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Review: ‘Tusk’

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Writer/director Kevin Smith has built his reputation by making offbeat comedies like Clerks and Dogma.  However, with his last film, the religiously charged thriller Red State, he let Hollywood know that all bets are off.  His newest film, Tusk, is his strangest yet.

Tusk tells the story of an internet podcaster named Wallace Bryton (Justin Long from Jeepers Creepers) who travels to Canada for an interview that falls apart as soon as he arrives.  He stumbles across an old man named Howard Howe (Michael Parks, who has found a niche playing Sheriff Earl McGraw in the Tarantino/Rodriguez Universe) who has a ton of cool stories, and decides to interview him instead.  What Wallace doesn’t know is that Howard is a certified lunatic, and the old man drugs Wallace and performs a series of surgeries on him with the ultimate goal being to turn the young man into a walrus.  When Wallace’s girlfriend, Ally (Genesis Rodriguez from Hours), and his podcast partner, Teddy (Haley Joel Osment, the kid from The Sixth Sense), don’t hear from him, the pair comes looking for him.  But what will be left when…or if…they find him?

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The idea for Tusk came from a discussion on Smith’s podcast, SModcast, with his friend and co-podcaster Scott Mosier about an ad placed in an online community offering free room and board to anyone who would dress as a walrus for a couple of hours a day for the duration of their stay.  Smith and Mosier had a great time riffing on the concept and hashing out a story, until finally Smith said “someone’s gonna steal this idea.”  He left it up to the fans to decide on Twitter with two simple hashtags: #WalrusYes or #WalrusNo.  The yeses won, and now we’ve got Tusk.

Tusk is an odd movie.  It starts off like Misery, then morphs into The Human Centipede, keeping the Kevin Smith sense of humor the entire time.  Truth be told, it’s a pretty silly concept, but Smith pulls it off incredibly well thanks to some great acting, particularly by Michael Parks as the maniacal Howard.  Parks embraces every line of his wacky dialogue so hard that the viewer has no choice but to believe in his seriousness.  As is the case with most of Kevin Smith’s movies, the script is pretty wordy, but Parks and Justin Long (who are onscreen for the majority of the film) keep it interesting with their performances.

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Around the halfway point of the film there’s a distinct shift in tone.  This is when Parks and Long surrender some of their screen time to Genesis Rodriguez and Haley Joel Osment.  This is also when the film goes from creepy to campy.  Ally and Teddy are aided in their search by a Canadian Policeman named LaPointe (played by “The” Johnny Depp) who spoon-feeds exposition with an annoying faux-Canadian accent, derailing the momentum of the film.  The search for Wallace is not nearly as effective as what is actually happening to him; the audience just begs for the narrative to get back to the Howard and Wallace storyline.

One thing that can be said for Tusk is that it doesn’t do anything halfway; when it’s dark, it’s really dark, and when it’s corny, it’s really corny.  As a result of this commitment, it comes off as a throwback B-movie with very high production values.  It’s a smart blend of body horror and monster movie that will appeal to horror buffs and comedy fans alike.  At its root, Tusk is a modern creature feature, and one of which Roger Corman would be proud.

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If you haven’t listened to the SModcast episode that inspired Tusk (it’s episode 259), see the movie first.  The podcast is hilarious, but what Smith and Mosier come up during their brainstorming session is pretty close to what ends up onscreen.  Tusk should take the viewer by surprise as much as possible; it’s intended to shock, amuse, and mortify.  One can almost hear the echoes of Kevin Smith howling with laughter as they watch, either because he thinks that Tusk is funny or because he thinks that it will offend people.  Either way, mission accomplished.

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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