Jaws with tusks!

The giant pig is quite impressive and makes me yearn for the days of practical special effects.

The film can be quite beautiful sometimes. I imagine if Terrence Malick had made a movie about a giant pig in his early days it wouldn't have looked too different from this.

There is a underlying tone of cruelty and nastiness that gives this movie a bitter aftertaste.

Still, there are worse killer animal movies. Worth checking out if you're a genre fan and have patience.

A monster film where the monster almost doesn't matter. The boar frequently takes a backseat to the TERRIBLE human villains, who would easily drag the film down to their level if the rest of the cast wasn't already there with them.

You'd think choosing actors who can scream would be a prerequisite for making a horror film, but this picture has some of the most bizarre death yells I've ever heard. There's everything from weak and unconvincing to hilariously overacted here, and it's all awful.

On the upside, the monster itself looks quite good, even if the real boars that often accompany it are clearly very passive and completely uninterested in the humans they're supposed to be terrorising, and the film is quite visually interesting. I wouldn't go as far as to say it looks GOOD, but there's more to the cinematography than you'd expect given the quality of the rest of the picture.

RAZORBACK is a crazy, nasty, and stylish animal run amok flick. First time viewing it (thanks to Warner Archive Instant), and I absolutely loved it. The opening scene is jaw droppingly insane, and proceeds from there. The cinematography in particular is pretty striking, with the night time scenes lit like a frenzied music video. It's one of the best, post JAWS, animal run amok films, and makes me truly miss early Russell Mulachy.

AWESOME horror, action, art film. Beautifully shot. Some bonkers ideas in it. Brilliant

Jaws with tusks!

The giant pig is quite impressive and makes me yearn for the days of practical special effects.

The film can be quite beautiful sometimes. I imagine if Terrence Malick had made a movie about a giant pig in his early days it wouldn't have looked too different from this.

There is a underlying tone of cruelty and nastiness that gives this movie a bitter aftertaste.

Still, there are worse killer animal movies. Worth checking out if you're a genre fan and have patience.

[C+]

This doesn't work as a thriller, but it has style to burn, with Dean Semler's striking cinematography being the obvious MVP. I also learned from this film to forever refer to sausages as mystery bags, preferably through a thick Aussie accent.

I do love the cheesy, synthesized, over-lit 80's style, but the story made very little sense. And Mulcahy was in need of a good editor.

By all accounts, a film about a man-eating wild boar should have been a home run. Unfortunately, RAZORBACK pretends that its titular wild boar is an enormous threat, when in reality he mostly minds his own business, other than (presumably) eating a baby in the film's prologue. A wimpy male protagonist whines about his missing wife for most of the movie while an Australian babe, living alone in the Outback, pines after him. A major letdown.

Its basically Jaws in the Australian outback, and that has legs. The setting is brilliantly utilized and the pig, although ropey, is used sparingly playing up the Jaws comparison. As an outright man vs. nature film, this would be a great ozploitation film thanks to the threat of the titular razorback. Its Quint, Jake Cullen (Bill Kerr) is the only character who makes an intriguing lead. Its when other characters are introduced that the stars start coming off. Those that aren't forgettable are superbly annoying. Seriously annoying. Sure it has a lot of animal cruelty motifs, but the thing that makes it hardest to watch is its collective of characters. Would've been a better film stripped back to its rawest elements.

A monster film where the monster almost doesn't matter. The boar frequently takes a backseat to the TERRIBLE human villains, who would easily drag the film down to their level if the rest of the cast wasn't already there with them.

You'd think choosing actors who can scream would be a prerequisite for making a horror film, but this picture has some of the most bizarre death yells I've ever heard. There's everything from weak and unconvincing to hilariously overacted here, and it's all awful.

On the upside, the monster itself looks quite good, even if the real boars that often accompany it are clearly very passive and completely uninterested in the humans they're supposed to be terrorising, and the film is quite visually interesting. I wouldn't go as far as to say it looks GOOD, but there's more to the cinematography than you'd expect given the quality of the rest of the picture.

Bless you, Warner Archive. There is some amazing cinematography here...I have no idea how to describe the rest. Has to be seen to be believed. Will delight purveyors of all things cult, bizarre, disgusting, feral.

Russell Mulcahy, the director known as 'The Poor Man's Tony Scott of Australia' and the director of Highlander and Give'em Hell, Malone, first garnered attention with this B movie classic involving a mutant sized Razorback terrorizing the Outback inhabs. Not the most coherent story out there, but damn sure the most visually stylish! Hard to find but worth the effort once you see it!