Horror-tober 16: Tusk

Another that has been on my list for awhile but haven't gotten around to it until now. It seemed to do poorly in theaters but I thought it was pretty fun.

Tusk is a story about a podcaster, Wallace (Justin Long), and his search for a good story or really just his search for someone to make fun of on his podcast with his best friend, Teddy (Haley Joel Osment). When he travels to Manitoba to do an interview with a kid that cut his own leg off on video, he finds himself stuck there with no interview because the kid committed suicide before his arrival. Searching for a new story or just a weirdo Canadian he can exploit, he winds up in a bar where he finds an advertisement for a room for rent. The guy, Howard Howe (Michael Parks) as we find out, used to be a seaman and has many stories to tell. Wallace contacts him and arranges to meet him that same night. Howard gives off a strange vibe but regales Wallace with some crazy stories and then drugs him. The next day Wallace wakes up with a missing leg and soon discovers Howard wants more from him than to just share his stories of the sea. He wants a companion to fill the void of a walrus he knew, named Mr. Tusk.

Howard operating on Wallace

Directed by Kevin Smith, Tusk is a humorous and gruesome horror comedy. It is based on a story that Smith with friend Scott Mosier told on his own podcast, SModcast. I know it is not explicitly a creature-feature and sort of fits more into the "body horror" genre. But Wallace (almost sounds like walrus) is turned into and conditioned to behave like a creature, albeit a really messed up one. Johnny Depp also makes an appearance in this one as the detective from Quebec chasing an unknown serial killer that turns out to be our Mr. Howe. I enjoyed it because it was such a weird premise and Long played a great douchey guy that you honestly do not feel sorry for. Depp was also delightfully weird as the French Canadian detective although he seemed to lose his accent here and there. Tusk is the first installment of a triology of horror comedies Smith is making about the True North or Canada. I look forward to seeing what he does with the others since this one was quite entertaining.

Howard lamenting about the world with his new Mr. Tusk

My rating:

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Skyra's rating: