Razorback

Colour, 35 mm
Australia, 1984, 107 min
Section: Midnight Screenings: Ozploitation!

Synopsis

An American reporter comes to the Australian outback to shoot a report on the theme of animal protection. She meets with little understanding on the part of local, ill-mannered hicks who would just as soon shoot wild animals as save them. After the woman mysteriously disappears, her husband comes to Australia to find her. For a man dulled by civilization, his search for a giant, bloodthirsty razorback boar becomes an initiatory descent to the very essence of carnality. The confrontation between city dwellers and the outback involves an ordeal to survive in an inhospitable wilderness where both local degenerates and the natural world lie in wait. At its high points, one of the physically most intense movies of genre production breaks up into a psychedelic vision. In scenes when the eponymous monster attacks, fast editing distorts the sense of time and space. All this helps fashion a powerful impression of insanity and bestiality, the overarching principles of the story.

About the director

Russell Mulcahy (b. 1953, Melbourne, Australia) made a name as a director of music videos in the mid 1970s and then moved to England. In the decade that followed, he became one of the most highly sought after video directors, working with groups and singers of the time including AC/DC, Elton John, Duran Duran, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, and Queen. He debuted in features with the audaciously bawdy comedy Derek and Clive Get the Horn (1979). Back in his native Australia he directed the monster film Razorback, and in 1986 he left an indelible mark on the minds of cult fantasy fans with Highlander. After shooting music videos and TV series in the new millennium, he returned to genre movies with Resident Evil: Extinction (2007).