Rawhead Rex (1986) review

RAWHEAD REX 1986 (released in 1987)

David Dukes (Howard Hallenbeck), Kelly Piper (Elaine Hallenbeck), Cora Lunny (Minty Hallenbeck), Hugh O'Conor (Robbie Hallenbeck), Ronan Wilmot (Declan O'Brien), Niall Toibin (Reverend Coot), Heinrich Von Schellendorf (Rawhead Rex)

Directed by George Pavlou

The Short Version: Clive Barker's story from his volume three Books of Blood series is brought to visual life as a straight up monster movie, abandoning much of the religious subtext prevalent in Barker's story. The film, while generally lousy, is gory and operates primarily as a monster-on-the-rampage scenario. Dumb dialog and an ending that recalls the absurdity of THE MANITOU (1978) enhance the unintentional hilarity of the whole thing despite some offensive touches towards the end. Freudian disciples will have a field day with the phallic symbolism. Even the name, 'Rawhead' has sexual connotations, yet the film never massages the libidinous prospects inherent in the original material. For monster and bad movie buffs, and also for those who've ever wanted to hear a priest say "fuck" a lot.




An ancient, pre-Christian pagan god is released from his centuries old prison in a remote Irish village in Dublin. On vacation writing a book on neolithic fertility sites, an American author crosses paths with the rampaging, child-eating monster. Determined to find and slay the beast, the man learns what the creature is and tries to put some clues together that will reveal how to destroy it.



Themes of Christianity versus Paganism are all but lost amidst near endless scenes rife with blood, thunder and flashes of lightning that seem to follow the title creature around during daytime hours in this passionately stupid movie. Going by Barker's thoughts at the time, and over the years, very little of what he envisioned ended up in the final product. As bad as it is, Pavlou directs his monster sequences with a great deal of energy and frequency.




There are moments where RAWHEAD REX tinkers with the notion that it wants to be a good movie; that it wants to explore the dichotomy between pagan and christian religion, and local superstitions. Then it wimps out settling back into the comfortability of standard monster movie cliches, while retaining vague allusions to sexual effigies throughout.



Clive Barker wrote the screenplay, yet the film begins like we've missed act one, or something. During the first five minutes, a farmer is attempting to remove a gigantic obelisk style stone marker that juts skyward in the middle of his field. Obviously it's been there for quite some time, yet it's never mentioned why it's suddenly being removed now. It just serves as the tool that has kept Rawhead confined for millenia.

And any notion of keeping your monster in the dark for a while before a big reveal is thrown out the window before the film is ten minutes old. We get a rather spectacular introduction from two different angles heralding the arrival of this muscular monstrosity that bears a passing resemblance to Arnold Schwarzenegger. And we see lots of him throughout. Rawhead is never camera shy and the DP loves him; giving us, the viewer as much of the monsters visage as we can stand.



The monster itself is mightily impressive. He's about 8 or 9 feet tall, snarls a lot, has glowing, swirling red eyes, a massive build, retractable claws on its massive hands and a nasty set of teeth that resembles a cross between a shaved gorilla and a mutated razorback. He also runs like Arnold Schwarzenegger, so I am not totally convinced that it isn't the Terminator inside that costume. 

In addition, this mad monster on the loose has some Dracula powers he uses to hypnotize two people into doing his bidding; not that he would need them in the first place. The bulk of the film shows the monster as nothing but a rampaging force of nature, so the mind control aspect is pointless. The creatures near constant destruction of farms, homes, trailer parks, and large groups of people betrays his status as some demonic pre-Christian force threatening to plunge the world into chaos.  He's just another movie monster with some bible era jargon attached to him that goes nowhere.

The only time the film attempts to explore a biblical connection with its title character is at the end when the creature enters a church, destroys a cross and defiles the image of Christ using a priest under his control as a vassal. This recalls a similar plot device used in Freddie Francis's DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE (1968). The film also aims for some last minute offensiveness when Rawhead "baptizes" the corrupted priest Declan, by pissing all over him. It would seem this is supposed to be edgy much like Linda Blair spewing pea soup on the cast and masturbating with a cross in THE EXORCIST (1973).




Speaking of Declan, once he becomes an apostate of Rawhead (who is also referred to as the devil; I guess this is a spin on how Jesus can be three people at once), he gets free with his language, tossing F-Bombs around with increased frequency as the film draws to its conclusion. And how seriously can you take a man of the cloth (even a possessed one) who says lines like, "Get upstairs, fuck face! I can't keep God waiting!" 

The main character Howard -- while it's not stated -- is apparently an atheist, and has no qualms uttering "Goddamn" a lot; even inside the church. Instead of expanding the themes the film barely teases the viewer with, it opts instead to shock us with cheap religious slurs.

The ending in the church graveyard is a doozy, and the point where the film revels in its badness. After wiping out a cadre of cops carrying high powered weaponry, our main protagonist attempts to send big Rex back to hell with a holy stone carved in the shape of a pregnant woman. But it doesn't work for him. As the beast chases him, his wife (who has shown up out of nowhere) feels the spirit and lifts the rock above her head when flashy optical effects begin zapping out of it. Images of a naked Susan Strasberg (during the dumbfoundingly stupid finale of THE MANITOU [1978]) having a laser light show in outer space with that films demon are resurrected just for this occasion.



This creature (stated to have been on Earth before Christ) represents man in all his dark, primal, savage glory and apparently, the only thing that can keep him in line is the purity of womanhood. This unholy beast fears the female form, although this movie never makes this blatantly known. In fact, outside of one scene where he tosses a woman aside, the beast never kills a single woman, choosing instead to be a literal man-eater. According to the book, the beast fears the blood of a woman, or one that is menstruating. Yet again, another dichotomy is presented -- the death and destruction of man vs. the life born through a woman -- but is cast out in favor of gory mayhem.




