| Tusk | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Kevin Smith |
| Written by | Kevin Smith |
| Based on | "SModcast #259: The Walrus and The Carpenter" starring Kevin Smith Scott Mosier |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | James Laxton |
| Edited by | Kevin Smith |
| Music by | Christopher Drake |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | A24 |
Release dates |
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Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million |
| Box office | $1.9 million[1] |
Tusk is a 2014 Americanindependentblack comedybody horror film written and directed byKevin Smith, based on a story from hisSModcast podcast. The film starsMichael Parks,Justin Long,Haley Joel Osment andGenesis Rodriguez. The film is the first in Smith's plannedTrue North trilogy, followed byYoga Hosers (2016).[2][3]
The film deals with an arrogant podcaster (Long) who travels toCanada for an interview, and in the process meets an eccentric retired sailor (Parks) with dark plans related to his obsession with awalrus named Mr. Tusk.
Tusk had its world premiere at the2014 Toronto International Film Festival, before it was released byA24 on September 19, 2014, and it received mixed reviews, with praise given to its atmosphere and production values but criticism for its inconsistent tone. The film was Smith's first major wide release sinceCop Out (2010). However, some sources note that the divide amongst viewers and critics lends to a sort ofcult status among some circles online.[4][5]
Arrogant best friends Wallace Bryton and Teddy Craft host apodcast calledThe Not-See Party where they interview eccentric people. Wallace flies toCanada to interview theKill Bill Kid, who has become an internet sensation due to aviral video of him accidentally severing his leg with akatana. The video's popularity was thanks to Wallace's and Teddy's coverage. Wallace's girlfriend Ally stays behind.
Upon arriving inManitoba, Wallace learns that the interviewee has died by suicide. Determined not to waste his trip, he tries to find another person to interview. He finds a flyer offering a free room and the guarantee of interesting stories. Intrigued, he arrives at the mansion of Howard Howe, a retired seaman in a wheelchair.
Howard tells the story of how awalrus, whom he named "Mr. Tusk," rescued him after a shipwreck. Wallace passes out from thesecobarbital-laced tea Howard made for him. The next morning, Wallace wakes up to find himself strapped into a wheelchair and his left leg amputated. Howard tells Wallace that abrown recluse spider bit his leg, and the amputation was necessary to save his life. Howard then reveals that he can still walk and lays out his plans to fit Wallace into a perfectly constructed walrus costume in an attempt to re-create Mr. Tusk while carving Wallace'stibia bones into tusk-like shapes. Ally and Teddy, who are having an affair, ignore their phones when Wallace calls for help. After leaving voicemails, Wallace is knocked unconscious by Howard, advising him to stick to "becoming a walrus."
Having read the voicemails and become aware that Wallace is in danger, Ally and Teddy fly to Canada. Back at the mansion, Howard continues to mutilate and alter Wallace while relaying his backstory. He amputates Wallace's right leg, cuts out his tongue, and stitches the skin of his upper arms to his torso, leaving only his forearms able to move. Howard explains that he was aDuplessis orphan following his parents' murder; he was physically and sexually abused for five years by the clergy who fostered him, leaving him with severemisanthropy.
A local detective puts Ally and Teddy in touch with Guy LaPointe, who has been hunting Howard for years. LaPointe explains that Howard, nicknamed "the First Wife," has been kidnapping and murdering people for years. His victims' bodies were found with no legs, stitched arms, no tongue, and fragments of tibia bones in their jaws. He warns them that Wallace may still be alive, but not as they remember him.
Eventually, Howard finishes sewing Wallace into a walrus costume made ofhuman skin with the tusks attached. Howard proceeds tocondition Wallace to think and behave like a walrus. Howard reveals that shortly before being rescued, he had killed and eaten Mr. Tusk to survive. Overcome with guilt, he has spent the last 15 years turning his victims into his beloved savior in an attempt to relive their last day and give Mr. Tusk another chance at survival.
With Howard later dressed in his homemade walrus pelt, the two engage in a fight that ends when Wallace impales Howard on his tusks. Howard dies satisfied. LaPointe, Ally, and Teddy enter the enclave as Wallace bellows victoriously. LaPointe aims a gun at him to put Wallace out of his misery, much to Ally’s horror.
One year later, Wallace, still living as a walrus, lives in a wildlife sanctuary. Ally and Teddy visit him and feed him a fish. In a flashback, Ally tells Wallace that her grandfather once told her that crying is what separates humans from animals. Ally tearfully tells Wallace she still loves him before leaving. Wallace cries as he bellows, implying he has retained some of his humanity.
Additional cast members includeHarley Morenstein as a border agent andRalph Garman as a detective. Smith and Depp's daughtersHarley Quinn Smith andLily-Rose Depp portray teenage convenience store clerks who would later be featured as the leads ofYoga Hosers.Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Smith's wife, also makes an appearance as a waitress at Gimli Slider. Doug Banks plays theKill Bill Kid, a parody of theStar Wars Kid viral video.Zak Knutson has an uncredited appearance asErnest Hemingway.
The idea for the film came during the recording of "SModcast 259: The Walrus and The Carpenter".[6] In the episode, Smith with his longtime friend and producerScott Mosier discussed an article featuring aGumtree ad, where a homeowner was offering a living situation free of charge, if the lodger agreed to dress as a walrus. The discussion went on from there, resulting in almost an hour of the episode being spent on reconstructing and telling a hypothetical story based on the ad. Smith then told his Twitter followers to tweet "#WalrusYes" if they wanted to see their hypothetical turned into a film, or "#WalrusNo" if they did not. A vast majority of Smith's following agreed that the film should be made.[7] The post on Gumtree was in fact a prank post byBrighton poet and pranksterChris Parkinson, who upon hearing of the planned film, said he was a big fan of Smith and that he would love to be involved.[8] Smith eventually hired Parkinson as an associate producer in November.[9] During the final fight between Wallace and Howard, theFleetwood Macsong that shares its name with the title is played.
