Boar

Boar (2017)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: Chris Sun

Starring: John Jarratt, Simone Buchanan, Bill Moseley, Nathan Jones, Roger Ward

From: A few Australian companies... and Universal?!

Featuring Australian Jennifer Love Hewitt.

This is the second of two movies that I saw last night in a natural double bill of “killer boar pictures which are not Razorback.” Comparisons with that Russell Mulcahy picture which concerns the title creature killing people out in the Outback is especially apt here as it is also from The Land Down Under. 1984's Razorback was a surprisingly arty take on what was a blatant Jaws riff, filled with the sort of curious characters I'd expect in an Ozploitation picture. In fact, posting this second was for any Aussie readers to see the review while they are awake.

This was quite a bit different from that Ozploitation classic, which is fine as I'd prefer it do its own thing. In this case, a giant killer boar that for unexplained reasons is bigger than a Mini Cooper starts raising hell in a rural area, which includes the woods. Then, the creature from hell makes its way to the ranch owned by Nathan Jones (the enormous human being who was a poor pro wrestler than became an actor who was a character I don't even remember from Fury Road... rather, I remember him from the Tony Jaa The Protector) and his family just happens to be visiting at the time.

For me it was a gas seeing Jones as a family man rather than a bodyguard or another sort of hulking brute. Some other familiar faces show up: Bill Moseley as an American who married into the family, an Australian actress who is best described as Australian Jennifer Love Hewitt, and as old buddies who love consuming XXXX beer, John Jarratt and Roger Ward... best known to me as Fifi from Mad Max. Unfortunately, he does not appear wearing only leather pants and a black ascot as he waters plants! Steve Bisley (Jim Goose from Max Max) is also in this... for like 15 seconds.

It was a mystery to me how I would feel about Boar just based on the description. Thankfully, for my tastes it was fine. The setting did amuse me; indeed there were colorful Australians present. Plenty of “mate” and “bloody” and one “Sheila” was uttered. Many of the horror scenes were set at night out in the woods or on the grassy hills by the woods; between that and sound being used instead of image to express horrifying moments... those are ideas I generally approve of and that was presented decently-enough in the film. It was gorier than I expected, so that has to be noted for the gorehounds out there. And I was greatly amused by the pairing of Jarratt & Ward as friends who constantly bickered w/ each other.

My personal tastes and my amusement at Australian life in general does have an impact on how I rate this; many being “meh” is understandable... me, the amount of entertainment I garnered from the movie and it not being a pile of pig crap means I thought this was fine. A bore this was not. Plus, via an anecdote from a minor character, I learned of the old Aborigine legend of Yara-ma-yha-who. Perhaps it hasn't been made into a creature feature in deference to the Aborigine people, but wait until you hear about this creature: a reddish frog-like creature that lives in trees and not only attacks humans and sucks their blood, but swallows them... for the purpose of regurgitating them for later meals! Talk about wild.