BOAR *** Australia 2017 Dir: Chris Sun 96 mins
Amongst farms of the Australian outback roams a mutant boar of epic proportions, frolicking around tearing down farmers fencing and snacking on the locals. This crazed beast has developed a ferocious appetite for human flesh and is not afraid of anyone! Probably not the best time for Debbie (Simone Buchanan) to bring her entire family along for a reunion at her brother’s farm.
I remember first hearing about this in 2015 at HorrorCon when I went to Bill Moseley’s Q&A. He mentioned in passing that he had just signed up to do this very bloody creature feature directed by Chris Sun about a killer pig. ” What is there not to like about this statement? ” I thought to myself. In my mind those kind of murmurings deserve to be followed very closely, and follow I did. Pretty much for the next 2-3 years I made sure I kept an eye on this ones progress. Watching the monstrous swine be created through the means of mechanics and old school practical puppetry was a very exciting thing indeed. The rest of the unfolding cast also peaked my interest. As well as Bill Moseley as hapless city slicker husband Bruce it also features John Jarratt, Roger Ward, Steve Bisley and Nathan Jones. It sees Jarratt as a more gentle character then some may be used to but he certainly doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to good old fashioned drunken Aussie banter with Ward. I was a little disappointed that Moseley wasn’t in it as much as I had hoped and that Nathan Jones was in it a bit too much but you can’t have everything. They both did good with what they were given and as they had both had parts in Chris Sun’s slasher CHARLIE’S FARM it was great that they had returned for this one. Incidentally CHARLIE’S FARM is subtly mentioned in BOAR and both films share the same location. Script wise it is nothing new. Its not afraid to adopt quite a lot of cheesy dialogue and settles for many tried and tested cliches; the horny couples out camping that meet a grizzly end, lots of people splitting up to go and look at where that noise came from, as well as lots of stumbling across open ground whilst slowly being stalked kind of a thing but luckily it is fairly fast paced and boasts a very high body count. They use a lot of practical effects especially when it comes to the primitive porker and a lot of the kills have some great detail however there are some slight let downs. Some of the CGI used to enhance certain bits is not good and unfortunately the worst bit is right at the start. Also a few of the kills linger a bit too long on certain angles where you can clearly see the boar is shaking the life out of a crudely put together dummy. Had they have had a bigger budget I know these errors would not have happened and they are just silly little things really. The soundtrack is very, very good and incredibly effective by Mark Smythe although slightly ruined by Jones singing along to Vanilla Ice. Having waited as long as I have to finally see this I can honestly say that I really enjoyed it, it’s nothing new or spectacular but it’s action packed, uncomplicated and a lot of fun. For some rabid porcine shenanigans most definitely give this one a watch!!
Review by Sarah Budd