RAWHEAD REX – The Blu Review

Review by Roger Carpenter

Back in 1986 Clive Barker was a hot property.  His successful, six-volume collection entitled Books of Blood were major international bestsellers, as was his first full-length novel, The Damnation Game.  In fact, Barker was one of the early pioneers of the splatterpunk movement in horror fiction, helping to popularize the genre throughout the mid- to late-eighties and into the nineties.  Many of his novels and quite a few of his short stories have been adapted for the screen, including Rawhead Rex, originally a short story collected in Books of Blood, Volume 3.

Unfortunately for Barker—and perhaps very fortunate for horror film fans—the first two films made based upon Barker’s work turned out so badly that he not only disowned the films but decided he would direct the next film himself.  That film was the seminal Hellraiser (See?  Good for us!).  The two films Barker, to this day, disavows, are Underworld, perhaps better known as Transmutations (1985), and Rawhead Rex.

But in 1986, Rawhead Rex was big news for horror fans who anxiously awaited the release of a film which promised to be graphically violent and outrageous.  Fans were disappointed on both points.  Rawhead is neither terribly violent nor outrageous.  Though Barker adapted his story into a script, it seems that an extremely limited budget also limited the money available for effects.  Instead, horror fans would have to wait another year before seeing the ultimate Barker horror in Hellraiser, a film which delivered on its promises.

But there’s much more wrong with Rawhead than just a lack of gore.  Part of this might be linked to Barker’s own script, which had to be expanded from a short story to a screenplay for a full-length theatrical movie.  It might also have to do with the relative lack of expertise Barker had (at the time) for writing full-length screenplays.  The result is a story that feels more like a series of short set pieces, almost like a slasher film, designed around Rawhead’s next appearance.  There is some story at the beginning as well as the end, but the majority of the film feels segmented:  Rawhead shows up to wreak havoc; villagers mourn the latest death while the frantic police are overwhelmed; set up next set of characters to be killed; repeat. There is no real attempt at generating fear or even much mystery.  We are introduced to various characters who are meaningless except for fodder for the demon. There are also plot holes that irritate.  For instance, the verger (an assistant to the local priest) is turned into Rawhead’s vassal after touching the church altar.  But others touch the altar and experience the same types of supernatural phenomena the verger experienced but are unaffected by this.  How is that possible?  So, while Barker himself hates the film, I feel like part of the problem to begin with was Barker’s writing.

The slim budget didn’t help, either, though one must be careful to judge the film too harshly given that the producers hid the loss of a million dollars from the director until the film was well underway.  All of a sudden, a $2.5 million film became a $1.5 million dollar film. Frankly, it’s remarkable that a coherent film was able to be produced at all, and director George Pavlou should be commended for the general quality of the film he was able to create.  Generally speaking, the look of the film belies the actual budget.  That being said, along with a relative lack of blood and gore which alienated the splatterpunks who were the target audience for the film, other effects also come across as cheesy, too.  There are some special visual effects that likely looked dated even in 1986 and don’t really help the film achieve the look it needed.  But perhaps the biggest transgression is the hapless, hopeless costume for Rawhead himself.  Rawhead is an ancient demon of Irish lore who was laid to rest by some knowledgeable villagers centuries ago, a monolith marking and safeguarding the sacred spot.  Rawhead cannot escape so long as the monolith remains intact.  The villagers even went so far as to build a church over the Pagan site where the ancients worshipped Rawhead, hiding the sacred stone used to vanquish the demon inside the church alter and creating stained glass windows which could act as a guide to conquer Rawhead if ever needed in the future.  Unfortunately, the church suffered a terrible fire and much of the stained glass was ruined before being reconstructed, though not exactly, thereby obscuring the secrets contained within each panel.  And lately, the parish records have disappeared altogether, something that doesn’t concern the local priest too much, but is more important for Howard Hallenbeck (David Dukes), who has come to do research about Pagan customs for a new book he is writing.  The film opens with a local farmer working to remove the monolith from his field so he can grow his crops easier.  He is successful but it costs him his life as Rawhead is released after many centuries of slumber.

But back to the problems with the film.  The demon Rawhead looks like a proto-Cenobite, a practice run, if you will, for Barker’s main monsters in Hellraiser.  Rawhead is large, perhaps eight or nine feet in height, and wears black leather open at the chest, the better to see his bloody wounds (though these aren’t ever explained).  He also wears boots and a mohawk.  His face is primarily a long snout with huge jaws full of equally large teeth, looking a lot like the Nazi werewolf monster in An American Werewolf in London.  He also has beady red eyes which glow when he needs to communicate to his minions.  Sounds cool, right?  Nope.  The costume is essentially an unrealistic, unmoving, fiberglass head.  To be sure, the big guy in the suit moves well, but the head is essentially motionless except for close-ups which depict a hinged lower jaw that can open and shut.  The monsters in 1950’s sci-fi films don’t look any worse than this getup.  To add insult to injury, Pavlou includes several inserts which optically make Rawhead’s eyes glow and rotate in an effort to show the audience the demon can communicate psychically with his worshippers.  The entire attempt at a horrific demon falls fairly flat.

Some of the acting is suspect as well.  While several solid character actors populate the film, the acting is average at best.  The police are put-upon and unprepared, though it is explained there has never been a murder in the small village; Hallenbeck’s wife is limited to henpecking and complaining about his neglect of the family in favor of his work; and Hallenbeck himself (David Dukes) has perhaps the worst reaction in film history as he stops by a gated fence to watch as Rawhead takes his small son from the family car.  Is the old gate rusted shut?  Perhaps bent so Hallenbeck can’t squeeze through?  No, the gate works perfectly well, we discover, as Hallenbeck deftly runs through the gate after pausing long enough for Rawhead to take his son.  The film is filled with similar plot contrivances.

The script is very workmanlike and contains myriad plot holes; it substitutes the gore Barker fans wanted with poorly done visual effects and a bad monster mask; and the acting is average at best.  So is there anything good about the film?  Well…yes.  For instance, there is one scene sure to please gore fans, with plenty of arterial spray.  So one can’t blame the MPAA for the lack of overt violence—they were certainly willing to let the blood flow if the director wanted.  Fans of slasher films will likely be very comfortable with this film as it is essentially constructed as a slasher film.  And this brand new, 4K restoration from the original camera negative certainly looks clear and crisp unlike many previous cropped and faded video releases.  And the production did choose to film perhaps the best scene from the original short story, although from a distance, and that is the scene where Rawhead initiates the verger as his servant—to say more would spoil the fun for those unfamiliar with either the story or the film.

Kino-Lorber makes this the definitive release of the film with this restored Blu-Ray, and it comes with tons of extras including a very nice commentary with director Pavlou moderated by Stephen Thrower, a 21-minute interview with the actor who played Rawhead, an 11-minute interview with actor Ronan Wilmot, a 22-minute interview with various members of the effects team, and a 21-minute interview with Stephen R. Bissette, concept artist for Rawhead.  Rounding out the features are a short image gallery as well as the original theatrical trailer for the film.  Finally, a booklet featuring writing by film historian and critic Kat Ellinger is included in the package.

Rawhead Rex may not be the best horror film to be made, but it will likely be popular for fans of creature features or Clive Barker, and Kino-Lorber has put together a very nice, complete package for those fans.  The film can be purchased directly through Kino-Lorber at kinolorber.com or through Amazon.