Tusk Review (Observer Archive from September 22, 2014)

Director Kevin Smith has always been known to be three things: a comic book fan, a native of New Jersey, and a filmmaker in the comedy/drama genre. That changed when three years ago he released his first horror film, Red State, devoid of any of the humor he was known for. This year, he’s released his second film to have horror elements, but this time his style of comedy is present, the end product being Tusk.

Tusk stars Justin Long as Wallace Bryton, a podcaster who specializes in finding people he deems bizarre and sharing the experience with his co-host and best friend Teddy, played by Haley Joel Osment. His next project brings him to Canada, where after his original interviewer is unavailable, finds a listing for a room that promises interesting stories to listen to. The lister turns out to be Howard Howe, played by Michael Parks, an old man who shares his tale of a walrus that saved his life to Wallace, but then reveals to him that he plans for Wallace to be his new walrus friend. In the meantime, Teddy and Wallace’s girlfriend Ally, played by Genesis Rodriguez, go to search for him to try and save him from his fate.

Without giving away the rest of the film, it was a mixture of laugh out loud humor and the kind of uncomfortable humor you feel when something is trying to be funny but it isn’t. the horror element is present in how horrified the audience is when they see how Wallace is mutilated by Howard and the reveal when he’s completely turned into a Human Walrus.

The film also surprised me at how sad it could be, since at the beginning , Wallace is portrayed in a negative light as his job means he’s exploiting other people for his own gain, but we sympathize with him regardless of his behavior before because we know he wasn’t always terrible. In the end, the film also brings up the theme of how we lose are humanity and what choices we make that separates us from animals.

My praise goes to both Justin Long and Michael Parks, as they both were committed in their roles as the captive man and captor. Long received more praise for enduring in the make-up and prosthetics used in his transformation. A special mention should also be made to Johnny Depp in his unrecognizable cameo part near the end of the film.

I highly recommend it to Kevin Smith fans and horror comedy fans to check it out. If anything, go to see Justin Long go full walrus.