Tusk

Tusk is an American independent feature film of the psychological thriller genre. It was written and directed by Kevin Smith. It was produced by A24, SModcast Pictures and Demarest Films. The movie was first screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6th, 2014. It opened to wide U.S. release on September 19th, 2014. The film stars Justin Long as Wallace Bryton - a podcaster who travels from L.A. to Manitoba where he meets an invalid recluse named Howard Howe, played by Michael Parks, who has some wild stories to tell. Sounds innocent don't it? Well, it is... until the body horror begins.

Synopsis
Wallace Bryton and Teddy Craft are two podcasters who run the inappropriately named podcast called "The Not-See Party", which specializes in talking about weird things and weird people. Wallace is dating a hot Latina named Ally Leon, but their relationship is rocky due to Wallace's newfound celebrity status as a successful podcaster. As such, Ally has been secretly seeking comfort in the arms of Teddy Craft.

Wallace and Teddy receive video of a young man who is practicing martial arts moves with a samurai sword who accidentally cuts his own leg off. They talk about the video on the podcast, and the opportunity arises for Wallace to meet the so-called "Kill Bill Kid" for an interview.

Wallace flies to Winnipeg, Canada, only to discover that the kid has since committed suicide. Having already spent more than $500 on the flight, Wallace is desperate to find something worthy of the podcast. He finds a flier about a man in Manitoba named Howard Howe, who is an elderly invalid seeking companionship and someone with which to tell stories of the amazing adventures of his life. Wallace sees this as his Golden Ticket and makes the two hour drive to Manitoba. Howard greets him and offers him tea. He then tells him stories of his past about serving with Ernest Hemmingway during World War II, and being lost at sea off the coast of Russia. This last story chronicles how Howard was supposedly saved by a walrus, which ultimately became the most defining characteristic of his life.

Wallace drinks all of this up, as well as Howard's tea, which ends up being poisoned. He collapses to the floor unconscious. When he awakens, he is still in a deep stupor, and discovers to his horror that one of his legs has been amputated. Howard spins a yard about how Wallace had been bitten by a Brown Recluse spider and how he had to call a doctor to perform an emergency operation before the poison could reach his heart. Wallace begins freaking out and wants to go to a hospital and contact his family. Howard makes it plainly clear that there are no lines of communication, and that he is now stuck at the manor in this condition. Wallace deduces that Howard is psychotic and made up the whole story about the spider. His suspicion is confirmed when Howard stands up, and Wallace learns that it was Howard who cut off his leg. That evening, Wallace manages to find his cell phone and sends a hurried voice male to Ally, telling her that he is trapped by a psychopath who has cut off his leg. When Ally finally gets the message, Teddy and she frantically make their way to Canada.

Wallace's nightmare continues. Howard is obsessed with this notion of a walrus savior, so he cuts off Wallace's other leg. He then performs bizarre surgery in an effort to biologically transform Wallace into a walrus, and even surgically grafts tusks to his face. Howard then dons his own walrus skin suit and the two fight one another inside of an indoor wading pool.

Ally and Teddy manage to find an aloof investigator named Guy Lapointe. Working with Guy, they manage to track Wallace to his last known whereabouts. Breaking into the Howe residence, they find the dead Howard Howe and Wallace the Walrus Man.

Wallace is taken to an exotic petting zoo. Ally and Teddy visit him each year and bring him raw fish as treats.

Notes & Trivia

 * Tusk (2014) redirects to this page.


 * The tagline for this film is "All that separates man from animal are the stories he tells."


 * Production on Tusk began on November 4th, 2013. Principal filming concluded on November 22nd, 2013.


 * There are a total of thirteen credited cast members in this film.


 * Tusk closed out of theaters on November 13th, 2014.


 * At its widest release, Tusk was screened in a total of 602 movie theaters. It had been in release in the U.S. market for a total of fifteen weeks (105 days).


 * The central setting for this film is Manitoba, Canada in the present day. Other locations of note include Winnipeg and Los Angeles, California.


 * Wallace and Teddy's "Not-See Party" podcast is loosely inspired by Kevin Smith's SModcast podcast, which he runs with Scott Mosier.


 * Actor Johnny Depp makes an appearance in the film is Guy Lapointe. He is credited by his character name in the film.


 * Actress Lily-Rose Melody Depp is the daughter of actor Johnny Depp.


 * Actress Jennifer Schwalbach Smith who plays the waitress at Gimli Slider, is the wife of writer/director Kevin Smith.


 * Actress Harley Quinn Smith, is the daughter of Kevin Smith and Jennifer Schwalbach Smith.


 * Actor Michael Parks passed away in Los Angeles, California on May 9th, 2017 at the age of 77. He is best known in the horror genre for his work with Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez in films such as From Dusk Till Dawn, Death Proof, and Planet Terror.


 * Actor Haley Joel Osment is best known for playing young Cole Sear - the poor bastard who infamously intoned "I see dead people" in the 1999 supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense.


 * Actors Justin Long and Haley Joel Osment have both starred in films opposite Bruce Willis. Justin Long appeared with Willis in Live Free or Die Hard, and Haley Joel Osment starred opposite Willis in The Sixth Sense.


 * Tusk has a rating of 45% Rotten on movie review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 131 reviews. It has an audience score of 36% based on 12,254 users.


 * Metarcritic gives Tusk a rating of 55/100 based on a weighted average of thirty-three critics.


 * The guy who cuts his leg off in the video is referred to as the "Kill Bill Kid". Kill Bill is the title of two films directed by Quentin Tarantino in 2003 and 2004, which involves a main character killing numerous people with a katana.


 * The "Kill Bill Kid" is a parody of Ghyslain Raza, also known as the "Star Wars Kid", who, in 2003, was a fifteen-year-old Canadian who created a video of himself practicing lightsaber moves similar to that of Darth Maul from the 2002 film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The video was uploaded onto the internet and Raza became the target of scorn, ridicule and cyber-bullying.

Recommendations

 * Human Centipede, The