Review of Rawhead Rex (1986) by Stuart L — 01 Jan 2008

Based on the work of love-him-or-hate-him horror genius Clive Barker, Rawhead Rex is the story of the unleashing of a hideous creature when a farmer in Ireland moves a standing stone from its rightful place to enable him to plough a field.

Pulling few punches, Rawhead Rex jumps right in with the fast-paced story of the rubbery faced, excruciatingly ugly supernatural monster's bloody rampage across rural Ireland. The special effects are about right for its day, and if bearing that in mind, viewers more used to modern CGI graphics shouldn't find it too cheesy.

Like many Cliver Barker pieces, whilst the storyline contains a lot of well-used ideas there's always something powerful and unique about his take on them.

The other thing about the film is it throws away some of the more American cliches about how to banish these demons; here in fact it's the old Pagan Goddess images that hold the power rather than the pointless and useless symbols of crucifix or exorcisms, a theme that is held onto throughout the film. It's even a message shared by modern environmentalists and archaeologists, often locking horns with agribusiness over the widespread destruction of our heritage sites in favour of making land more profitable. So there's a kind of moral in it, too.

I first saw Rawhead Rex on rented VHS format when it was released, and watching it again all this time later it still seems remarkably fresh. And bloody.