Razorback Blu-ray delivers great video and superb audio in this excellent Blu-ray release
A wild, vicious pig terrorizes the Australian outback. The first victim is a small child who is killed. The child's granddad is brought to trial for killing the child but aquitted. The next victim is an American TV-journalist. Her husband Carl gets there and starts to search for the truth. The local inhabitants won't really help him, but he is joined by a hunter and a female farmer to find the beast.
For more about Razorback and the Razorback Blu-ray release, see Razorback Blu-ray Review published by Brian Orndorf on April 2, 2023 where this Blu-ray release scored 4.0 out of 5.
Director Russell Mulcahy makes his dramatic directorial debut with 1984's "Razorback," an Australian offering that's based on a novel by Peter
Brennen, but basically hopes to do with a giant pig what "Jaws" did for sharks. At the time of production, Mulcahy was a hotshot music video helmer,
transforming pop songs into cinematic adventures, most notably for Duran Duran, who enjoyed a surge of success after working with the director on
"Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio." Mulcahy's style is mighty, favoring sweeping camerawork and ornate lighting to bring images to life, and this
approach for short-form videos is transferred to the feature-length demands of "Razorback," which is meant to be a scrappy study of horror and
survival, but Mulcahy doesn't really pay attention to the essentials of suspense. He treats the endeavor like a director's reel, downplaying the
roughness of the story to deliver a shiny, overly processed understanding of Aussie isolation and beastly dangers.
Beth (Judy Morris) is a journalist focusing on animal welfare issues, recently making a name for herself in America. She's been summoned to
Australia to cover the senseless slaughter of kangaroos for PetPak, a food processing plant, leaving husband Carl (Gregory Harrison) behind as she
travels to the small town of Gamulla to investigate what's going on with local wildlife. Hoping to get close to the working experience at PetPak, Beth
exposes her true intentions, triggering revenge plans from the locals, with employees vicious types looking to get rid of outsiders. Beating the
baddies to the punch is a monstrous boar, known as a Razorback, who kills Beth, inspiring Carl to travel to Gamulla and figure out what happened.
Determined to pursue the PetPak gang, Carl realizes he's in over his head, soon meeting Sarah (Arkie Whiteley), a friendly naturalist, while hunter
Jake (Bill Kerr) is also roaming the area, seeking revenge on the Razorback after the beast murdered his grandson, with the community believing
the old man committed the crime.
Jake's saga of unimaginable pain serves as an introduction to the world of "Razorback." A loving grandfather, Jake puts his grandson down for
bedtime, retreating to the living room just as the Razorback attacks, bursting through the house, killing the child. This event sets up a revenge
scenario for the screenplay (by Everette De Roche), with Jake dragged through a courtroom battle, fighting off accusations that he's the one who
killed the boy, gradually turned into a hardened man of rage once he returns to society after being set free due to lack of evidence. This opening
provides a surge of screen adrenaline and a path for B-movie escapism, but "Razorback" doesn't pursue Jake's mission in full.
The tale soon turns its attention to Beth's complications during her visit, mixing it up with the locals, with a few of them particularly nasty types
employed at PetPak, which is home to a ghastly scene of animal slaughter. Carl eventually claims the lead role of "Razorback," representing a
second revenge story for the picture, which isn't easily managed by the screenplay. Characterization soon falls away, with Mulcahy more invested in
the visceral impact of "Razorback," working to give the offering a defined style that favors color extremes, smoke-filled frames, and unnatural
lighting. Carl's a flat personality to begin with (Harrison's blank performance doesn't help), leaving the bulk of "Razorback" to Mulcahy's directorial
overkill, aiming to transform every scene into an extravagant display of cinematographic might, working with Dean Semler ("Dances with Wolves")
to achieve a special look for the endeavor. However, this attention to visual detail often overwhelms the feature, which spends too much time on the
art of filmmaking than the needs of storytelling, finding Carl's odyssey into the outback and his relationship with others lacking depth as Mulcahy
gradually detaches from the human element of the tale. The sheer production effort is obviously respectable, but style isn't enough to keep the
movie compelling.
Previously issued on disc by Umbrella Entertainment
in 2018, "Razorback" returns via Shout Factory, who work with what appears to be the same
master as the earlier release. The AVC encoded image (2.38:1 aspect ratio) presentation deals with the extreme lighting and timing of the endeavor,
which favors a nuclear palette to communicate harsh terrain and spooky evenings. Colors appear to be intact, with some reddish/orange push during
daylight encounters, while nighttime events are soaked in blues. Costuming offers some alert primaries, and skin tones are as natural as possible under
the director's style. Blood reds remain potent. Detail registers to a degree, with a sense of battered skin particulars and general sunbaked decay and
filth. Town tours are dimensional, reaching into distances. Interiors offer exploration of decorative additions. Delineation is satisfactory. Grain
is adequately resolved. Source is in good condition.
The Umbrella Entertainment release provided a 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix for "Razorback," which is retained here, creating an immersive, thunderous
listening experience with good clarity on sound effects and dialogue exchanges. The default track on the Shout Factory release is a 2.0 DTS-HD MA
track, which could represent the original theatrical mix (information isn't offered on the disc). There's obviously less intensity with the 2.0 listening
event, requiring some volume boost, but intelligibility isn't threatened, and scoring supports with a decent instrumentation.
Commentary #2 features film historians Lee Gambin and Jarret Gahan.
VHS Version (95:01, SD) is included.
"Jaws on Trotters" (73:43, SD) is a 2005 making-of for "Razorback," featuring interviews with creature designer Rob
McCarron, producer Hal McElroy, director Russell Mulcahy, composer Iva Davies, and actors Judy Morris and Chris Haywood.
Audio Interview (30:58) chats with actor Gregory Harrison about his career path and experience making "Razorback."
Interview (24:13, HD) discusses "Razorback" with critics Alexandra Heller-Nicolas, Emma Westwood, Lee Gambin, and
Sally Christie.
Deleted Scenes (2:31, SD) can be viewed with or without commentary by director Russell Mulcahy.
Image Gallery (12:00) collects film stills, BTS snaps, poster and VHS art, newspaper ads and stories, and soundtrack and
book covers.
A Theatrical Trailer (2:33, HD) and a VHS Trailer (2:01, SD) are included.
"Razorback" delivers some rampaging animal action, and the production does a competent job obscuring the puppetry and robotics required to bring the
central creature to life. The actual threat of the Razorback is debatable, but the beast definitely causes plenty of property destruction during the run
time. And yet, with a giant boar on the loose, "Razorback" spends more time with distorted locals and their quest to take care of trouble started by Carl
and Beth. Extended screentime with goons isn't as compelling as a rampaging Razorback, and Mulcahy's general indifference to storytelling needs tends
to grind down the viewing experience, replicating the helmer's music video work to an intrusive degree. "Razorback" is relentlessly flashy and showy,
but it doesn't sustain as a nightmare machine, strangely putting the needs of B-movie action on the backburner so the director can use the endeavor as
a display of his filmmaking fetishes.
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