Boar (2017)

Review

"There's nothing out there except dust and Roos" - Ernie

Out of place Yank Bruce is with his new family heading into the outback to catch up with his new wife Debbie's Relos. Along for the journey are step-daughter Ella and her boyfriend Robert, and the requisite sullen teen. They meet up with Uncle Bernie, probably the biggest bloke Bruce is likely to meet outside a Rugby League match, and are soon picnicking like mad bastards next to a dirty water hole. Seriously they went swimming in that! Also out beyond the black stump are Ken and Blue, who are repairing some fences that have mysteriously been wrecked, I was blaming either Bogans or space Aliens from Uranus but got it wrong.

Seems a few farm animals have gone missing over the last few weeks and quite a few sheep have turned up gored to death, plus you knew fences down due to Bogans or Aliens; okay am holding out here. Seems there is something loose in the scrub, its nasty and has a taste for human flesh. As we like to say around these here horror parts who will survive and what will be left of them. The old bloke in the pub raving about giant pigs is actually right, man versus nature ensues; get ready for Chris Sun's latest foray into the dark genre.

Clearing up a few misconceptions here, the first one being that Boar is a remake of Russell Mulcahy's 1984 classic Razorback. Boar may be a descendant of the former movie but for sure it is not a remake, rethink, re-tread, or whatever you want to call it. The narratives are completely different, with Mulcahy taking a far more serious approach to his subject matter as opposed to Sun's lighter hand. Which gets me to my second misconception that Sun has simply served up a steaming helping of gore, really do people actually watch movies before making comments about them? Sun isn't holding back but isn't simply throwing on a steaming pile of guts, as mention there's a not taking itself serious approach, which given the subject matter is to the good. So let's get down to it and see if Boar nails it or is simply a bore.

Sun appears to have taken a unique approach to horror making Downunder with an eye to the foreign markets. Boar is true blue, the clear definition of Aussie Outback horror content including dust, Akubra hats, and Utes that have been around the block a few times. But he has a habit, which may or may not be Rob Zombie inspired, to drop at least one horror icon into each of his movies. Charlie's Farm (2014) boasted Kane Hodder, Bill Mosely, and uhmm Tara Reid. Okay so that's a bunch of names and Boar only holds up Kane Hodder, but nevertheless horror royalty names are going to sell tickets up North.

Chris Sun is rolling the humour carpet out during Boar, the movie might be based on an almost primordial danger but the Director is delivering a dialogue that doesn't take itself overly serious. Witness Nathan Jones (Bernie) driving a ute while singing along to Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby, and Jones is a freakishly huge dude. The humour rolls almost right from the first scene, was that a nod to the Friday the 13th franchise, through the pub scenes, right to the final scene with Melissa Tkautz (Sasha) dropping F-bombs like a dock worker. Okay the movie isn't dropping sight gags left, right, and centre but equally there's an amused feeling to proceedings. Tongue in cheek comes to mind rather than out and out nastiness.

To Sun's credit the effects are not only of the digital kind but also utilise practical methods, back to the future in terms of creature feature rampage. Unfortunately while characters coming face to face with our freak of nature is more than effective some of the CGI in use is obvious, which is never a good thing, talk about your cartoon effects. Okay hands up anyone who has seen the movie and didn't think some of the pig charging around scenes are more amusing than spine chilling. Still who the hell doesn't want to see Nathan Jones punching the crap out of a giant porker? In the wash up we have a pretty gnarly creature that is definitely one of the defining moments of the movie.

What really works in this movie is Sun's dialling into the Australian gestalt and then throwing a bright light onto the overtly macho system that involves. And if you are wondering if by overly macho I'm just talking the blokes then you haven't seen Boar, which is end of day a cardinal sin. There's so many Ockerisms going down that you could be forgiven for thinking you are watching Friday night Football. Big blokes out in the bush with guns, and yeah I had a grin ear to ear watching John Jarratt going outback with a high powered rifle, a chick running the local pub dropping f-bombs and handling her motley crew of customers like a leading hand down the local shearing shed, and young blokes with pumped up chests who run screaming like little girls at the first sign of trouble. High lighting all this is Bruce, an American step dad surprisingly play by Bill Moseley, who shows true empathy for those around him and an attempt to understand motivations. Naturally Bruce, did Chris Sun have an evil snigger when he came up with the quintessential Ocker name for his U.S character, doesn't last that long as he finds at least one of the locals isn't exactly noble. Sun is prepared to show the darker side of the local character, two thumbs up there, and adds a little bit of spice to the stew in the process.

If that's getting slightly too critical for our normal readers, who are absolutely brilliant at the worst of times, then never mind back to the cold steel. Sun has this movie on a leash and is taking it for a walk. The pacing is exactly right, and I'm talking a brisk walk here, with nothing letting up till the explosive climax that definitely had me high fiving the paranormal activity around our house. I'm not saying director Sun doesn't take time out to introduce his characters and give them motivations, he certainly does, but he knows exactly what creature he has by the horns and isn't letting go. Get ready to rumble kids; Chris Sun throws on a high octane creature feature that will make that rainy Sunday seem like a day in paradise.

And in case you are wondering the locations are matching the subject matter. We're talking a small outback town, isolated farms, and sparsely populated marginal land. So yes a long way from a helping hand, though I guess that should involve dudes with military assault weapons, and who cares if you have mobile coverage when help is a lifetime away. So in an instance Sun removes the usual criticisms of backwoods horror, this is a big country there's no getting out of Dodge to avoid clear and present danger. Hey Chris, haunted house next Bro, and yeah drop that out in the sticks.

Okay mentioned the gore already, Chris Sun keeps the T&A off the screen and in the magazines you have hidden under the bed. So don't go into this one expecting naughty bits, you will be sadly disappointed.

So this is one of those movies we have been following for like ever, Chris Sun sure can string us die hard fans along, and I'm going to say the wait was worth it. Sure the movie ends abruptly and isn't the quintessential Aussie horror flick we may have wanted but by hell it works at a rapid clip and will at no time have you yawning. Plenty of action shots folks, gore for the hounds out there, and a story line that does throw up intriguing angles here and there. Going to give a full recommendation here to the creature feature fans reading and gosh darn it anyone else as well. Going to close off this review with the obvious comment, Chris Sun brings home the bacon, here till Thursday kids.