Tusk (2014)

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Movie
Original title Tusk
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2014
length 102 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Kevin Smith
script Kevin Smith
production Sam Englebardt ,
David S. Greathouse ,
William D. Johnson ,
Shannon McIntosh
music Christopher Drake
camera James Laxton
cut Kevin Smith
occupation

Tusk is an American horror film released in 2014 . The script was written by Kevin Smith , who also directed the film. The cast includes Michael Parks , Justin Long , Haley Joel Osment , Génesis Rodríguez and Johnny Depp . The film also marks the start of Smith's planned True North Trilogy. Tusk had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival before being released on September 19, 2014 by A24 Films . The film was Smith's first major-wide release since the commissioned film Cop Out .

action

The two friends Wallace Bryton and Teddy Craft host a popular podcast called The Not-See Party , in which they mainly talk about viral internet clips. Wallace plans to fly to Canada to interview a hyped Internet celebrity named "Kill Bill Kid" who cut her leg while playing around with a katana sword in one of her clips . In flashbacks it is explained that Wallace was originally a failed stand-up comedian, who came to (less) notoriety through his malicious and inhuman sarcasm, developed from the experience of failure. It is also mentioned that he cheats on his girlfriend Ally on a regular basis.

After landing in Manitoba , Canada , Wallace is surprised to find that “Kill Bill Kid” committed suicide because of the hurtful reports on his podcast. In order not to have flown for nothing, he decides to stay an extra day in Canada to find someone else for an interview. Following an advertisement, he finds a room with an elderly man named Howard Howe, who asks for simple household chores and promises interesting stories from his exciting life as a seaman. Howe, who sits in a wheelchair, tells him the story of a shipwreck in which he was rescued by a walrus when he was castaway and spent the following months with the animal on an island. He named the animal "Mr. Tusk ".

While Wallace listens to the stories excitedly, he gets more and more tired until he finally notices that Howard had put the tea with a narcotic and suddenly collapses. When he comes to, Wallace finds himself strapped into a wheelchair. He also finds out that his left leg has been amputated. Howard claims that a spider bite made him faint, whereupon Howard called a doctor who had his leg removed to save Wallace's life. But when Wallace asked where the doctor was now, the landlord simply kept repeating that he was "back in the hospital on rounds". During the following dinner, Howard finally revealed his real intentions: He had drugged Wallace and had his leg removed. But that's not all. Howard wants to give Wallace a gift and that is the liberation of his humanity (according to Howard, humans are the most dangerous and ruthless predators in the world). To do this, he plans to perform a series of operations to make Wallace the most innocent and friendliest animal Howard has ever seen: a walrus!

During the night Wallace manages to get his cell phone. He calls his girlfriend Alley first and then his friend and podcast colleague Teddy. Since neither of them answers, Wallace leaves a message on their voicemail box. But in the meantime, Howard appears behind him and knocks Wallace out. Howard then begins the operation on his prisoner. In a kind of self-talk, he reveals more about his past, mainly why he joined the Navy when he was sixteen. Before that, he was locked up in an orphanage after the death of his parents, where he was subjected to torture and rape.

In the meantime, Ally and Teddy have checked their voicemail boxes and made their way to Canada. They are desperately trying to work with all kinds of authorities to get a lead on Wallace. In the meantime, Howard has already completed the operation. His legs were removed from his knees, his upper arms were sewn to his body and his shin bones were made into tusks which were implanted in his mouth. To make the appearance of a walrus as authentic as possible, Howard Wallace sewn into a walrus suit made from human skin. In addition, his tongue has been removed so that - just like a real walrus - he can only communicate by roaring. In a basement dungeon, Howard built a pool including an island, which is reminiscent of the island where he met his real Mr. Tusk. Howard begins to deprive Wallace of his human nature with torture and psychological tricks. So he forces him to eat raw fish or to swim, with Wallace being pulled underwater once. Underwater, Wallace discovers the body of a man who has also been operated on to become a walrus, which makes it clear that Howard was not the first to commit this atrocity.

