' doesn't exist. Director Russell Mulcahy hogs the kudos for this. He deserves a medallion for relegating the ecology to a side issue, preferring to concentrate on cruel humour and breathtaking colourful cinematography. It's the correct combination. He's transformed an undistinguished script into a stylishly relentless thriller, proving you CAN make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Acting is exceptional, particularly David Argue as streaky Dicko. A squeal-voiced swine who gets off on his white, brothel-creeping trotters whenever there's trouble, and snorty Bill Kerr in the Cullen/Quint role, consumed with vengeance and obsessed with making the ultimate McRib.

You won't be boar-ed for a second with 'Razorback'. It's catalogue of hilarious atrocity will have you gasping one minute and chuckling the next. It's a blaise mixture of blood and gleeful vindictiveness. (apart from an attack on Beth Winters just before she's killed, Benny and Dicko have no motive for their mischief. They simply delight in it. The running over of the injured Cullen's dog as she runs for help is particularly galling!)

'Gamulla' where the whole offal-sodden mess is set, is apparently aborigine for 'guts'. The locals know instinctively it's no truffle. I'm surprised 'Razorback' wasn't chopped by the censors.

I've no doubt the rasher among Amazon reviewers will have herd about 'Razorback' and given it a roasting but the proof of this spicy black pudding is in the long-term savouring. I was suspicious of films like this at one time, but I'm cured now.

It yells 'cult' from the rooftops. It's flash, loud, has great in-jokes and is reassuringly despondent about the state of the world.
And if any-ones thinking of turning vegetarian it's a useful safe-guard;

When you're next driving past your local chipolata production unit, and you smell the fear and hear the screams of the terrified innocents awaiting their inevitable appointment with frenzied painful oblivion - think of 'Razorback' and I guarantee you won't feel so sympathetic.
Eat them before they eat you.

You have been reading;
The Cheapest Review Ever To Appear on Amazon.
Proudly posted 23 August 2008 (For posterity)
Thank You.

1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
Classic Australian Film
Added 1/28/2008

This is a classic Australian film and a great value DVD package as its full of extras including a 70 minute 2005 filmed documentary called Jaws on Trotters about the making of the film. It contains interviews with the producer, director, special effects guy (who made the pig), various actors and information on the few who aren't interviewed (unfortunately Arkie Whitely who played the hot research scientist passed away from cancer a few years earlier). What I liked about this documentary was that they were prepared to criticise their own movie and its bellow anticipated success in the marketplace.

There's also the deleted grisly expanded killing scenes which were left out of the film when it first screened back in the 80's. They are sensational. As well, the original trailer is here along with quite a few other trailers of Australian movies of the same era which may be of huge benefit to those not in Australia who may not have otherwise heard of them.

The basic plot of this movie is a giant razorback destroys a farmhouse taking a small boy away in its jaws. His grandfather is charged with his murder but let off due to lack of evidence. No one in the small rural outback town believes the pig exists except a beautiful research scientist who is studying the boars so both of these individuals pretty much live lives of isolation while trying to track down the beast. When an unpopular American journalist goes missing after her rape by Petfood factory workers that she is investigating is interrupted by a large beast her husband arrives from the US to find out what happened to her. He must survive the terror of the rapist brothers who don't want the truth of what they did to come out as well as the hairy bacon one in order to find out what did happen and avenge his wife.

3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
An outback Jaws
Added 7/25/2005

A razorback is an especially nasty species of wild pig and this movie is about an unusually large (rhino size ) example of the bred which is running rampant in the Australian outback with predictably bloody results .
It opens with a scene of grizzled outback veteran Jake Cullen -well palyed by Bill Kerr--minding his infant grandchild on his remote homestead when the unseen beast attacks and wounds him ,carrying the child away .He is arrested and put on trial for murder but exonerated and set free.From then on he devotes himself to tracking down the murderous beast .

Then an American journalist (Judy Morris) is despatched to the outback to do a story on the wholesale slaughter of kangaroos in the region ;she falls victim to the razorback .Her husband (Gregory Harrison) rejects the officoial version of her death -namely that she fell down a mine shaft .He joins forces with Cullen and together thay set out to track down the beast

The creature is seen only fleetingly but is quite impressive in the glimpses we do get .The script is pretty routine and the plot a tad over-familiar .It is however well photographed (by Dean Semler)wand makes good use of the outback location especially in a series of striking haze filtered back lit shots .It has style and atmosphere galore and looks good -but like director Russell Mulcahy's better known Highlander - its parts are better than the whole .Individually some scenes are striking but there is no real sense of a developed coherent forward moving narrative
By no means a bad movie it would have benefitted from a tighter script and a more foreceful lead actor than Harrison who is a bit bland .One for the creature feature devotees on the board

3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
Another Awful , Horrible Movie From The Shores Of Australia!
Added 6/10/2005

Australians DO seem to have a talent for making AWFUL movies and this one is no exception. It concerns a giant pig in the Australian Wilderness ( which is referred to by Austalians as 'The Outback") This movie doesn't evem make it s a Horror movie although I must say it is pretty horrible.We have the usual body count and the hunt is on for the killer pig. I give this movie 5 stars because I managed to catch up on some much needed sleep while it was on my TV screen.
0 out of 11 people found this helpful.
EH-EHEHEHEH-EH-EH-EH-EH-EH
Added 3/27/2009