There's been talk of a remake, although anything would undoubtedly be an improvement. Even taken as a straight monster movie, RAWHEAD REX is a peculiarly braindead presentation, but entertaining and spiced up with an occasionally striking visual sense and plentiful attack scenes. The tall actor playing the creature is obviously enjoying himself a great deal under the costume.



There's potential here for a particularly nasty Armageddon style horror-monster picture, but the filmmakers squander it for the sake of cheap, bloody thrills. On that alone, RAWHEAD REX excels. But it also excels and surpasses its chances at being taken seriously with a high level of cinematic retardation. This stupidity explodes like the electric bolts shooting forth from the statue that only a woman can use against this musclebound, and quite male monster.

This review is representative of the Quadrifoglio SRL Italian PAL region 0 DVD.

Bigfoot: The Lost Coast Tapes (2012) review

 

BIGFOOT: THE LOST COAST TAPES 2012

Drew Rausch (Sean Reynolds), Rich McDonald (Darryl Coleman), Ashley Wood (Robyn Conway), Noah Weisberg (Kevin Lancaster), Frank Ashmore (Carl Drybeck)

Directed by Corey Grant

"Have you ever asked yourself why the physical evidence of the Sasquatch... its bones, its remains... why nothing conclusive has ever been found?"

The Short Version: Bigfoot is the perfect platform for the Found Footage format, and it finally gets a go at it with the debut feature from Corey Grant. Films like BOGGY CREEK (1972) and Sasquatch documentaries were the prototype for these kinds of movies, so it's high time a bonafide Bigfoot flick gets the FF treatment. Outside of the standard cliches of this genre style, Grant's film introduces some intriguing ideas that are never sufficiently explored, but act as a tease that will hopefully be expanded upon in the proposed sequel. It won't win favor with horror fans expecting wall-to-wall blood and guts, but it offers gorgeous scenery, some interesting characters and unusual ideas that enhance the spookier moments. Recommended viewing for FF aficionados and Bigfoot enthusiasts. 



The crew for the TV program Hoax Busters learn of a man living in the dense forests of California's Lost Coast who claims to possess the dead corpse of a young Sasquatch. Alleging to having had contact with the mysterious creatures, the group of skeptical investigators make the trek into the woods to see if there is in fact a Bigfoot roaming the land. They find much more than they bargained for.



Found Footage movies continue to be a lucrative filmmaking proposition; not only for the big studios, but for the independents where aspiring filmmakers can experiment with the form and hone their craft inexpensively. First time director Corey Grant uses this template to his advantage with varying degrees of success in this colorful, occasionally provocative, and modest spooker.

The characters are the typical sort of most FF films, especially Sean, the leader of the intrepid investigators. By the final act, his crew have had enough, yet he blindingly decides to carry on to get that "last shot" regardless of the serious danger they're in. The acting is good, if heavy handed, and a bit too much for this sort of thing. The performances are never natural to the point where the viewer believes they are watching found tapes that the film crew pays for with their lives. Because of this, you sometimes forget you're watching a Found Footage picture, as opposed to a regular movie.



Even so, the characters are lively and distinguished by some singular feature to their personality. Some of this takes the form of comedy relief, which is provided by the bespectacled sound man, Kevin (Noah Weisberg). The mountain man, Drybeck (Frank Ashmore) comes off both as creepy and sage-like. He has a partner -- a Canadian tracker named Jacque LaRoche -- who isn't seen much, and ultimately becomes a minor red herring when the group begin to think there may not be an actual Bigfoot at all.

"Did you know that the Native Americans believe he's got one foot in the spirit world able to move between our world and the next?" 



Clues are dropped for the audience here and there by Drybeck as to the nature of the creatures, as well as hints that there may be something else out there in the woods other than a Sasquatch. For instance, Drybeck mentions the Sasquatch in relation to Indian folklore and their connection to a spirit world.

It's never made explicit as to what it is, but it's obvious as the film gets closer and closer to the conclusion that there is something else stalking our protagonists. When the New Age psychic member of the group is picked up and carried off by something big, she later states that she felt she was being protected, and not being harmed. At this point in the film, we see a growing presence of danger such as quick glimpses of glowing eyes (see insert) watching in the woods and strange beams of light.



I am speculating that the supernatural beings are the legendary Wendigo -- gigantic, malevolent spirits whose lore varies from one Indian tribe to the next (note the horned head preparing to run past the screen in the pic above). They're described as possessing a rotting odor about them; this is mentioned in the film when the group find what they call a Bigfoot nest. Drybeck also references a spirit world, which accounts for the bizarre beams of light.



At the end, Drybeck fires high up into the air at something; people are literally sucked out of windows and other peculiar moments dictate that there's something else other than a big, hairy monster running around. What we glimpse during the last scene couldn't possibly be a Sasquatch (whatever it is, it seems to have a cloven foot), and one of the actors proclaims, "It's not a Bigfoot".



It's also worth mentioning that the infamous Patterson-Gimlin short film from 1967 is a topic of discussion here. That footage has long been held under great controversy as to whether or not a bonafide Bigfoot was captured on camera. Even after it was seemingly debunked as a hoax nearly 40 years after it was made, it still maintains a hot topic of discussion for various reasons. 



For a low budget production (which opened in limited release the same day as PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4), the film looks polished, benefiting heavily by the encroaching Lost Coast forest and desolate beaches. The brooding, enormous trees and surrounding fauna are a great asset to this movie. The suspense is sporadic and genuine 'boo' moments are minimal, though. However, keep an eye on the background during the spookier bits as you will see things run past the oblivious characters. For a first effort that succeeds in some areas and falters in others, this was a satisfactory, and very well made movie.

This review is representative of the XLrator DVD.