Once in Canada, Ally and Teddy go to the local police immediately. There they are told that for the time being there is nothing else you can do but post a missing person report. It seems strange to a cop, however, especially the part of the voice message in which Wallace said his leg had been removed. He remembers that a few months ago a policeman named Guy Lapointe was on the station, listening to strangely mutilated corpses - especially those whose legs had been amputated. Then Ally and Teddy contact Lapointe. Lapointe tells the two that there are already twenty-three corpses that have been mutilated and found in a strange, morbid way. In a flashback you can see that Lapointe even spoke directly to Howard Howe once. Lapointe investigated the disappearance of a hockey player named Gregory Gumtree and came thereby to the then house of Howard, where he wanted to question him about the disappearance. But since this made a very mentally confused impression (whether this was only a pretense or was the truth remains open to the viewer), Lapointe did not investigate any further. With Lapointes help, Ally and Teddy finally manage to get on Wallace's trail. They arm themselves and break into Howard Howe's house. There, in the meantime, the landlord has put himself in his own walrus costume made of human skin to fight Wallace - in order to turn him into a real walrus, Wallace first has to fight another walrus. Howard also wants to repent in this way, to give his new Mr. Tusk the chance to survive. Because, as you then learn in a flashback, Howard killed his rescuer after six months on the island in order not to starve to death. But less than an hour after he killed the walrus and he was feeding on his meat, a ship came and picked up Howard. Since that time Howard wants to give Mr. Tusk the chance to get revenge for it. In the fight, Wallace finally manages to take Howard off guard and stab him to death with his tusks. At this moment Ally, Teddy and Lapointe storm into the cellar dungeon. They look at Wallace, startled. In the meantime, Wallace has now developed almost mentally into a walrus and only yells at his rescuers in an animalistic and aggressive manner.

The last shot shows that Teddy and Alley have set up an enclosure for him in the garden of Wallace's house. When Ally says goodbye to him in tears and leaves, you can see that Wallace sheds a tear too - proof that there is still something human in him.

criticism

The Seattle Times critic Erik Lundegaard gave the film zero out of four stars, writing, “ Tusk , based on one of Smith's podcasts, is the most disgusting and pointless movie I've ever seen. Emphasis on pointless. I felt sick for half of the film. " William Bibbiani wrote on CraveOnline that the film had no humor and killed irony. Junkee.com's Glenn Dunks named it the worst movie of 2014.

History of origin

The song at the end credits is "Oh Waly Waly" by singer Gerard Way . The two young cashiers at the Canadian rest stop are Harley-Quinn Smith (Kevin Smith's daughter) and Lily-Rose Depp (Johnny Depp's daughter). Both play those roles (this time the lead roles) in Yoga Hosers, the second part of the True North Trilogy. The Kill Bill Kid is a nod to the Star Wars Kid .

Kevin Smith planned to bring three of his podcast stories to the big screen. Everyone should play in Canada and thus form the "True North Trilogy" (True North Trilogy). As in Kevin Smith's previous New Jersey saga, actors in their previous film roles will also appear in the films that follow Tusk . The second film of the planned trilogy, Yoga Hosers , appeared in 2016. The second and final sequel called Smith a movie called Moose Jaws , whose genre he with "Jaws with Moose" ( Jaws described with moose).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Tusk . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , January 2015 (PDF; test number: 149 261 V).
  2. ↑ LATimes.com: Toronto Film Festival: Kevin Smith returns with 'Tusk': 'I was done and out'. Retrieved November 6, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Erik Lundegaard: 'Tusk': Kevin Smith's pointless house of walrus horrors . In: The Seattle Times , September 18, 2014. Retrieved November 6, 2016. 
  4. ↑ William Bibbiani: 'Tusk' Review: Tsk-Tsk . September 19, 2014. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  5. ↑ Glenn Dunks: Kevin Smith's 'Tusk' Just Might Be The Worst Movie Of The Year . October 13, 2014. Retrieved October 14, 2014.