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Friday, February 14, 2020

Boar (2017)



I had heard about this movie when it was first released, and I remember being interested. A giant killer pig movie set in the outback of Australia is right up my alley. Somehow despite that I forgot about it until it showed up on Shudder. Needless to say, I got to streaming this sucker right away and I wasn’t disappointed.

After a brief opening with a couple getting their car smashed by some unseen creature, we meet what will be our main characters. You have the locals of a small town including a couple old guys, the local barkeep, and a giant-sized farmer/sheepherder named Bernie. That last one is important because Bernie is being visited by his little sister and her family, who also are added to the victims/in danger list. Though the most important character is the giant mutated Boar (aka. wild pig for those not in the know) which rips and tears its way thru the cast until meeting it’s end at the hood of a pickup truck. Good times are had by all.

From the opening scene to the end credits I loved this movie. The story gives us just enough character development to care about them and be sad when they meet their bloody ends. I love it when a creature feature takes the time to do that without bogging down the story with unneeded dialogue. The movie also avoids the annoying characters that the audience wants to see die immediately trap that so many horror movies fall into. While there is at least one asshat even he seems to be a realistic jerk that would still be invited to things. I also expected a bit of stunt casting here with Bill Moseley being cast as the American husband of Bernie’s little sister. While not a huge part it is far from a glorified cameo. Moseley gets some good dialogue and shows again that when given the chance he can get the job done.

Of course, no one watches a movie like Boar for dialogue and acting. The creature here is brought to the screen mostly with practical effects work. We get a large car sized puppet on set for the cast to interact with and that is crazy fun. Sure, it looks like a puppet and at times the restricted movement is obvious, but there is slime dripping off of its teeth and they stick more than one actor in its mechanical mouth for fun. How can you not love that? There are a couple of times where we see it running that is clearly some digital work, but the filmmakers keep that to a minimum.

The creature looks amazing.
The kills are plentiful with eleven and include some real gems. You get a nasty bit with some barbed wire, a tusk thru the face, a head gets lopped off, and someone gets stomped with a hoof. There are also quite a few post kill gags that involved partially eaten bodies and a severed head that look great on screen. Again, there is a bit of CGI, but most of this is honest to God latex. As far as creature features go, I was very happy with what I got with Boar.

Other than a bit of a letdown at the end where I feel like the movie backed away from the brutality and nastiness it had established, I have no complaints. Not able to say more without giving away some spoilers. Even then this isn’t a deal breaker for me. This is a great monster movie that has everything that fans of the genre are looking for. I highly recommend checking it out.


© Copyright 2020 John Shatzer 

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