Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve and I will be spending most of the day with my family. For this reason, it is safe to say that tonight was the last chance I had to get one final review in for 2019. Wanting to end the year on a good note, I decided to actually re-watch a film that I have already seen and I know for a fact I enjoy. The film I decided to re-visit is Chris Sun’s Boar.
The Plot
In the Australian outback, a wild boar of staggering size is on a rampage, ripping apart anything and anyone who gets in its way.
My Thoughts
I have been following Chris Sun’s career for a few years now. It all started with my first viewing of 2014’s Charlie’s Farm. My love for Sun’s work only continued to grow as I got my hands on some of his older work, too, with titles like Daddy’s Little Girl and of course, his debut feature, Come and Get Me.
It was shortly after my introduction to the 2014 slasher that I heard about his next project, entitled Boar. The film was to be in the vein of flicks like Pig Hunt and Chawz, the tale of a giant savage pig on the loose terrorizing everyone who it came across. I knew I had to see it and my patience was wearing thin.
It wasn’t until years later, 2019 to be exact, where I finally got my opportunity to watch Boar for the first time. Initially released as an exclusive on the streaming service, Shudder, this 2017 flick was finally ready for the masses. Had it lived up to the hype that I created in my head all of these years? The answer is, astoundingly, yes!
Boar is just what I wanted… no, what I needed it to be. It is a bloody mess of a film with a talented cast, impressive practical effects work, and more gore than any horror fan could ask for!
Over the last decade, Billy Moseley’s name has been tied to almost every single horror film that has come out in the independent sector of the genre. While seeing ol’ Chop Top’s name in the credits used to be an exciting draw to a film, it has somewhat lost its effectiveness due to the caliber of movie he is unfortunately featured in these days. Not to worry, however, as all of those can be forgotten once you see his performance in Sun’s Boar.
Moseley gives a stellar performance, one that we don’t generally see from him in fact. Sure, he always does great as some kind of mean-spirited baddie, but in Boar, he plays the Yank step-father/husband to a normal, every day Aussie family. He plays the role of Bruce innocently and sweetly and it is a nice look for him, after seeing most of his other work as something completely different.
Like Moseley, the rest of the cast really does do an awesome job with each of their respective roles, as well. Griffin Walsh, Christie-Lee Britten, and Simone Buchanan round out the family as Bart, Elli, and Debbie, respectively. Watching this group is just like watching a real-life family, their on-screen chemistry being as great as you could ever ask for.
My favorite on-screen chemistry, however, comes from old timers Roger Ward (Mad Max, Quigley Down Under) and the ever-awesome John Jarratt (Wolf Creek, Rogue). Watching these two bicker back and forth like an old married couple had me chuckling out loud more than once and I couldn’t get enough of them.
Enough of my ranting on about the talented cast. Now for the part you guys probably care about the most… the damn boar! I have to admit to you guys that there are a select few scenes where the boar is rendered using digital visual effects. These sequences are few and far between, used mostly for when the beast must do a lot of movement, very quickly — running across the screen, out into the distance, for example.
The digital shots do not look all that great, but all of this can be forgiven as soon as you get a look at the practical version that the very talented Steve Boyle has designed and brought to life.
Not only is the bastard the largest practical effects boar you’ll ever see on film, it is impressive in almost every other way, too. This thing is beaten and battered, showing audiences that he has seen his fair share of battles. Let me tell you… he has clearly won every single one of those battles.
The antagonist killer boar is a brute who cannot be stopped by simply shooting it. He rips up countless victims throughout the film’s 96 minutes, with each kill being more brutal than the last. You will not leave this film feeling disappointed in any way.
Boar at Home
Boar is available now on DVD and [made-on-demand] Blu-ray from Shudder and RLJE Films.
The DVD presents the film in a 2.40:1 widescreen format with a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track and optional English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles.
While the back of the DVD cover boasts about special features including a Making Of featurette and cast and crew interviews, they were nowhere to be found on my copy of the release. I even tried looking for easter eggs to access these mysteriously hidden features and still found nothing. I’m not sure of the story behind this, but I would have personally loved to check this bonus material out.
The Verdict
After waiting years to watch Chris Sun’s newest film, I am anything but disappointed. I enjoyed Boar from start to finish.
A talented cast of performers, fun and brutal kills, and Nathan Jones (Charlie’s Farm, Troy) going toe to toe with a monster boar are only a few reasons to not miss out on this one.
Grab yourself a copy of Boar today, as I give it 4 crotches of low flying ducks out of 5!
