RazorbackPAL/Region 0. 2 DVD set. Special edition of the cult Australian horror film directed by Russell Mulchany (Highlander). A wild, vicious pig terrorizes the Australian outback. The first victim is a small child who is killed. The child’s granddad is brought to trial for killing the child but aquitted. The next victim is an American TV journalist. Her husband Carl get there and starts to search for the truth. The local inhabitants won’t really help him, but he is joined by a hunter and a female farmer to find the beast. Special features include remastered 5.1 soundtrack, 70 minute documentary featuring interviews with director, cast & crew plus composer Iva Davies, audio interview with actor George Harrison, deleted scenes, stills and poster gallery, original trailer, Aussie trailers and more. David. 2005.
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(out of 24 reviews)
Review by Robert P. Beveridge for Razorback
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Razorback (Russell Mulcahy, 1984)I actually rented this looking to see if it contained a long sample from a song of the same name by the band Terror Organ. (It does.) I was expecting it to be another godawful piece of made-for-TV Aussie cinema that ignores Australian film history since, and perhaps before, On the Beach; what I got was a pleasant surprise, to say the least. This was Mulcahy’s first big-screen feature, but film fans will recognize the name as the guy who directed Highlander, Ricochet, and (ironically) the recent TV adaptation of On the Beach; Razorback contains a number of the elements that have made his films above average ever since.As it is with, seemingly, all Australian films of the past forty years, the first thing most people are going to notice about Razorback is the stunning cinematography, which was obvious even on a well-used videocassette. Whatever they’re doing down under in the growing of their cinematographers, they’re doing it right. The second thing is Mulcahy’s use of light and darkness, comparable to that of David Lynch or David Fincher; the man knows what he’s doing when his characters are holding flashlights.The story itself is somewhat amusing; an old, isolationist farmer, Jake Cullen (Bill Kerr of “Garry Halliday” fame), has his house attacked and his grandson carried off by a giant, insane razorback hog. He attempts to convince the people who live in his small outback town of the danger they’re in, but no one believes him, including an animal activist from America, Beth Winters (Judy Morris). When Winters goes missing, her husband Carl (the ubiquitous Gregory Harrison, who has been in every TV miniseries made in the past ten years) heads to Australia to look for her.It’s a simple little film that rises above obscurity thanks to its blistering pace, great camera work, and a solid cast. It’s not going to make you think all that much, but it never wants to; it just wants to entertain. ** ½
Review by keith hayes for Razorback
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FROM THE OPENING SCENE WHERE A WIND PUMP IS BLOWING INFRONT OF A BEAUTIFUL AUSTRALIAN SUNSET TO THE COLD DARK FINALE, THIS FILM IS A LOT MORE INTELLIGENT THAN I FEEL IT HAS BEEN GIVEN CREDIT FOR! YES A WILD PIG IS TO THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK, WHAT JAWS WAS TO THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, BUT IN MY EYES IT IS EQUAL IN EVERY WAY TO THE LATTER. THE ACTING IS NOT OVERDONE WHICH ADDS REALISM, AND THE ATMOSPHERE CREATED BY THE CAMERA, SOUND EFFECTS AND ICEHOUSES’ IVA DAVIES’ EERIE MUSIC MAKES THIS FILM TOTALLY GRIPPING. AUSTRALIANS REALLY ARE GROSSLY UNDERATED AS FILM MAKERS.
Review by Chris J. Visconti for Razorback
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I first saw this when I was a kid and it blew my minde. I loved it then and still do. Good movie.
Review by James N Simpson for Razorback
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This is a classic Australian film and a great value DVD package as its full of extras including a 70 minute 2005 filmed documentary called Jaws on Trotters about the making of the film. It contains interviews with the producer, director, special effects guy (who made the pig), various actors and information on the few who aren’t interviewed (unfortunately Arkie Whitely who played the hot research scientist passed away from cancer a few years earlier). What I liked about this documentary was that they were prepared to criticise their own movie and its bellow anticipated success in the marketplace.
There’s also the deleted grisly expanded killing scenes which were left out of the film when it first screened back in the 80′s. They are sensational. As well, the original trailer is here along with quite a few other trailers of Australian movies of the same era which may be of huge benefit to those not in Australia who may not have otherwise heard of them.
The basic plot of this movie is a giant razorback destroys a farmhouse taking a small boy away in its jaws. His grandfather is charged with his murder but let off due to lack of evidence. No one in the small rural outback town believes the pig exists except a beautiful research scientist who is studying the boars so both of these individuals pretty much live lives of isolation while trying to track down the beast. When an unpopular American journalist goes missing after her rape by Petfood factory workers that she is investigating is interrupted by a large beast her husband arrives from the US to find out what happened to her. He must survive the terror of the rapist brothers who don’t want the truth of what they did to come out as well as the hairy bacon one in order to find out what did happen and avenge his wife.
Review by F. J. Harvey for Razorback
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A razorback is an especially nasty species of wild pig and this movie is about an unusually large (rhino size ) example of the bred which is running rampant in the Australian outback with predictably bloody results .
It opens with a scene of grizzled outback veteran Jake Cullen -well palyed by Bill Kerr–minding his infant grandchild on his remote homestead when the unseen beast attacks and wounds him ,carrying the child away .He is arrested and put on trial for murder but exonerated and set free.From then on he devotes himself to tracking down the murderous beast .
Then an American journalist (Judy Morris) is despatched to the outback to do a story on the wholesale slaughter of kangaroos in the region ;she falls victim to the razorback .Her husband (Gregory Harrison) rejects the officoial version of her death -namely that she fell down a mine shaft .He joins forces with Cullen and together thay set out to track down the beast
The creature is seen only fleetingly but is quite impressive in the glimpses we do get .The script is pretty routine and the plot a tad over-familiar .It is however well photographed (by Dean Semler)wand makes good use of the outback location especially in a series of striking haze filtered back lit shots .It has style and atmosphere galore and looks good -but like director Russell Mulcahy’s better known Highlander – its parts are better than the whole .Individually some scenes are striking but there is no real sense of a developed coherent forward moving narrative
By no means a bad movie it would have benefitted from a tighter script and a more foreceful lead actor than Harrison who is a bit bland .One for the creature feature devotees on the board