Smith wrote the 80-page screenplay while waiting forBob Weinstein's approval of hisClerks III (2022) submission package. It was originally titledThe Walrus & the Carpenter, but he changed it into a single-word title, saying he "knew what a movie about a walrus had to be called." The film is set inBifrost,Manitoba.[10] The movie was originally going to be produced byBlumhouse Productions, but due to Smith's expedited timeline for filming, the two amicably parted ways.[11]Tusk was eventually financed by Demarest Films.[12] Smith had planned on premiering the film at the 2014Sundance Film Festival, but this was later changed to allow more time for the score to be completed.[10]
Smith was excited about makingTusk, saying, "I wanted to right what I felt was the only wrong ofRed State (2011) by scripting something with no religious or sexual politics that could grow up to be a weird little movie and not an indie film call-to-arms or a frustrated self-distribution manifesto. I just wanted to showcaseMichael Parks in a fucked up story, where he could recite someLewis Carroll and 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' to some poor motherfucker sewn into a realistic walrus costume."[13] Unlike Smith's previous filmRed State,Tusk had a conventional theater release, with distribution handled byA24.[14]
The project began pre-production in September 2013.[15]Principal photography began on November 4, 2013,[7] and wrapped on November 22, 2013.[16] The starting date was delayed from September to October then to November due to the filming location moving from Canada to North Carolina.[17] An additional two days of filming occurred in Los Angeles for scenes involving Depp's character Guy LaPointe.[10] Smith originally consideredQuentin Tarantino to play LaPointe after seeing his appearance inDjango Unchained (2012), but Tarantino said that he had no interest in acting at the moment.[18]
Tusk had itsworld premiere on September 6, 2014, at the2014 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was screened as part of Midnight Madness.[19] It was named the first runner-up to the Midnight Madness People's Choice Award.[20] It was screened in Los Angeles at theVista Theatre on September 16, 2014,[21] before its wide theatrical release on September 19.[22]
Tusk was released viaDVD andBlu-ray on December 30, 2014.[23] Special features on both formats include anaudio commentary by Smith,deleted scenes, the original podcast, and two featurettes.
The film was released on September 19, 2014, and was declared abox-office bomb,[24][25][26] earning only $846,831 from over 602 screens during its opening weekend, debuting in fourteenth place at the box office.[27] At the end of its run, on November 13, the film had grossed $1,826,705 in the domestic box office and $21,612 overseas for a worldwide total of $1,848,317.[28]
Tusk was met with mixed reviews from critics. OnRotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 46%, based on 136 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's summary reads, "Tusk is pleasantly ridiculous and charmingly self-deprecating, but that isn't enough to compensate for its thin, overstretched story."[29] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 55 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[30]
In his review forThe Seattle Times, Erik Lundegaard gave the film zero out of four stars, stating, "Tusk, which is based on one of Smith's own podcasts, is the most disgusting and pointless movie I've seen. Emphasis on pointless. I spent half the movie sick to my stomach."[31] William Bibbiani, writing forCraveOnline, criticized the film's failed humor and excessive runtime and said that the film "killed irony", awarding it two out of ten stars,[32] while Glenn Dunks of Junkee.com gave the film an F and called it the worst movie of 2014.[33]
Conversely, Henry Barnes ofThe Guardian rated the movie four out of five stars, complimenting Smith as returning to his "snarky best".[34] Chris Bumbray ofJoBlo.com had a positive reaction, callingTusk "a major return to form for Smith, and an exciting new chapter in a career that now feels totally reinvigorated."[35] Roth Cornet fromIGN gave the film eight out of ten and stated, "Funny, strange, disquieting, and occasionally gory,Tusk is Kevin Smith at his best."[36]Richard Roeper ofChicago Sun-Times also gaveTusk a positive review, writing, "I'm recommending Kevin Smith's uniquely twistedTusk, but there's a part of me that wishes I could un-see it. Over the last 15 years I've seen thousands of movies, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually closed my eyes during a screening because I needed a quick three-second break."[37] Clint O'Connor ofThe Plain Dealer noted that whileTusk skillfully combines various genres, the story would be better presented as a short film. According to O'Connor, the character of Guy Lapointe was a homage to a famous Canadianhockey player.[38]
Smith revealed before the release ofTusk that he had written aspin-off film calledYoga Hosers (2016), which would feature the cast fromTusk.[39] On August 19, 2014, Borys Kit fromThe Hollywood Reporter revealed further details about the film.Yoga Hosers is an action-adventure film and the second in theTrue North trilogy.[3] The film featuresLily-Rose Depp, her fatherJohnny and Smith's daughterHarley Quinn Smith reprising their roles fromTusk, withJustin Long,Haley Joel Osment andGenesis Rodriguez returning, albeit in different roles.[3]
The third installment of Smith'sTrue North trilogy is to be titledMoose Jaws, which Smith says is basically "Jaws with a moose".[3] Starstream Entertainment will finance and produce the film, while XYZ Films will sell the foreign rights at the Toronto Film Festival.[3]
Smith also mentioned an idea for a sequel, where somehow Long's Wallace would turn himself back into a human and become the new villain. Smith made mention of title beingTusk$.[40] In 2022, Long revealed that he had been contacted by Smith about working on a potential sequel.[41]
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