Surprisingly effective porcine Australian HORROR version of JAWS. With great acting flashy directing from rock video vet Mulcahy, funny and entertaing script ( you ever want some fun mate stop at their house for a little eh-eh-eh know what I mean! I'm sorry?? Yeah mate come to think of it you would be sorry eh! ) excellent pacing and welcome homages to Hooper-Spielberg-Romero-Argento and Hitchcock, and a briefly glimpsed, though well executed, title monster make this a true HORROR treasure.
A must for HORROR fanatics like me ;)

1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
From Tusk 'til Dawn
Added 8/23/2008

'Razorback', apart from 'Return of Captain Invincible' and maybe 'Performance', is likely the cultest film ever made.
Its credentials are crackling; mad, bad killer pig, desert lunatics, animal rights protesters, camels, abattoirs, negligible special effects, arty direction, and a delicious ideal of senseless cruelty and insensitivity.

''Jaws' in the outback' just about sums it up, but with notable additions. It has two of the bestest, grotesque villains ever portrayed on film.
Benny and Dicko work at the extremely unpleasant Petpak Cannery, a big, clanking, kangaroo slaughterhouse, around which, much of 'Razorback's action occurs. They enjoy their work WAY too much, live in a cave underneath the plant and insist on 'mystery bags' for their nutritional essentials.

Into their environment bristles Carl Winters in a borrowed old banger, looking for his missing eco-journalist wife Beth. Benny and Dicko know what happened to her but tell him porkies. He goes 'roo hunting with the rinds and is so enamoured with the proceedings, he vomits on their heads! Yet again; every-one's a critic.

After a WILD trippy walkabout, he begins to realise the ghastly truth - there's a giant pig making salami out of the locals. From there on it's a battle between the (happily vicious!) titular giant gammon and the small band of good apples, loins girded and resolute;
Carl, Jake Cullen, a local ham-hammerer who's grandson was smoked by the beast, and research scientist Sarah - (played by lovely, died-MUCH-too-soon Arkie Whitely)- each with a very different point to prove.

Intellectually (mercifully) 'Razorback' doesn't exist. Director Russell Mulcahy hogs the kudos for this. He deserves a medallion for relegating the ecology to a side issue, preferring to concentrate on cruel humour and breathtaking colourful cinematography. It's the correct combination. He's transformed an undistinguished script into a stylishly relentless thriller, proving you CAN make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Acting is exceptional, particularly David Argue as streaky Dicko. A squeal-voiced swine who gets off on his white, brothel-creeping trotters whenever there's trouble, and snorty Bill Kerr in the Cullen/Quint role, consumed with vengeance and obsessed with making the ultimate McRib.

You won't be boar-ed for a second with 'Razorback'. It's catalogue of hilarious atrocity will have you gasping one minute and chuckling the next. It's a blaise mixture of blood and gleeful vindictiveness. (apart from an attack on Beth Winters just before she's killed, Benny and Dicko have no motive for their mischief. They simply delight in it. The running over of the injured Cullen's dog as she runs for help is particularly galling!)

'Gamulla' where the whole offal-sodden mess is set, is apparently aborigine for 'guts'. The locals know instinctively it's no truffle. I'm surprised 'Razorback' wasn't chopped by the censors.

I've no doubt the rasher among Amazon reviewers will have herd about 'Razorback' and given it a roasting but the proof of this spicy black pudding is in the long-term savouring. I was suspicious of films like this at one time, but I'm cured now.

It yells 'cult' from the rooftops. It's flash, loud, has great in-jokes and is reassuringly despondent about the state of the world.
And if any-ones thinking of turning vegetarian it's a useful safe-guard;

When you're next driving past your local chipolata production unit, and you smell the fear and hear the screams of the terrified innocents awaiting their inevitable appointment with frenzied painful oblivion - think of 'Razorback' and I guarantee you won't feel so sympathetic.
Eat them before they eat you.

You have been reading;
The Cheapest Review Ever To Appear on Amazon.
Proudly posted 23 August 2008 (For posterity)
Thank You.

1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
Classic Australian Film
Added 1/28/2008

This is a classic Australian film and a great value DVD package as its full of extras including a 70 minute 2005 filmed documentary called Jaws on Trotters about the making of the film. It contains interviews with the producer, director, special effects guy (who made the pig), various actors and information on the few who aren't interviewed (unfortunately Arkie Whitely who played the hot research scientist passed away from cancer a few years earlier). What I liked about this documentary was that they were prepared to criticise their own movie and its bellow anticipated success in the marketplace.

There's also the deleted grisly expanded killing scenes which were left out of the film when it first screened back in the 80's. They are sensational. As well, the original trailer is here along with quite a few other trailers of Australian movies of the same era which may be of huge benefit to those not in Australia who may not have otherwise heard of them.

The basic plot of this movie is a giant razorback destroys a farmhouse taking a small boy away in its jaws. His grandfather is charged with his murder but let off due to lack of evidence. No one in the small rural outback town believes the pig exists except a beautiful research scientist who is studying the boars so both of these individuals pretty much live lives of isolation while trying to track down the beast. When an unpopular American journalist goes missing after her rape by Petfood factory workers that she is investigating is interrupted by a large beast her husband arrives from the US to find out what happened to her. He must survive the terror of the rapist brothers who don't want the truth of what they did to come out as well as the hairy bacon one in order to find out what did happen and avenge his wife.

3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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