
Rawhead Rex is one of those movies I feel like I have seen, but whether it was on Channel 11 some late night in the edited form, or I rented it as a youngin’, for the life of me, I cannot remember a damn thing about it. I had read “The Books of Blood” although I am not sure if it was the full collection, or simply one or two of the six total books. Therefore, I am going in completely blind for this adaptation of Volume 3’s short story of the same name.
Synopsis:
An ancient creature called Rawhead is awakened from its slumber near an Irish village and goes on a rampage killing anyone in sight.
IMDb: 5.2
Rotten Tomatoes: 30%
Tagline: Someone has awakened him.
A lightning bolt strikes a pillar in a thunderstorm in Ireland, and we are introduced to Rawhead Rex, posing before a green screen. Rawhead is a pagan deity whose origins date back to the 1500’s as a way to frighten children into having good behavior. I think the rubber suit kind of gives it a B movie charm, for what it’s worth, harkening back to the monster movies of the past. If we can look at The Creature from the Black Lagoon and still respect it, why can’t we do the same to Rawhead Rex?
It is here that I lodge my first complaint about this movie. It’s the changing levels of audio. I am turning it way up to hear the dialogue, then getting my pants blown off when the music hits or some particularly dramatic action is going down. Controlling the volume on the remote is a full-time job.
And then there’s a scene of Howard and his wife tongue kissing where they just go for it, and when I say awkward, I mean awkward. Dukes was 41 here and his wife (actress Kelly Piper) was 36. But they look to be in their 50’s. It’s the old “people aged differently in the past” argument that is very much on display here. But they are a gross couple.
Then Rexy urinates all over a priest, or “baptizes” him, and grunts with enthusiasm the entire time, which is a pretty fun scene. It looked almost like his pee glowed in the dark, which I think means he might need to cut back on his vitamin C intake.
The movie is insanely quotable, with several goofy conversations that are laugh out loud funny. The POV shots of Rexy are also very cool. The costume is not as bad as they will have you believe, but Rexy looks a bit cross-eyed, which is especially noticeable when his eyes are glowing red. There are good moments of tension with him stalking his victims, too, especially in the beginning kill.
I have to disagree that the directing is bad, as I feel it’s stylish in many aspects. It’s competently made, and the acting is good enough, it’s just the costume can be goofy in some shots. I feel the director could have masked the shortcomings of the outfit a little better by not showing it in all its glory, much like Stan Winston did with Pumpkinhead. The damn thing also has two mouths much like Alien. At least I think it’s supposed to be like that, unless that’s the actor’s mouth showing under the suit.
The gore isn’t that great either. The body count is decent enough, but we don’t get anything good. The deaths seem to happen off camera or just aren’t very exciting. There is a good bit with the girl from the trailer park holding her boyfriend’s hand, which I won’t spoil, but it’s played more for laughs, not gory horror.
The music is decent, as Colin Towns, notable for being in bands with ex-Deep Purple and ex-Black Sabbath singer Ian Gillian, composed it. It has a sword and sorcery mystical Conan the Barbarian/Beastmaster vibe to it.
Overall, it’s not a BAD movie, but it’s not particularly good either. The ending is a bit nonsensical, and I hate the pointless jump scares that movies do at the end when they have nothing else of importance to say. Like, “fuck it, end on a jump scare even if it doesn’t make sense!” The twist that involves a woman wielding the weapon comes out of nowhere as well. The ending is just weak overall.
Rawhead Rex is a fun B movie that I think was not SUPPOSED to be a B movie, which hurts it in many a critic’s eyes. Despite the fact that Rexy looks like a demon heavy metal guitarist, I raised my devil horns and rocked out with him.
4.5 /10 Stab Wounds