What Keith's Watching: Tusk (2014)

Tusk is a movie most people will not like. In fact, most people will not see it because the description of the film includes the idea of one man turning another man into a walrus. "Walrus" is perhaps the hardest part to get over in this sentence. Perhaps if the final animal had been a giraffe, people would be more accepting of it, but probably not.

Tusk is hard to pitch to people for another, more important reason. It is uncomparable to other movies. You can't call it X meets Y with a hint of Z. It's not like Human Centipede even though many people will say that. Because it's not just something done for shock value and it's made with great skill.

My confession now is that I don't regularly watch Horror movies, so maybe there is a viable comparison out there that I haven't seen. Tusk stands on it's own. To me it's a mix of Horror, Comedy, Mystery and a touch of Drama. Maybe that sounds like too much, but it's not. It's like the first time you see Pulp Fiction and you think that your best friend has has to see this, but you have no way to specifically tell him what it's like without giving away the plot. It works. That's the most important part of a movie though, isn't it.

Many will say, and have been saying, that weed has finally baked Kevin Smith's brain and the result that comes smoking in a casserole dish out of the oven is Tusk. I couldn't disagree more. The weed's affect has merely taken Smith back to a place where he is making movies for the purest reason of them all: for himself.

Isn't that why people started making films in the first place? To tell the stories they wanted. To express on screen a world, a character, a point they wanted to share with the world?

For the more adventurous moviegoer, Tusk is a must see. You may hate it, you may love it, but you should see it, if only to support your hatred. Support the idea of making the kind of movies you want to see to the up and coming filmmakers. It's also worth watching the amazing acting talents of Mr. Michael Parks. Why this gentleman doesn't have more mainstream roles and an Oscar nomination is beyond me. He makes the villain of the film one of the creepies I've ever seen. I would put him in that underground cell block with Hannibal Lector and Multiple Miggs.

I can tell you that Tusk is a weird movie. I can tell you over and over again that it'll be weird. But you'll still get to the end and say: "Fuck. That was weird movie." Hopefully, you'll be glad you watched it. Because you should be.

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Check out more movie talk on the latest episode of my podcast, Living Room Theatre, featuring permanent guest host, my wife!