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(More customer reviews)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
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