Razorback [M]

In the dusty Australian outback, a man’s home is viciously rammed through and his grandson snatched away by a giant, hybrid bush pig: a razorback. After being acquitted of the charge of murdering the child due to lack of evidence, the man embarks upon a vendetta against the pig. 2 years later the pig is still at large and its next victim is an American animal journalist, left for the beast after some locals ram her off the road and attempt to rape her. Now Carl, the journalist’s widower comes to the outback trying to find out what happened. Will the feared beast get him too or will revenge be served? 

Trust the Aussies to come out with a horror movie about a giant mad-as-fuck bush pig. Seriously, this B-grade horror movie; a product of the 80s when the ‘10BA era’ was running strong and we were making more movies than we could poke a stick at, is pretty much Cujo with a pig rather than a dog. 

In the dusty Australian outback, a man’s home is viciously rammed through and his grandson snatched away by a giant, hybrid bush pig: a razorback. After being acquitted of the charge of murdering of the child due to lack of evidence, the man embarks upon a vendetta against the pig. 2 years later the pig is still at large and its next victim is an American animal journalist, left for the beast after some locals ram her off the road and attempt to rape her. Now Carl, the journalist’s widower comes to the outback trying to find out what happened. Will the feared beast get him too or will revenge be served?

As I said this was made during a time in which moviemaking in Australia was at its zenith. The ‘10BA era’ (for those who don’t know) was a tax policy in which private funders of movies could claim the money back as tax (or something like that, sorry my history is pretty sketchy). Anyway, as a result the Aussies were coming out with a lot of movies, quite a few of which were B horror films like this one, namely for the fact that we could. Globally, this era was known as ‘Ozploitation’. It’s handy to know this because it really puts Razorback in a specific place in history and answers many questions that people may have when they watch it. 

This movie is not supposed to be taken seriously! It follows the conventions of a generic horror movie, but then with its central horror-hero being a fucking pig, the sincerity with which the film is made (e.g. the quick cuts between the interior of the house and the desolate, red landscape) becomes laughable and that’s what this movie is about. It’s taking the piss! The entire thing is overloaded with overdone sound effects, particularly during the scenes with the pig, quick cuts and generic horror movies scenes such as a rocking rocking-horse and empty swings swinging, heaps of screaming in fear and anguish, and plenty of 80s gore. The only ‘scary’ thing that is in this film is the two characters who work for Petpak: a pair of real outback fucked-up rednecks (we’re talking “squeal like a pig” from Deliverance type dudes), not a nice depiction of Australia really. 

Starring Gregory Harrison, Arkie Whiteley, Bill Kerr, Chris Haywood, David Argue, Judy Morris, John Ewart, and John Howard, Razorback is a pretty stupid film, which is what makes it so funny. Filled with violence, gore, suspense, romance, and plenty of death, it’s a movie that’s targeted at a niche audience, it’s not for everyone. As far as the craft goes, this is pretty stock standard: it’s a typical generic horror movie and it adheres to the norms and constructs of the genre so it’s made well enough, but there’s nothing special about it to report other than its stupidness.