Rawhead Rex (1986)

User Rating:

3.9/10   

Director:

George Pavlou

Writer:

Clive Barker (writer)

Release Date:

17 April 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller | Fantasy

Tagline:

He's Pure Evil. Pure Power. Pure Terror.

Plot:

Ireland will never be the same after Rawhead Rex, a particularly nasty demon, is released from his underground prison by an unwitting farmer...

Plot Keywords:

Demon | Rampage | Ireland | Farmer | Mother Son Relationship

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

David Dukes	...	Howard Hallenbeck
Kelly Piper	...	Elaine Hallenbeck
Hugh O'Conor	...	Robbie Hallenbeck
Cora Venus Lunny	...	Minty Hallenbeck (as Cora Lunny)
Ronan Wilmot	...	Declan O'Brien
Niall Toibin	...	Reverend Coot
Niall O'Brien	...	Det. Insp. Isaac Gissing
Heinrich von Schellendorf	...	Rawhead Rex
Donal McCann	...	Tom Garron
Eleanor Feely	...	Jenny Nicholson
Gladys Sheehan	...	Ena Benedict
Gerry Walsh	...	Dennis McHugh
Noel O'Donovan	...	Mitch Harney
John Olohan	...	Dennis Nicholson
Peter Donovan	...	Liam Blanchfield

Also Known As:

RawHeadRex (USA) (video box title)

Runtime:

USA:89 min

Country:

UK | Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

France:-12 | Italy:VM18 (VHS rating) | Norway:18 | USA:R | Iceland:(Banned) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Leinster, County Wicklow, Ireland

Company:

Alpine

Quotes:

Declan O'Brien: He was here before Christ, before civilisation. He was king here!
Declan O'Brien: Rawhead, that's what they called him! RAWHEAD!

Soundtrack:

That Eastertide With Joy Was Bright

These Reviews Floor Me!

"Rawhead Rex" was one of several "unknown" films I prided myself on "discovering" during the late 1980s, when friends would visit for a day or four. I seemed to have a knack (seemingly lost, now!) to pick out videos I had never heard of, which turned out to be surprisingly quite good. Rawhead Rex was one of these.

I found it a quite riveting, scary movie. As with almost all horror movies, I thought a few things could have been done better. Still, Rex was infinitely more satisfying to me than a number of present-day "horror" flicks which center on someone hacking people up with a knife for no apparent reason or which drift confusingly between reality and halucination.

I thought the monster looked pretty convincing -- then again, I was weaned in the pre-Speilberg era. I have to agree with the reviewer who said the scene where Rex kills the farmer in the shed and the wife sees him from the kitchen window, then tries to hide, is quite scary. So was the boy glancing up from his comic books in the van, to see Rex standing outside.

I loved the touches with the stained glass puzzle & the chief detective's stunned "I'll be d****, the Yank was right" when he looks at the horrific crayon drawing made by the young survivor of the trailer park attack, too stunned to speak. (The severed arm was a very nice touch, too.)

Anyone who thinks Rawhead Rex was "hilarious," is no horror fan. It may not have been one of the genre's best efforts ever, but it was one of a number of very meaty horror flicks of the 1980s which are still have plenty bite today (pun intended)!