Directed by Russell Mulcahy
In the Australian outback a vicious wild boar kills and causes havoc to a small community.
Razorback - Kampfkoloss der Hölle, Razorback: Destructor, Razorback - As Garras do Terror, Razorback - O Javali Assassino, Harjaniska, Hirmukarju, Razorback - harjaniska, Razorback - en mann søker hevn, Reizābakku, Jabalí, Razorback - farlig eller død, Кабан-секач, Razorback - Dödens käftar, Sjekac, Razorback - Oltre l'urlo del demonio, Razorback - Kampfkoloß der Hölle, Razorback: Los colmillos del infierno, Pokolszülött, Глиганът, 레저백, 猎魔, Los colmillos del infierno, Fiara, O Corte da Navalha, Kanec, 獵魔
USA Austin Fantastic Fest 
AustraliaM 
UK18 USAR 
Sweden15 
France12 
Argentina+16 
Japan 
FinlandK-16 
Norway 
Italy USAR 
Germany16 USAR AustraliaM USAR Argentina Australia Finland France Germany Italy Japan Norway Sweden UK USA 
You’ve heard of “A dingo ate my baby”, now get ready for “A giant homicidal pig ate my baby and used me as a scapegoat”.
Never so rapidly have I waffled between loving a movie and hating a movie from scene to scene. The story is a mess, a protagonist isn't really established until half way through and the worst characters get most of the screen time. The monster is amazing and the cinematography is brilliant. The effects deliver some unexpected jaw dropping moments, the whole end sequence is inspired. Despite feeling ugly or unsatisfied throughout most of the viewing, the good somehow outweighed the bad. I won't soon forget it.
Russell Mulcahy has quite the curious filmography. While he's had movies that I've enjoyed, I can now say unequivocally that his first full-length feature is my favorite of his...as well as being a top-tier example of early 80's Ozploitation.
Charging out of the gate with a kinetic opening sequence, the first thing about "Razorback" that grabs you is its rich color palate and nubilous atmosphere, thanks to Dean Semler's lavish cinematography. It's a modestly budgeted exploitation film about a freakin' giant killer pig, and yet it looks better than most of the Hollywood studio fare released during that period. The initial attack sees the creature burst through a remote home in the Australian outback, and as the sightings continue...so does…
This remains one of the great revolt of nature movies. It is structured like Psycho, and the boar as everyone points out is pretty much out of Jaws and it is really about the Australian outback as this place where civilization collapses. The landscape is overwhelming, the very artificial lightining beautiful, nature is unforgiving and every action is visceral.
A post-Jaws Ozploitation eco-horror/giant man-eating boar creature feature directed by Australian 80s New Wave music video director turned dreamy hyper-stylized genre filmmaker Russel Mulcahy, written by regular Richard Franklin thriller collaborator Everett De Roche, and shot by Road Warrior cinematographer Dean Semler. Who is tasked with making sure these hostile revenge-hunting western-horror setpieces are filled with as much sweaty, dirty Outback-as-netherworld texture as possible (also see: Wake in Fright), with the added bonus of some wildly exaggerated camera movement (all the silhouette vistas and zooms!) and editing, and legitimately drop-dead gorgeous shadows/fog/psychedelically colorful lighting. This is up there with Tobe Hooper's Eaten Alive in terms of expressively heightening the visceral pulp thrills of an ostensibly "natural" environment with artificial tools…
has anyone from australia ever made a normal film
Giant killer boar! Razorback boasts some pretty intense kills, excellent lighting, and great usage of color—particularly the trippy dream sequence!
If you think it's just Australia's wildlife that wants to kill you at every turn, just wait till you visit the outback and meet a couple of r̶e̶d̶n̶e̶c̶k̶s̶ bogans..
It had been far too long since I watched Razorback. I'm glad that I decided to revisit this gritty, Aussie when-nature-attacks flick, because I liked it a whole lot more on today's watch. 💀🐗🇦🇺
Spooktober II: To Hell With the 80s
While it doesn't always work out, those directors who started out making music videos and moved into filmmaking usually bring with them a unique style that, if translated successfully, gives their films an exciting and distinctive look that is immediately distinguishable.
Indeed, not even two seconds go by when the camerawork and incredible cinematography pops up and makes it clear to me that this is perhaps a creature feature film with an acting and narrative tone that is very 50s or "Jaws" era, while technically more like a big budget 80s production. The wide shots give the film such a huge scope, and the editing adds such a great sense of rhythm that…
CW: rape mention, violence/death, animal violence
Every night scene takes place draped in the bright hunting spotlights, giving us silhouettes of violence and the sense that we, too, are like the poor kangaroos, frozen in the face of inevitable agony. The day scenes are given over the the unrelenting sun, the sort of heat associated with hopelessness and weariness. This is a movie that is surprising in its moments of awe amidst its horrors. Similarly, it does not drags itself down some trite path that suggests that "man is the real beast" or some other over-done nonsense. Instead, it acknowledges that a razorback boar large enough to destroy cars and buildings is nothing but vile animal violence that has to be destroyed. This is Ozploitation's Jaws: caked in grime, devoid of fraternal camaraderie, mean as hell, and DIY-industrial as much as wasteland-broken.
October count: 36/31
English Version below🟠🟢🔵
„Razorback“, jüngst auch bekannt unter verpasste Nostalgie des darin behaftenden „durch die Lappen gehen“, durch die Wiederentdeckung dagegen und das Wiederaufrufen des „Kindes in einem“, ein neuer Gefährte unter Filmen wie „Big Trouble in Little China“, „Gunhed“ oder „Xtro“ um hier einige zu nennen. Wiederum geläufiger im Wildgehege unter dem Schweinchen-Ranking mit seinen Geschwistern „Prinzessin Mononoke“, „Ein Schweinchen namens Babe“ oder „Willow“ anzufinden. Neu hinzukommend im Beisteuern des heißgeliebten blauen Blitzes und deren Mehrzahl unter der Blitze-Liste. Nicht zu vergessen wie zu unterschlagen und hier auch nicht machend, ist Schweinchen + wütend + Menschen + zu nahe = Tierangriffe.
Auch beim Rewatch ein richtiger Knaller!
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"Razorback," recently also known for the…
Russell Mulcahy takes us to a circle of hell disguised as an otherworldly dimension of smoke, deep coloured skies, beams of entrancing light and cackling goblin-like workers rejected from the world of Mad Max. Skulking through this wasteland of dusty despair and the parched throat and dry stench of an old man’s vengeance is a true beast too damned even for the Devil.
From the very first scene, Mulcahy does not mess around as we witness (figuratively) the abduction and murder of a baby by a rampaging monster in the night. Its a harsh signifier of the threat haunting these sun-battered plains that look like the skeleton of a world forgotten, now just a dreamlike battlefield for men and women…
