As a lifelong horror fan I’ve seen lots of gross things. Having watched films like Saw and Hostel, while being aware of how both use graphic body horror, I’ve never felt unnerved watching them. I’ve always considered myself to have an iron gut when it comes to body horror. And then I saw Kevin Smith’s Tusk.
Smith has been one of my favorite directors ever since I first saw Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back; his work with Mallrats and Clerks have made for some of my favorite comedies. But when I heard he was making a horror movie, I was caught off guard. Nowadays we’re becoming used to hearing about artists with a background in comedy taking on horror, such as Jordan Peele and Chris Rock regarding Us and the Saw reboot (respectively). After reading the premise for Tusk, how a man is turned into a walrus, I had to see the film. I didn’t have any strong expectations and figured it might give me a couple laughs; however, while I found myself in brief moments of uncomfortable chuckling, I eventually became silent as the film dove deeper into grim territory.
Smith’s horror comedy, Tusk, was released back in 2014 and was based off a story from his podcast SModcast. The film features Justin Long as protagonist Wallace Bryton, along with Michael Parks as the film’s antagonist Howard Howe. Wallace is a podcaster who seeks humiliating viral videos; during a trip to Canada, he discovers an ad from Howard offering to share a lifetime of stories. Wallace goes to Howard’s mansion and learns that he is a retired seaman. Howard tells Wallace about a walrus who saved him from a shipwreck and who he named “Mr. Tusk.” During their conversation, Wallace passes out, Howard having drugged him; when Wallace awakens, he discovers that one of his legs was amputated and that Howard intends on putting him in a walrus suit. Over time, Howard has been kidnapping other people and using their skin to build the suit.
Now on paper that still reads a little goofy, except seeing it in person is a whole different experience. There’s an additional psychological horror to Smith’s Tusk that amplifies that of the body horror. Later in the film, we learn that Howard had to eat Mr. Tusk in order to survive on an island he was trapped on after the shipwreck; doing this sent him into a guilt and has driven him to recreate his friend. Howard’s process in putting Wallace into the walrus suit plays into Tusk’s physical and psychological horrors. Regarding the physical, the suit is made of human flesh, the tusks made from the tibia bones of Wallace’s amputated leg. While the effort of sewing Wallace inside the suit is gruesome, the end product is haunting to look at. While we are looking at a person in a costume shaped like a walrus, there’s a human feel to the suit that’s uncanny; the combination of all that human flesh along with Wallace’s eyes staring out is enough to send chills down one’s spine.
Then there’s the psychological torture Howard puts Wallace through, conditioning him to think and act like a walrus. The constant battering and berating Wallace endures is upsetting, and the ending of the film brings the whole thing to a close on a heartbreaking note.
Among the cast is that of Genesis Rodriguez who plays Wallace’s girlfriend Ally Leon. The two have a rocky relationship, Wallace constantly cheating on her and she having an affair with a close friend of his. By the end of the film, after Wallace has been able to kill Howard with his tusks, Ally and the friend find Wallace. The film then jumps to a year later, Wallace now being confined inside a wildlife sanctuary due to the psychological damage done upon him. While Ally visits him she remembers a conversation the two had about how crying separates humans from animals, since crying is proof of a soul. She tells him she still loves him, and as she’s walking away, tears roll down Wallace’s face.
Even for the film’s moments of dark comedy, like when Howard gets in his own walrus suit and fights Wallace, Tusk ends up being a much more somber experience. Where a lot of other body horror films use torture to present suffering through physical and graphic details, Tusk delivers an equal amount of emotional suffering. Wallace’s entrapment is unnerving, the dark humor only adding to the film’s tension as it continues forward in despair.
It’s in my opinion that Tusk deserves a lot more credit for all it accomplishes. If it has been a while since you’ve watched it, or you’ve never seen it, I encourage you to check it out (it’s currently on Netflix). While Kevin Smith may be remembered for his more comedic films, what he has done with Tusk is pretty intriguing; rather than make a film that attempts to solely gross us out and provide bland comedic beats, he offers us a heartbreaking story. Tusk is one of those films where the body horror is deeper than the flesh.
