I grew up watching Clerks, Mall-rats, and Dogma. They are what I consider to be essentially 90's pop culture. So in 2014, when Kevin Smith released this strange film, which had very little marketing except for a hashtag campaign on twitter, I knew I had to see it.
A horror riff based on the Walrus and the Carpenter, Tusk was a box office bomb with a fantastic cast.
Justin Long, Haley Joel Osment, Ashley Greene, Johnny Depp and the icing on this campy cake Michael Parks. (Red State, Planet Terror, Kill Bill Vol I...)
Although it bombed nationwide it actually won the Midnight Madness People's Choice at the Toronto International Film Festival. It also received a LOT of mixed reviews. Some of them include:
"Tusk is pleasantly ridiculous and charmingly self-deprecating, but that isn't enough to compensate for its thin, overstretched story." - Rotten Tomatoes
"Tusk, which is based on one of Smith's own podcasts, is the most disgusting and pointless movie I've seen. Emphasis on pointless. I spent half the movie sick to my stomach." - Erik Lundegaard, Seattle Times
The story itself centers around a blogger(Justin Long) searching for interesting stories. He meets this old sea-dog (Michael Parks) who tells him a story, just not the one that can be deemed interesting. Rather, just creepy. The blogger soon becomes trapped and is at the mercy of Park's delusions and fantasy.
So here's my personal take on it.
Morbid Fascination.
There's no hiding that I adore the cast and that I adore Kevin Smith movies. Usually you get life lessons or something philosophical to chew on. This is straight up, nothing to hide behind horror. Body modifications and experimentation at the cost of your own humanity which you are powerless to stop. Park's character is so developed that it immerses you in his head and you want to understand why he is doing the things that he does. You WANT to talk to him. Find out what makes him tick. I honestly wanted to punch Long's character and at some point I caught myself thinking "karmic justice" but that's just me feeding the dark-side of my brain or as Stephen King says "Feeding the Gators".(https://faculty.uml.edu/bmarshall/Lowell/whywecravehorrormovies.pdf) I enjoyed the story. I would definitely describe this movie as campy horror. The ridiculous concept overall, to me, puts it firmly in the camp category.
I will not lie to you, I did not pay much attention to the soundtrack as I was wrapped inside the story. But if i'm not actively critiquing it, to me, that means it was seamless. I loved this movie. I wouldn't watch it on repeat but I would definitely pull it out every once in awhile.
Kevin Smith had this to say about his little project:
"I wanted to right what I felt was the only wrong of Red State by scripting something with no religious or sexual politics that could grow up to be a weird little movie and not an indie film call-to-arms or a frustrated self-distribution manifesto. I just wanted to showcase Michael Parks in a fucked up story, where he could recite some Lewis Carroll and 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' to some poor motherfucker sewn into a realistic walrus costume."
That quote alone makes me want to watch the whole movie once more! To let you in on a bias here, I was able to catch glimpses during my ushering days at the local theatre. I LOVED IT! But school and work do not allow for a lot of extracurriculars. You can now watch Tusk on HULU with a showtime add-on or you can find at (and bear with me) your local video rental store. Old school, I know. You may get lucky with Amazon Prime.
Rotten Tomatoes: 45%
IMDB:5.3/10
ZB: 4/5
I don't know if I would actively seek out and own this film but I would watch it on a streaming service or buy it from a garage sale.
Let me know what you thought and shoot me some suggestions!
Much love to all,
ZB
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