Tusk (2014)
A truly transformative tale
Remember that silent guy named Bob? If you do, then you probably already know all about him making movies and being in shows and the likes. This weird little tale comes straight from him - and if you follow his podcast you will most likely get more out of this than those who blindly waddle their way into it, but that's not to say that it's necessarily bad right? Inside jokes are all over movies these days (I'm looking at you, comic movies), so that shouldn't hold anyone back. Will this walrus of a tale get you hooked, or will it be more of a sinker?
This little tale starts by introducing us to our main character - a podcaster who's a bit like that Tosh.O host who comes off as being an annoying jerk and yet somehow has risen to popularity. His current discovery is of a Canadian dubbed "The Kill Bill Kid," who manages to cut off his leg while playing with a sword. Our main decides that it's his duty to fly out to Canada, while his co-host will just wait his return since he 'hates flying', and get a little interview (and probably jerk-ish comments) with the kid. Things don't quite go as he would hope however, and when he arrives he finds a grieving family as the kid has actually died. Annoyed at this, the main finds himself a strange ad in the bar's bathroom about a free room - but that's not what interests him. What get's his attention is the mention of having plenty tales to tell from a long adventurous life - just the kind of thing he needs for his podcast show.
After getting directions at a gas station, he heads into the middle of nowhere Canada to meet this stranger. Indeed, the mansion of a house the man lives in holds many an interesting things strewn about it's walls. He has some tea, and starts getting regaled about tales of the old mans sea-faring career, complete with meeting Hemingway before the beaches of Normandy. As the conversation goes on, our lead starts to get a bit drowsy though, to the point that at one point when he stands up he passes out. As he's unconscious, we get a bit of back story between his girlfriend and him - which doesn't exactly improve the opinion of this character amongst the watcher - that leads into him waking up in a wheelchair. The old man tells him he was bit by a spider, and unfortunately his leg didn't make it.
Things start escalating quickly, and it's not long until it dawns on the lead that this man very well may have some Silence of the Lamb's style intent for him. He ends up getting enough of a hurried call out to his girlfriend and his cohost for help, but it costs him. This is when we get introduced to a bit of a love triangle plot in which we find out that his girlfriend is cheating on him with his cohost, and he himself is prone to cheating on his girlfriend while on the road. The emergency situation that arose has brushed this aside pretty well however, and the two venture to Canada to try and save their friend. Will they make it in time? Will the other characters they meet get any weirder? The answer to the last part is actually yes.
By the end, both of these people will probably frighten you.
So, the thing about this movie is that it's a little hard to care for the characters - something that very well could be intentional. It kind of makes it feel a bit like a comeuppance by the end. Part of this comes off so well due to the writing, but the other part of it is certainly the actors just doing their job rather well. There's moments when the delivery of things seems a bit poor, but for the most part it's a pretty solid performance around the frame - even the intentionally goofy characters like the cop.
The plot is certainly a strange one as it goes on, and yet all the elements contained within it are strangely sound. The "craziness" of the stranger and the reasoning behind his actions, the main becoming a jerk after becoming so popular, even to the eventual manner in which the friends begin to track down their friend all work well. That being said, the whole crappy-relationship thing ends up not adding a whole lot to the overall plot and feels a bit out of place in comparison to the rest of it (outside of making us not like the characters as much).
The comedy is there, and there are certainly moments that can provoke some laugh. As it goes on, the comedy tends to lesson, until eventually the 'quirky cop' character injects himself in as an obvious "I'm kinda funny" sort of character to liven things up. This isn't to say the flow is poor or anything, its just to say that as it goes on the overall genre shifts more towards the horror side of things than the simple spooky comedy. Audio is used quite well at most parts as well - at some points even making on screen events seem quite action packed and exciting when it turns out to simply be a shot of someone walking. Effects work here is a mixed bag - the Frankenstein-ing of the movie is handled quite well, whereas the effects work on the Kill Bill Kid was pretty laughable.
The supporting cast, complete with their own little sub-story.
It's not a movie for everyone. Really though, most movies aren't, and to say I didn't enjoy the movie would be dishonest. That being said, it's a bit of a mediocre experience - it has things it does really well, and things that it doesn't. It's certainly one of the first movies I've seen that's had such a plot emphasis on a walrus though, so it's unique in that sense. For the most part though, I'd say it'd be best to rent it before you buy, just to make sure you actually enjoy it.