One of the beauties of art is the ability to spark an intense emotion in the eye of the beholder, with even the most bottom-of-the-barrel trash still able to stoke flames of thought. Sometimes though, all you can appreciate is the ideas behind a film you utterly reject.
Kevin Smith’s irreverent and ridiculous body horror comedy Tusk is back up for re-evaluation as audiences still struggle to work out exactly how they feel about the deeply divisive 2014 film. Birthed out of a story told on one of Smith’s many podcasts, it sees Justin Long descent slowly into a maddening metamorphosis.
Always divisive, fans still don’t know what to make of it all.
Tusk revels in its ridiculousness and particularly in how nauseating it can make audiences feel. It’s significantly different to other horror films in that it doesn’t go for blood and gore, but rather is solely focused on making you feel uncomfortable through more cerebral methods. Cronenberg would be proud of some of the imagery.
Perhaps the most poignant analysis of Tusk as a movie is it could be a reaction to the intentionally offensive-to-the-senses Human Centipede series, which stoked cultural flames for its overt eroticism and body horror. Testament to Smith, he’s always had an eye for parodying cultural movements.
Tusk sees some similarities with other body horror films in that the best way to enjoy it is to go in completely blind. Brian Yuzna’s Society features the very similar gambit of recommendation, how much do you tell someone about a film which completely goes off the tracks to shock?
Tusk is currently available to stream on HBO Max.
