Fantastic Fest 2008

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: An enormous, thundering wild boar lays waste to the Australian outback in this bizarre and unexpectedly effective man VS. beast showdown.

FULL DESCRIPTION: Impossibly huge animals are an integral component of cinema. Since 1933’s KING KONG, hyperactive pituitary glands have inflated nearly all of nature’s children, from the enormous sheepcreature of GODMONSTER OF INDIAN FLATS to the towering interstellar chicken of THE X FROM OUTER SPACE. Even the uncharted wilds of Australia have submitted their entries to the Halls of Gargantuanism, here in the form of a baby-eatin’ multi-ton porcine powerhouse that rampages out of the blackened desert to destroy everything in its path. I saw the “Biggest Pig in the World” at the 2006 Iowa State Fair and it had nothin’ on this snubnosed 30-foot wreckage machine, which seems content to destroy everything on earth until it’s the only living thing left standing. Grip those armrests tight as a vengeful grandpa, two rural new wave oil drillers and an ineffective schlub attempt to take down this grunting, red-eyed, hate-fueled embodiment of utter annihilation. Director Mulchay would go on to helm the first two films in the unexpectedly successful HIGHLANDER series, but this stripped-down tale of biology gone awry trades in the gloss and nobility of those features for a two-fisted primal style so palpable that you can almost smell the bloodsoaked soil. (Zack Carlson)

This film is sponsored by Foster’s.