Rawhead Rex (1986)

Directed by: George Pavlou

When it comes to the wonderful movie world of Clive Barker it's of course hard to beat the first two Hellraiser movies and Nightbreed, but for some reason this is a movie that I really, really enjoy as well. Not in the same way as the three others that I mentioned, this is just brain dead monster movie fun that's probably lightyears from what Clive Barker wanted it to be... he has disowned this movie, but don't let that stop you from checking it out. I don't really remember the story which the movie is based on (it's in one of the Books of Blood), it's probably been at least 17-18 years since I read it, but I suspect the movie don't have much to do with the short story as not much of the Clive Barker touch is present here. Instead we get a very low budget looking british monster movie with some sweet looking gore and one of the most silly looking monsters ever.

Yeah, the monster look pretty retarded and is extremely cheap looking. The whole monster (he has a name, and he's of course the Rawhead in the movie's title) look very stupid, but the head takes the cake. It's very plastic looking and he walks around with the same facial expression for most of the movie (like a frozen snarl), which makes it obvious there wasn't many parts that could move in that mask. Hell, the head of the monster look like a really cheap Halloween mask!


Howard Hallenbeck (David Dukes) is an american author travelling in the irish countryside with his family (wife and two kids - a boy and a girl) working on a book that deals with pre-christian sacred sites. He ends up in the tiny village of Rathmorne (population 251 - something that will change soon...) and in the local church he spots a strange image on one of the stained glass windows. A monster being forced by an other wordly force into the ground... the monster look silly even on the glass window, but it's 100 times better looking than the real deal that soon will appear.

Meanwhile, three farmers are trying to remove a big stone pillar that someone put in the middle of a field. It can't be moved and two of the guys give up and leave the third one to do this himself (nice friends, huh?) - and with the help of some shitty weather that brought some lightning with it the pillar topples over. Not that the farmer can enjoy it as he is killed by the lightning... and from under the pillar rises the most silly looking rubber monster you've probably ever seen: Rawhead! He's been stuck under that pillar for a long time and needs to catch up with his hobbies, which is killing people. So, people start to end up missing in this small little village, and when they're found they're just a big pile of bloody mess. The police are on the case, but no one has a clue to who could be doing this.


When a kid, who is a witness to Rawhead munching on a dead body, and Hallenbeck, who saw Rawhead while being out on a nightly walk, tell the police (well, the kids draws a picture of Rawhead) about the monster they really don't believe them. Seems like the police are just the same all over the world, not believing anything until it's much too late... Hallenbeck gets pissed about the police not treating him like the star witness that he is and decides to leave the village for Dublin instead. Biiiiig mistake... During a pit stop just outside of the village where the daughter in the family has to take a leak Rawhead attacks the car (where the son is left alone when the daughter is scared by a dead rabbit... well, I can understand her as that dead rabbit looks A LOT more scary than Rawhead) and kills the son.


Hallenbeck returns, with what's left of his family, to Rathmorne where he is determined to hunt down Rawhead. The police is of not much help, they have their hands full after Rawhead massacres a bunch of people in a trailer park (where we get one of the most "unmotivated" nude scenes I think I've seen... a girl is dragged out through a window from her trailer when her boyfriend, or whatever, tries to hold on to her, only to rip off her dress instead... not that I'm complaining too much, it was just too obvious that they needed some nudity somewhere and why not there?), so Hallenbeck returns to the church and that stained glass window trying to find out how to defeat Mr Rubber Monster.

The priest, Declan O'Brien (Ronan Wilmot), has gone mental and is now a devotee of Rawhead (who we learn is an old pagan god) after having been baptized in a golden shower from Mr. Rex himself. The priest tries to stop Hallenbeck, but the author finds out what is needed to stop Rawhead, a stone that has a female shape, and finds it inside the altar of the church. He runs into Rawhead in the grave yard and from having studied the stained glass window he holds it above his head to defeat Rawhead once and for all... and absolutely nothing happens. Hallenbeck's wife turns up, and while her hubby is fighting with Rawhead she finds the stone and holds it above her head. As the stone had to be used by a woman it works and badly done 80's blue lightning appear from everywhere. Rawhead is dragged down into the ground and left for dead... but is he really?

Again I feel that this is one of those bad movies that is too entertaining in a very low brow way to not enjoy. I wouldn't call it a guilty pleasure though as I don't feel guilty at all for liking this one (I do feel guilty for liking trash like Starship Troopers and House of the Dead though... yikes, what's wrong with me??!?!?!). I mean, it has everything I like in a monster movie: a fun monster (the silliest looking you've seen in a long time), gory killings, stupid cops, evil priests (well, one - but this one is a truly wicked one) and cheap looking effects. If I had to pick only one movie to be called a true popcorn movie this is the one!

Maybe we have this movie to thank that Hellraiser was such an extraordinary movie... Clive Barker really didn't like what happened here and maybe it made him work hard on turning Hellraiser into what it became. If that's the case this movie should be even more celebrated!