Rawhead Rex

I can say this about Rawhead Rex: the plot wastes little time getting started. Slight spoilers follow.

Screenwriter Clive Barker’s story about toxic masculinity and American arrogance loses any sense of metaphor, devolving into a cringe-worthy creature feature.

After a laughable opening sequence where the titular Rex escapes his earthen prison, he sets out on a murderous spree. We see through his eyes as he stalks the picturesque Irish village—a good choice given how the monster itself resembles the creature from Night of the Demon dressed in Cenobite-style leather. But the film soon ditches this effect in favor of showing the creature—often in clear light. The cheap rubber suit looks like a cheap rubber suit.

The main plot concerns David Dukes as an American author who over emotes and acts like an ass while researching a book on fertility cults with his family in tow.

Meanwhile, the local verger, Declan O’Brien, transforms into something of a Renfield for Rex. Ronan Wilmot’s performance as Declan proves the film’s most entertaining aspect. He delivers just the right amount of gravitas given his arc culminates in Rex baptizing him with a firehose stream of urine. A sequence you can see in pristine high-definition on Arrow Player.