Tusk, the second horror feature for director Kevin Smith, follows the story of Wallace Bryton (Justin Long), a shock/lowbrow podcast host. When a lead for an interview in Canada unexpectedly falls through, Wallace investigates a mysterious flyer he comes upon by chance. The advertisement leads him to one Howard Howe (Michael Parks), who has a strange, yet fascinating life story. Soon enough, it becomes clear that Howe is not the man he seems, and is using Wallace as his latest test subject to create some sort of human/walrus hybrid. Meanwhile, Wallace's partner Teddy (Haley Joel Osment) and his girlfriend Ally (Genesis Rodriguez) realize something is very wrong. They team up with detective Guy Lapointe (Johnny Depp) to track down Wallace and find out the horrific truth.
Initially, I was drawn in by Tusk's expertly crafted trailer. Unfortunately, the film itself is not nearly as serious as the trailer makes it out to be. Tusk is one of those peculiar films that is hard to classify in terms of genre. It's not quite scary enough to be a true horror film, but not quite funny enough to be a comedy.
For me, I think a lot of the emotional disconnect comes from the characters themselves. Although one does feel some amount of sympathy for Wallace in his situation, it never really goes beyond a surface level. Ultimately, Wallace is not a very likeable guy. It's also difficult to piece together his personal feelings, since he spends the final half of the film shrieking incoherently. This further complicates the intended audience reaction when we come to the revelation that Ally is cheating on Wallace with his podcast partner Teddy. There is some initial shock, but it wears off quickly. Even though the two are obviously doing wrong, Teddy seems to be a genuinely nice guy (perhaps even a better man than Wallace), so it becomes a bit of a mental exercise to imagine him being the villain.
Speaking of villains, the greatest performance in Tusk absolutely belongs to Michael Parks, who also appeared in Smith's previous horror film Red State. Much of his screen time is taken up with storytelling, and it's here that Parks shines. His words cast a kind of dreadful hypnosis on the audience, and then, in the blink of an eye, the kindly old Howard Howe has transformed into a raving lunatic. It's a change that's all the more terrifying because we realize that we were fooled as much as Wallace was.
Johnny Depp's part in Tusk highlights all of my issues with the film. Depp chews the scenery as the almost cartoonish Quebecois detective Guy Lapointe. It's funny for a few moments, but then we're subjected to a very long, almost pointless story of how Lapointe unknowingly encountered Howard Howe some time earlier. It's a long time to wait for exposition that isn't truly needed, and really drags down the pacing of the film. Guy Lapointe is really nothing more than a plot device, and not a very good one at that.
Another issue the film has is with the effects makeup/prosthetics. While the suit is well crafted, it's so outlandish and grotesque that it's nearly impossible to take seriously. But, perhaps it was never meant to be serious in the first place.
While I didn't have the luxury of research going in, it does help to understand that Smith made this film more or less for a laugh. Tusk was the product of a bizarre conversation from Smith's SModcast program, which he ultimately decided to make into a film, just because he could. Knowing and understanding this is key to the enjoyment of a film like Tusk. Tusk doesn't work as a true horror film, but if you put it into the same category as, say, Creepshow, or the Tales From The Crypt series, it becomes quite obvious the tone Kevin Smith was aiming for, and you'll be able to enjoy it without focusing on the flaws.
