Boar, AKA giant CGI pig vs. giant (non-digital) Nathan Jones, is a creature feature from down under which pitches the residents of a small town against the titular Boar.
Far from Boar-ing (last time I promise), this film manages to cram likable characters, awesome natural backdrops and some brutal kill scenes into a somewhat surprising success of a movie.
To delve a little deeper into the plot… well you can’t actually, Chris Sun’s latest output is simply about a giant killer boar who violently gores and tramples anyone unlucky to stray across its path, day or night, woman or child. This is one seriously pissed off piece of Bacon.
You may question, how many people could possibly run into a creature like this and the answer would be, a good few. A couple of old-timers, an entire family fathered by genre favourite Bill Mosely and one of Australia’s ‘largest’ acting exports wrestler/actor Nathan Jones as well as some other random campers.
Whilst I may jest about the plot, where this, and indeed what I liked about Sun’s earlier genre offering ‘Charlie’s Farm’, excels is in its writing and its characters. Any screen time occupied by any of the films varied and colourful characters delivers scenes which are vibrant, upbeat and witty, as well as writing in ‘normal’, relatable characters which ooze charisma and onscreen chemistry. As most fans of creature features are likely to be, I am often left dozing between kill scenes in such movies, but in ‘Boar’ its all about having fun. I’ve no idea if real Aussies are enjoying lifestyles and socials lives as laid back and opportunistic as those depicted here, but, killer wildlife aside, it seems like a fun place to be.
Its perhaps impossible to discuss ‘Boar’ without mentioning the similar killer pig film ‘Razorback’, which also originates from Australia. Now, for a mid-eighty’s movie, this title certainly stood out a little bit from the herd in terms of its slasher antagonist, and there’s no doubt it is still a cool film, but ultimately Boar takes that concept, and just adds more. Indeed, if the other remained somewhat dark, creepy and sinister, ‘Boar’ goes all out – full Boar if you will, building in a similar vein in its first act, but adding a lot more violence and great gore effects as the film progresses.
The film mixes some halfway decent CGI with bucket loads of blood. Its not particularly gory, but it is a delightfully brutal movie. Considering the limited ‘tools’ at the disposal of a giant killer pig, the deaths in this film are varied enough that watching them escalate throughout the course of the films runtime makes this an easy flick to recommend.
Overall, Chris Sun’s ‘Boar’ should be on your watch list this February. Its funny, got a great cast, killer violence, and a killer pig. Sure, underneath all of the witty banter and raw animalistic violence this is simply film about a giant porcine delivering its own form of justice, so its probably for genre fans only, bit it struck a chord with me.
‘Boar’ is released on Frightfest’s label on February 25th.