[Movie] Disturbing 'Tusk'
Whoever put a summary or review that this film that says 'pleasantly charming' or even slipped the word 'funny' anywhere in that, needs to go and watch The Bill Cosby Show rerun. Pronto. Make no mistake, this movie is a horror film. I can't believe I actually watched the entire movie. Its not a movie that you want to watch while on a date, or you'll lose your appetite before dinner.
Written and directed by Kevin Smith, the movie was starred by Justin Long, Michael Parks, Haley Joel Osment, and Genesis Rodriguez. It was based on a story from Kevin Smith SModcast podcast, and the film was released on September 2014. Frankly, I watch the movie because of Justin Long. I had always loved Justin Long's movies. The guy is talented and funny, but got underrated most of the time.
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| Free place to stay AND a great story telling to boot. Not suspicious, at all. |
The plot revolve around a couple of popular podcasters who was looking of fresh content for their show. Wallace Bryton (Justin Long) and Teddy Craft (Haley Joel Osment) host The Not-See Party podcast show, where they find viral videos and commented on those. They got their hand on the one the popular video where someone accidentally severed his leg and become an Internet celebrity.
Wallace decided to fly to Canada to interview this person, dubbed as the Kill Bill Kid, because, why not. He is popular, is he not? But as we all know about being an Internet celebrity, being famous doesn't equivalent to being respected. So when Wallace arrived in Canada, with the intention of grilling this Internet celebrity because that's what his podcast show is all about, it turns out that the Kill Bill Kid had committed suicide.
Upset with the turnout, Wallace saw this fine and yet oddly old styled letter, hanged by a message board just above the urinal in a local bar, where someone is offering a great old story for those who interested. Also, free accommodation provided. Sounds like a bait to me, but Wallace took it anyway.
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| This is usually how date rape begin. A cup of aromatic tea. |
The person that he was going to meet was an old retired sailor that promised to give anyone who visit him the stories of his lifetime voyage. Howard Howe (Michael Parks) is the name, and he welcomed Wallace visit warmly. They both talks over aromatic tea drinking, and indeed Howe had a great story. He told Wallace how he was caught in a shipwreck, and rescued by a walrus. Totally excited, all of the sudden, Wallace blacked out.
He woke up later only to find that his legs got amputated. Howe told him that he black out due to poisonous spider, and the doctor had to cut off one of his leg to save his life. Still under sedation, Wallace still sharp enough to notice that something is off. Because he is still in Howe's mansion. Why is he not in a hospital, if he was truly in a life threatening situation? As the day goes by, Howe continue his story about his voyage, his fascination on walrus, specifically the walrus that saved him from the shipwreck whom he called 'Mr.Tusk'. Oh, Wallace is not going anywhere anytime soon.
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| Yeah, we're.. err.. worried about him. |
Back at home, Teddy and Wallace's girlfriend, Ally Leon (Genesis Rodriguez), were worried sick about Wallace. Which is odd, because Wallace have been trying to reach both of them to no avail ever since the old man won't let him go and started to treat him like a walrus. Wallace is in a real dangerous place, and guess what, these two were actually having an affair behind Wallace. They probably felt that if anything happen to Wallace, well, they would obviously would stand out as the usual suspects.
This reminds me about a friend of mine. Who had a girlfriend whom he was engaged to, but the woman broke up the engagement because she said she wanted to concentrate her career. She gave him false hope that they will be together again, once they got what they were working for. And there no other man in her heart. The guy, understanding and calm, but still naive and gullible, believed every word of that. Everything he done up to now, was all so that they can be together again. Ah, such simple pure love. A year later, the woman got married with another man. HAHAHAHA.. ha..ha, ok, that wasn't funny. I shouldn't have made fun of that heart-wrenching story. And he is a good friend of mine.
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| "Why be a human, when you can be a walrus?" |
Well, back to the movie, Howe turned Wallace into a walrus. Literally. He conditioned Wallace, and physically altered his body into a walrus. While he was 'working' on Wallace, Howe reveal his sick obsession with walrus. Apparently, Howe was abused a little bit too much when he was young and innocent. He lose faith in humanity, and the walrus that he called 'Mr.Tusk' was the only being that ever been good to him. But what broke Howe was that he inadvertently killed Mr.Tusk because, well, the walrus did save him from the cold sea, but he still stranded on an island with no food. So Howe actually ate Mr.Tusk.
Driven by his guilt and insanity, he draw unwary travelers to his mansion and tried to recreate Mr.Tusk again. After being satisfied with Wallace transformation, Howe fought with Wallace to.. urmm.. decide who will survive. In essence, Howe wants another match with Mr.Tusk because he felt bad for murdering his own savior, and wishes for fair fight this time.
By the time Wallace was found, he was Wallace no more and already a walrus. By the way Howe lose in the duel and he's dead, so the walrus get to survive. Teddy and Ally were horrified with Wallace's transformation. Well, at least Wallace/walrus won't say anything about the affair that they were having, even if both of the cheating bastards come clean. Huh, I suppose its happy ending to them then.
Wallace's fate at the end really disturbs me. I don't know if I'll watch this movie again, but then again I do find a perfect place for this movie, right next to Jeepers Creepers. Both have Justin Long in it.
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