Set to World Premiere tonight at the Midnight Madness portion of the Toronto International Film Festival is Kevin Smith’s Human Centipede-esque Tusk, about a man (Justin Long) who is surgically turned into a walrus by a mysterious seafarer (Michael Parks), in theaters September 19.
In the first ever clip, Long, best known for his role in Jeepers Creepers, busts out his terror once again on the phone as he begs for help. Long’s character doesn’t want to die in Canada, which is sure to get tons of laughs at the TIFF premiere in Toronto. The comedy in the clip is perfect because it doesn’t destroy the tension.
A24 will be releasing Smith’s horror film in theaters September 19.
Wallace (Justin Long) co-hosts a popular podcast with his pal Teddy (Haley Joel Osment), focusing on cruel, mocking cringe humour as part of their mission to keep it “real and raunchy.” After his trip to Winnipeg to interview the “Kill Bill Kid” — a teen whose unfortunate samurai-sword video has gone viral — comes up empty, Wallace decides to make the trip worth his while and find a good story north of the forty-ninth parallel. A handwritten flyer he finds in a bar bathroom leads him to a grizzled old swab (Michael Parks) full of tall tales to share from his life of adventure at sea — and this is where Wallace’s voyage to the Great White North descends into straight-up madness.
Smith has always been an expert at easy banter and snappy jokes, but with Tusk he brings his distinctive sensibility to a whole new dimension of terror and the bizarre.
Be warned: even as it deftly delivers on its outlandish and outrageous concept, the film is also aboot how Americans view Canada — so check your patriotic fervour at the door and prepare for a barrage of Canuck jokes and a steaming-hot double-double of strange.
